THE LIBRARY + at this place

　　When I visit a large-scale exhibition traveling throughout the country, I cannot always help wondering if there is any inevitability that the exhibition should be held in the venue where I visit at that moment. Every year I can easily enjoy viewing a number of renowned artworks permitted to be published by temples and shrines in Japan or well-known museums abroad without visiting the site far away. If I am asked a question of my burden in viewing such treasonable works, I will answer that there is only such trouble that sometimes it is difficult for me to enjoy looking at them to my heart’s content since a venue is so crowded that it takes from few ten- minutes to many hours to enter an exhibition hall and even after stepping into the room I am disturbed by crowds to enjoy viewing creations. This would be an indication of the fact that art has come to be portable in these days.
　　Today we are surrounded by many portable and useful things other than art, such as cellular phones, laptop personal computers and portable game players. However, “books” may be the most representative example of “portable” items. Stacks of paper - books -, on which words and visual images are printed, whether in handwriting or automatically, still exist even in this Internet era without going extinct because of their high convenience. Except for some large-sized books, we can carry them put in something including a bag. Regarding books belonging to us, we are allowed to freely draw lines and write something in them or cut off part of their pages. Books may be exactly what were originally created with the aim of being used as portable things because of their replication property that conveys information to a number people. Thus, art and books are completely opposite things in terms of the degree of the accessibility in that in the former the uniqueness is considered as a matter of high priority while in the latter the pluralism is deemed as its identity. If a book exists only one in this world and can be read only in a certain place, it would be extremely inconvenient for us to enjoy it. Nonetheless, this may sometimes provide us with not a bad experience.

　　Shizuoka Art Gallery put an end to twelve years of its activities in December 2009. The last exhibition held in the gallery was composed of the two shows entitled “THE LIBRARY - Art in the Form of ‘Books’ -” (guest curator: Seiji Shinohara) and “At this Place - Shizuoka Connecting the End with the Beginning”, respectively. In the former, artists throughout the country, including guest artists and publicly-offered artists, uniquely created and displayed books each of which existed only one in the world. In the latter, artworks made by creators associated with Shizuoka Prefecture were presented.
　　Let me give you some examples. For instance, Sayaka Harada’s “Ketsuen” [fig. 1] can be classified into the former. In this work, black-and-white photos of the artist herself and her blood-related people are posted on each page with their names, relationship and dates of birth. While flipping over the pages, you would come to feel as if the people taken in the pictures are close to you though they are closely related only to her. And the book would gradually make you imagine your own family history. This shows that this Harada’s book gives us an intimate impression because of its originality that it exists only one in this world. Concerning the latter, The “Monster Library” [fig. 2] created by PICOPICO would be the best example of it. The two-legged monster with its face in the form of an opened book is standing with its arms spreading. In its back, there is an A7-sized book named “Monster Guide”, in which pictures of one hundred of monsters originally created by the artist are posted. However, the work apparently seems to be nothing more or less than a monster doll. Besides this, the “Great Chiliocosmos” [fig. 3], which was made by Satoshi Uchiumi, who is known for his painting works created using dots, can be considered as a small object due to its minimum impression. In this creation, Uchiumi attempted to reconstruct his past painting series in a form of orihon (a book designed to be closed in a similar way to an accordion). The book is composed of 180 pages in which no less than 6,480 creations are included. A painting of 4mm square is lined 6 wide and deep (totally 36) on a page of 7cm square. By picking up the book and opening it, you would be drawn into a dense world.
　　After looking over the books which can be read only “at this place”, we are guided to another exhibition entitled “At this Place”. The four artists and one group participating in this exhibition are Kazuhiro Ishigami, Tatsuo Inagaki, Hisako Inui, Reiko Motohara and Wataridori-keikaku. Among them, I would like to focus on exhibits created by Wataridori-keikaku [fig. 4]. This unit composed of Aso Tomoko and Akiko Takeuchi visits places throughout Japan like a wataridori (migrant bird) to seek display spaces and subjects and create artworks and present them wherever they visit. In each place, it engages in a wide range of activities, such as showing oil paintings and installations as well as selling “travel postcards” created by putting oil paints by hand on black-and-white photos taken in various sites. In this exhibition, it not only presented works created in many places including Shizuoka Prefecture but opened a postcard shop in the “Street Festival in Shizuoka” on November 22 and 23 during the period of the exhibition. It took photos of customers and in front of them created picture postcards by coloring the photos by hand and displayed them. Thus, such Wataridori-keikau’s creations made having connections with certain places and people throughout all creating stages without being retreated into the world of the unit seem to include its lot of physical experiences. It would be notable that works created by Wataridori-keikaku give us a light impression due to the fact that they were made based on travelling various regions.

　　In Japan today the transportation system is very extensive. So, we can view originals of national treasures Buddhist statues or well-known artists’ creations collected by foreign museums only by visiting special exhibitions held in Japan without going to certain places in which exhibits originally belong. Therefore, when I hear of a high-quality exhibition held at a great distance, I cannot help concerning whether the show travels.
　　Although art has been originally considered as a thing created based on certain lands, it would be difficult for us to realize this since we are blessed with conveniences to travel. Nevertheless, there still remains some art enjoyed only at particular places. I found the courageousness in this exhibition in that it believed the power of “this place”. This conviction will lead to the opening of Shizuoka City Museum of Art in autumn 2010.
(Translated by Nozomi Nakayama)