To the free spirits in all cultures that Soichiro Honda typifies
The Glasgow School of Art / Giftraum, Berlin.
2014






To the free spirits in all cultures
that Soichiro Honda typifies.
The Glasgow School of Art.
2014.


'To the free spirits in all cultures that Soichiro Honda typifies' concerns the publicly unknown artistic practice of Soichiro Honda, the man who created the Honda Motor Company and upon whom the tagline, ‘The Power of Dreams’, is based.
‘The Power of Dreams’ relates directly to Honda’s life and history, as purported by him and as embellished and extended by the PR and marketing departments of the Honda Corporation. Soichiro Honda is a corporate hero. His mythology pertains to allow both his staff and the consumer the opportunity to fulfil their dreams through a reflection of his hard work and determination.


The focal point of the exhibition was an eponymous film with dialogue formed upon semi-fictionalised brainstorming sessions. Workshop groups were tasked with creating a commercial using Soichiro Honda's paintings as their inspiration. Key moments of his history were shown to the groups, as were his paintings and their titles. 


Inadequacies within corporate aspiration - in this case attaching the actualtiy of unremarkable labour and consumtion to an aspirational narrative - is the central concept behind the work. Comparing Honda’s artistic practice against such professionalised aspiration sought to highlight the manipulation of creative sentiment by corporate interests.

'To the free spirits in all cultures that Soichiro Honda typifies' is the only documention of Honda’s paintings outside of Japan.






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