MEM

MEM

MEM (Multiply Encoded Messages) was founded in 1997 in Osaka. In 2010, MEM changed its home to the art complex NADiff A/P/A/R/T in Ebisu, Tokyo, where it continues to operate today. MEM’s early exhibitions highlighted the works of well-established Kansai-region artists, Yasumasa Morimura, Tomoaki Ishihara, Chie Matsui.
Upon relocation the gallery added emerging artists such as Ayano Sudo and Natsuko Tanihara. In addition the gallery has enriched its programs focused on photography and introduced works by Ken Kitano, Antoine d’Agata, and other artists who represent contemporary photographic art in Japan and overseas.
The gallery was fortunate to come across avant-garde pieces by the pre-World War II photographer, Osamu Shiihara. Prompted by this discovery, the gallery started investigating and exhibiting works by the Tampei Photography Club, other photography groups and individual photographers who were involved in the avant-garde photography movement before and after the war.