South South Veza

For South South OVR, Empty Gallery presents a solo presentation of the early films of Yokohama-based artist Rei Hayama. Working between text, sound, and moving-image, Hayama crafts profoundly beautiful short films whose obliquely mythopoetic narratives explore what might best be termed “ecological anomie”. Hayama’s films expand our field of vision to include alternative ways of living and seeing, especially in relation to non-human species. This online presentation explores the thematic and formal concerns underpinning her practice over the past decade: humanity’s relationship with the natural world, the instability and mutability of vision, and the influence of early and structuralist-materialist cinema. Spanning 2009 through 2015, these are the visions of a filmmaker solidifying her commitment to “a humble cinema’” that articulates a non-human gaze to uncover the strangeness of being human.

Rei Hayama (b. 1987, lives and works in Yokohama)

Rei Hayama is a Japanese artist who works mainly with moving image, and one of the founding members of the Tokyo film collective, [+]. After many thoughtful experiences amongst wildlife in the unique environment of her youth, she studied at the Department of Moving Images and Performing Arts, Tama Art University and has been making films since 2008. Her works have exhibited and screened internationally, at Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, New York’s Museum of the Moving Image, Bergen Kunsthall, Tromsø International Film Festival, and Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, amongst others.