2011
群馬県吾妻郡中之条町大字四万4237番地
NAKANOJO BIENNALE 2011
4237 Shima, Nakanojo-machi, Agatsuma-gun, Gunma Prefecture
Former Marutaka Store (Gunma Prefecture)
Washi paper, inkjet print, clay, and other materials
Production Assistance: Masato Honda
2011
群馬県吾妻郡中之条町大字四万4237番地
NAKANOJO BIENNALE 2011
4237 Shima, Nakanojo-machi, Agatsuma-gun, Gunma Prefecture
Former Marutaka Store (Gunma Prefecture)
Washi paper, inkjet print, clay, and other materials
Production Assistance: Masato Honda
At the Nakanojo Biennale 2011, I created an installation that distilled the town’s scenery and passage of time within a vacant house attached to a shop in the hot spring district. Utilizing the entire building—including the shop, warehouse, kitchen, and Japanese-style room—I attempted to reconstruct the landscape from different distances and perspectives through the use of earth, photographs, and paintings. I continued working on the piece throughout the exhibition period, resulting in a space that emerged and evolved in tandem with the atmosphere of the town.
This work was exhibited at the Nakanojo Biennale 2011, held every two years in Nakanojo Town, Gunma Prefecture. Using a vacant house located among the shops lining the traditional hot spring town, I attempted to create a space that encapsulated the town’s landscape. Spanning a wide range of areas—including the ground-floor shop, storage area, kitchen, and two Japanese-style rooms on the second floor—I presented landscape works viewed from different angles in each room. The exhibition featured a variety of works, including two-dimensional landscape paintings using earth; photographic works of outdoor installations using earth; a piece in which photographs of the surrounding landscape were printed on washi paper and then hand-torn and categorized by similar colors; an installation in which fine particles of soil collected from beneath the building’s floor were lightly scattered throughout the house; and oil paintings, watercolors, and other works, including an oil painting that was a mirror image of a painting of a waterfall associated with nature worship. For the shoji screen works, photographs of the neighborhood were printed on washi paper, then torn by hand according to similar colors or names and arranged along the shoji slats. Divided by the colors of the forest, water, buildings, and people, the forms created through the transition from digital to analog work differed significantly from those actually perceived by the brain, prompting viewers to imagine new landscapes through mental reflection. By standing the tatami mats from the Japanese-style room upright, they settled into the space as complete foreign objects, despite having originated from an everyday setting. Throughout the exhibition period, I gradually added to the works, continuing to create while sensing the atmosphere of the town. The earth installation involves drying soil from the local area, sifting it, and classifying it into particles as fine as pigments, which are then lightly scattered throughout the exhibition space. At first, viewers notice nothing, but as they move through the space, they begin to notice areas that are unnaturally raised or thickly piled, gradually becoming aware of the presence of the earth filling the venue. This work allows viewers to experience how their senses are gradually sharpened and become more sensitive, starting from a state of nothingness.1