WORKS

KAAT EXHIBITION 2024 is part of KAAT's unique series, "KAAT EXHIBITION," which develops new forms of expression by fusing the theatrical space of KAAT Kanagawa Arts Theatre with contemporary art. This ninth exhibition will feature a new installation by Yoshitaka Nanjo, an artist who has received high acclaim for his works themed on the history and placeness of the land, including his work at the Suzu Theatre Museum, a theatrical folk museum located at the tip of the Noto Peninsula in Suzu City.

 From the concept book

 Yoshitaka Nanjo: A Spiral of Spacetime Lurking Beneath Yokohama

 Hitoshi Nakano

 You twisted your body, and the hand you extended towards the light seemed to be pointing to the horizon.

 It was as if it was urging me to look over there.

 Kiyoka Osaki, "Notes on a Guide," 2024

 In 2024, the ninth KAAT EXHIBITION will be a grand installation using a studio of approximately 400 square meters, created by Yoshitaka Nanjo, who is highly regarded for his unique interpretation of local history, based on meticulous research, and his ability to bring it back to life in the modern age.

 In 2017, Nanjo participated as an invited artist in the "Oku-Noto Triennale" held in Suzu City, Ishikawa Prefecture, located at the tip of the Noto Peninsula. Based on the information that the festival site is the largest production area in Japan for diatomaceous earth, a fossil of phytoplankton, Nanjo researched this diatomaceous earth and used it in his work. For the exhibition, he utilized a closed movie theater, a space that still retains the breath of local audiences who must have witnessed various dramas there, and presented a dramatic installation. Having seen this work in person, I have come to believe that Nanjo's work, with its approach of discovering and researching materials, and its skillful spatial composition that utilizes the scale and various elements of the exhibition venue, could one day be developed at the KAAT Kanagawa Arts Theatre. Subsequently, at the "Oku-Noto Triennale 2020+", Nanjo curated the Suzu Theatre Museum "Ark of Light," a theatrical museum that collected, researched, and utilized everyday objects that had been lying dormant in local storehouses, and received high praise.

 I first met Nanjo when I contributed a text titled "What the Gods of Kumano Laugh at in the North" to his exhibition held at Art Front Gallery in May 2019. That exhibition utilized quartz, a mineral formed from silicon dioxide (SiO2) crystallized over long periods. Quartz (crystal) is used in the intricate mechanisms of clocks due to its property of vibrating at a constant frequency. In this text, I also wrote about the relationship (accumulation) of matter over time, a topic of great interest to Nanjo.

 While Nanjo has previously presented his work mostly in regional areas such as Setouchi, Minamiboso, and Suzu, this time his exhibition will take place in the major city of Yokohama. After numerous trips from his base in Kumano and two years of extensive historical research in Yokohama, Nanjo's greatest interest became "geological strata." He will present a new installation that interprets the vast flow of time from the Jomon, Yayoi, Edo, Meiji, Showa, and up to the present day.

 The exhibition is structured as follows: First, visitors enter the studio with a lamp given to them at the entrance and proceed down a corridor that resembles a cave. After passing through this world, they enter a large space lined with four rectangular prisms. The rectangular prisms are covered with cloth, and what is inside is vaguely visible, so visitors proceed while imagining what is inside. Then, images of the sea and buildings of Yokohama, along with music by Umitaro Abe, overlap with these rectangular prisms, allowing visitors to feel the long passage of time from ancient times to the present day and the breath of the people who lived in each era.

 Furthermore, a newly written text by poet Kiyoka Osaki plays a significant role in this exhibition. The text is based on Nanjo's idea that one man lives through various eras, derived from the geological strata of Yokohama, which is the theme of this exhibition. Viewers can quietly decipher Osaki's text while immersing themselves in the extraordinary spiral of time and space created by Nanjo.

 This text, created by Keishi Nagatsuka, playwright, director, and actor who was involved in the reading play at the "Suzu Theatre Museum" and is now the artistic director of KAAT Kanagawa Arts Theatre, resonates with Nanjo's installation as the sound of words.

 The layers of earth beneath our feet—the vast evidence of time—are a testament to the passage of time during our daily commutes, runs, and walks. Nanjo revives these layers, silent evidence of nature and the activities of our ancestors, in the modern age as a magnificent, swirling body of motion.

 (Curator and organizer of this exhibition / KAAT Kanagawa Arts Theatre)