21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, kanazawa

Artist IKEDA Manabu (1973–) depicts a monumental world using a super-fine pen point. Working slowly—he can complete only a fist-sized area in a single day— Ikeda manifests a surreal alien world, employing minute delineation and a flair for grand composition. His massive pictures have won him acclaim around the globe. This will be the first large-scale exhibition presenting the entire scope of Ikeda’s production. His Rebirth, a new work he spent three years creating during an artist residency at Chazen Museum of Art in Wisconsin USA, is a must see.

The meaning of PLAY is not limited to ‘activity engaged in for enjoyment and recreation.’ It is also a word that expresses active and aggressive acts in our daily life including ‘acting, performing, having a game, behaving and conducting oneself.’ Viewed in that light, our daily life is a succession of PLAY, which might be said to construct one’s personal life and in a broader sense, the culture of human beings.
In this exhibition, works by 12 collection artists are introduced focusing on the keyword of PLAY with manifold meanings. They show diverse expansion from works which encourage new discoveries and ideas through viewers’ experiences, to works in which the accumulation of artists’ daily acts and thinking as well as performance and competition are incorporated. We would like to think about how PLAY that is an essential function of humankind appears in the works and what kind of relationship viewers and artworks can develop through the exhibition. We hope that this exhibition itself will inspire viewers to get involved in various PLAYs.
Featured also is a small special exhibit of AWAZU Kiyoshi photographic works.

The development of the OTON GLASS was occasioned by the project leader’s father’s dyslexia. A device combining glasses with a camera, the OTON GLASS helps people read by changing visual written information into aural voice information. This exhibition follows the development of the OTON GLASS as an aid not only for dyslexia sufferers but also for people in many circumstances where reading characters is difficult, such as travelers walking in cities overseas. In the venue, a space will be established for wearing an OTON GLASS prototype and actually experiencing its functions, so as to make clear the developers’ methods of research toward achieving practical use. Visitors are invited to see the “research site” of a young start-up that is fusing existing technologies to develop a revolutionary new device.

Today, with the development scientific technologies such as artificial intelligence and biotechnology, long-standing social values are being vigorously shaken. This exhibition displays works concerned with the “migration” of life forms, ranging in spectrum from the transmigration of souls to the artificial creation of new species. We explore the meaning of creating new life forms and possibilities of living in “artificial nature.”

“What if sensitive human emotions could be translated into insects?” Based on this thought, Kawagoe Yurie embodies the workings of the heart in imaginary insect forms and evokes a world of illusion. Her “insectified” (not “personified”) motifs she furthermore fashions into insect specimens, thereby lending visibility the humorous and loveable aspects of our emotions.