21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, kanazawa

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.

“What if human emotions were expressed as insects?” Compelled by this thought, KAWAGOE Yurie (1987-) embodies the heart’s sentiments in imaginary insect figures and evokes a world of illusion. Her “insectified” (not “personified”) motifs she moreover arrays as insect specimens, thereby giving faces to our foolish, loveable emotions. Through her signature piece, “Insect Specimen of a Coward” and latest works, this exhibition will present Kawagoe Yurie’s world and the insect-like emotions she describes as “adorable.”

Denmark and Japan have become design-oriented nations, each following a path that springs f rom a unique background of history and culture. The countries’ excellent design solutions, inspired by a functional, practical, yet aesthetic approach, are reflections of their cultural identities.
Denmark has attracted tremendous attention as one of the most resilient design giants in the fields of architecture, furniture and everyday products
since the 1930s. The country established a model for wealthy nations with a highly developed social system with regard to welfare, education and traffic solutions. Japan, on the other hand, is a country which has developed the symbolic design of the time, based on its unique culture and philosophy. The technical expertise required to produce simple and compact shapes and the knowledge and experience to make the most of the material, with a craftsmanship passed down from generation to generation, demonstrate Japan’ s unique position in the global design arena.
This exhibition, Everyday Life – Signs of Awareness, showcases the impact of design-minded awareness through the works of designers, architects and artists
from Japan and Denmark. It also presents and highlights everyday items that are part of modern life in both countries.

Designer Jurgen Lehl lived closely with nature and continually reminded people of its precious value. As his “last work,” Lehl chose to attack serious environmental problems, and he created beautiful lamps using the plastic garbage washed up on beaches. Plastic, which does not decompose, attained a splendorous new utility in Lehl’s hands. Jurgen Lehl, who died suddenly in 2014, showed us what it means to live with respect for nature.

Simultaneous with the Exhibition "Everyday Life – Sign of Awareness"

A project to develop “Sight,” a device that extends sensual perception, thereby transforming visual experience into something entirely new. (Project members: WAKE Naoki, SUZUKI Ryohei, FUSHIMI Ryohei and MUNAKATA Yuri.) By changing visual imagery into sound, the device enables us to “hear” the visual world just as porpoises and bats use sound to capture prey. We look at the project’s progress and open the venue as an ongoing research lab.

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.”