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Studio Pietà (King Kong Komplex) tells the story of Simon Fujiwara’s attempt to restage and photograph a lost picture of his mother held in the arms of a Lebanese boyfriend. The photo was taken on a beach close to the Casino du Liban, where she worked as a cabaret dancer in the late 1960s. In what starts as a seemingly simple reconstruction, Fujiwara begins to understand his role as director, and the unwanted powers he holds. In the process of casting the models, designing the set and even selecting the makeup, he is drawn into a labyrinth of larger social and political questions to which he has no answers. King Kong, water pollution in Beirut, Michelangelo’s Pietà, the interrogation methods of the CIA and hair removal in Germany are just some of the subjects that spin out from this dense and convoluted narrative film and installation, in which a single image inspires numerous photographs.
Simon Fujiwara
Studio Pietà (King Kong Komplex), 2013
Colour video projections with sound, framed photographs and mixed media
20 minutes, 30 seconds, looped
Dimensions variable
Installation view
Commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation
Simon Fujiwara
Studio Pietà (King Kong Komplex), 2013
Colour video projections with sound, framed photographs and mixed media
20 minutes, 30 seconds, looped
Dimensions variable
Installation view
Commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation
Simon Fujiwara spent his childhood in Japan, England, Spain and Africa. His dense dramas explore real-life narratives about personal and family relationships, politics, architecture and history through a combination of performance, video, installation and short stories.