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Yoshiaki Kaihatsu "Art is Live - Welcome to One Person Democracy"
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
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Artists
Yoshiaki Kaihatsu
This is the first major exhibition dedicated to Yoshiaki Kaihatsu (1966–) held at a museum in Tokyo. Since the beginning of his career in the 1990s, the artist has devoted himself to artistic activities that involve and provoke communication, with an underlying interest in familiar events, such as everyday life and social occurrences.
The forms of expression he employs are diverse, ranging from the production of drawings, photographs, performances, and installations to everyday tasks, workshops at schools and in communities, and proposing and advocating Thank You Art Day, which designates March 9 (the pronunciation of “3 9” resembles “thank you” in Japanese) as the day to celebrate art. Among them, the ongoing projects offer a glimpse into the philosophy behind his endeavors. Future Post Office, in which a letter one writes to oneself or a friend arrives after a year, 100 Teachers, in which classes are conducted under the slogan, “Everyone is a teacher, everyone is a student,” and Mole TV, which invites diverse guests to the underground studio, all mimic the existing formats- the postal service, education, and mass media- while suggesting an equal relationship between the message’s sender and receiver.
Dragon Chair, a workshop that started at school in Fuchu, invited children to express themselves—without worrying about what others think—through chairs, which are linked together to form a dozens-meter-long dragon. In 2011, the artist began a charity exhibition, Daylily Art Circus (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014), with his artist and personal friends. The project collected donations, traveling from Western Japan, the region struck by the Great Hanshin and Awaji Earthquake, to the areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant accident. His interaction with people in the disaster-stricken regions and experiences at the sites led to other projects in Fukushima, such as The House of Politicians (2012–) and Cotoba Library (Library of Words), which collects vanishing dialects. These projects, in which Kaihatsu hears individuals’ faint voices and calmly continues to do what he can do, can be described as “side-by-side activism.”
Kaihatsu’s gestures of personally intervening in social structures, systems, communities, and events have come to characterize his practice: the late Osamu Ikeda (former director of BankART1929) called it “One Person Democracy*.” “Democracy,” a term premised on everyone’s participation, may seem to contradict “one person.” However, precisely because these movements are not united, individuals can react to each other, and the reaction successively involves people and results in an action.
Many of his extensive and diverse artistic activities are not intended to be in a collection or exhibited at museums, and this has limited opportunities to overview his career of over thirty years. Yoshiaki Kaihatsu: Art Is Live - Welcome to One Person Democracy presents about fifty works and projects by the artist, who has confronted everyday events and social changes firsthand.
*Osamu Ikeda, “One Person Democracy,” Yoshiaki Kaihatsu, BankART1929, 2014
The forms of expression he employs are diverse, ranging from the production of drawings, photographs, performances, and installations to everyday tasks, workshops at schools and in communities, and proposing and advocating Thank You Art Day, which designates March 9 (the pronunciation of “3 9” resembles “thank you” in Japanese) as the day to celebrate art. Among them, the ongoing projects offer a glimpse into the philosophy behind his endeavors. Future Post Office, in which a letter one writes to oneself or a friend arrives after a year, 100 Teachers, in which classes are conducted under the slogan, “Everyone is a teacher, everyone is a student,” and Mole TV, which invites diverse guests to the underground studio, all mimic the existing formats- the postal service, education, and mass media- while suggesting an equal relationship between the message’s sender and receiver.
Dragon Chair, a workshop that started at school in Fuchu, invited children to express themselves—without worrying about what others think—through chairs, which are linked together to form a dozens-meter-long dragon. In 2011, the artist began a charity exhibition, Daylily Art Circus (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014), with his artist and personal friends. The project collected donations, traveling from Western Japan, the region struck by the Great Hanshin and Awaji Earthquake, to the areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant accident. His interaction with people in the disaster-stricken regions and experiences at the sites led to other projects in Fukushima, such as The House of Politicians (2012–) and Cotoba Library (Library of Words), which collects vanishing dialects. These projects, in which Kaihatsu hears individuals’ faint voices and calmly continues to do what he can do, can be described as “side-by-side activism.”
Kaihatsu’s gestures of personally intervening in social structures, systems, communities, and events have come to characterize his practice: the late Osamu Ikeda (former director of BankART1929) called it “One Person Democracy*.” “Democracy,” a term premised on everyone’s participation, may seem to contradict “one person.” However, precisely because these movements are not united, individuals can react to each other, and the reaction successively involves people and results in an action.
Many of his extensive and diverse artistic activities are not intended to be in a collection or exhibited at museums, and this has limited opportunities to overview his career of over thirty years. Yoshiaki Kaihatsu: Art Is Live - Welcome to One Person Democracy presents about fifty works and projects by the artist, who has confronted everyday events and social changes firsthand.
*Osamu Ikeda, “One Person Democracy,” Yoshiaki Kaihatsu, BankART1929, 2014
Schedule | Aug 3 (Sat) 2024-Nov 10 (Sun) 2024 Opening Hours Information
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| Fee | Adults ¥1500; University Students, Seniors 65 & Over ¥1100; High School and Junior High School Students ¥600; Elementary School Students and under free. | ||||
| MuPon | 10% discount / Up to 2 people / Not valid for sets. No other discounts.  Download the TAB app to get a discount on entry to this event. ※Paid subscriber only | ||||
| Website | https://www.mot-art-museum.jp/en/exhibitions/art-is-live/ | ||||
| Venue | Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo https://www.mot-art-museum.jp/en/ | ||||
| Location | 4-1-1 Miyoshi, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-0022 | ||||
| Access | 9 minute walk from exit B2 at Kiyosumi-shirakawa Station on the Hanzomon line, 14 minute walk from exit 3 at Kiba Station on the Tozai line. | ||||
| Phone | 050-5541-8600 (Hello Dial) | ||||
| Related images | Click on the image to enlarge it |
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