21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa

SCAN THE WORLD initially began as a project for a zine we made for an event. We would always use copier scanners to make zines and graphics, so the idea was to take it outdoors. We grabbed a portable handy-scanner we could find and paraded through Shibuya all night long.
Going outside with a portable scanner you start to notice the striking images all around. Old outer walls, signboards, the ground, plants and trees, garbage, street signs, cars, vending machines, bronze statues; the city is an accumulation of diverse images. Collecting them using handy-scanners requires your body to be in physical contact with the objects you are scanning. If you find an interesting image, you need to get to where it is. Your physical traits manifest in the scanned image creating unique qualities. As we became more aware of this through our practice we began building rules for STW. The project has continued until now as an open project of play using the city, rather than a process of creation simply for us.
The city and the world are full of diverse materials. By recognizing and utilizing them, we may turn the world we see daily into a playground, without anyone even knowing.
This time STW is overtaking Kanazawa, the rules are wider than before. It’s a place where people from all walks of life can interact with each other. We invite you to come play with us in the city.

BIEN

SCAN THE WORLD was the name BIEN had given to a form of play we had invented. The famous pop song “We Are The World” written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, which was made for African famine relief, inspired him. “Not sure but sounds interesting, let’s go with it” was my response as we decided to pursue these ideas. I would like to take this opportunity to dig a little deeper into the word “scan”.
As I looked into the word scan, I discovered it originates from the Latin word scandō, meaning to climb. During the Latin language’s integration to European languages, the meaning seems to have shifted to scannen. Scannen means to check carefully, applied at the time to the verses and metrical structure of Latin poetry. Following the rise of electronics scan finally came to mean “taking in and processing information digitally” as we use it. The action that the word describes seems to have shifted from a basic human behavior to that of reading classical poetry with passion, and then to taking information in with a digital device.
After the arrival of the Information Age where information is transmitted in high speed and large quantities, all sorts of scanned information is flying around. Now there are infordemics, filter bubbles and information gaps, which are all extremely serious issues. However our view of the world seems to be becoming somehow more narrow and closed off.
My hope is SCAN THE WORLD will be a practice of play where people are reminded of the joys of exploring the world hands on, by climbing walls, carefully examining, and taking in digital information.

ISHIGE Kenta

Go outside

Look carefully

Touch and Feel

Picture what has been and what will be

Notice the difference between day and night

Bring home images

Keep walking

Take it easy

The exhibition series “Aperto” introduces up-and-coming young artists in a solo exhibition format. As an art museum actively engaged with the contemporary world, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa looks closely at new trends now in the process of forming. Artists and curators collaborate in creating occasions for exhibiting works and act as an intermediary between today’s creation and that of the future. This exhibition series looks at individual artists who, although having little experience with solo or important group exhibitions at art museums, possess sufficient creative motivation to command a solo exhibition and who are expected to make a significant impact in the future. Artists are selected without regard for their nationality or expressive media by the curator at 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. Note: “Aperto” is Italian for “open.”