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It just happened naturally.ĪRT iT: Although it incorporates heavy doses of humor and parody, your “2nd Floorism” manifesto seems to be calling for a new humanism in response to neoliberal capitalism.
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That didn’t come out of some advance decision or conscious opposition to real estate developers. It’s just that when I searched my heart to see what kinds of homes and neighborhoods I truly like, it turned out to be slums. Since I am clearly originally from the lower class, I thought it’s better to maintain that stance and engage with Obayashi and Mori without any posturing. As someone right about in the middle, who neither wags his tail nor bares his fangs at the big guys, I decided to avoid it as a theme altogether. In fact, it was my decision not to go that far. With both the Mori show and this show, there may be those who were hoping for a more extremist angle from me and feel cheated that I didn’t bare my fangs and make works that directly critique those corporations. In that sense, I guess I’m on the side of the low-income earners, or maybe a bit toward the middle. Many of my peers and friends who are contemporary artists don’t make enough money to get by. So should artists like me be grouped with the economic winners of the big corporations, or the low-income earners who get exploited? Now that I’ve started earning a bit, maybe I’m rising up somewhat, but until a while ago I was clearly on the bottom.
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I mean, I’ve never had the kind of life that would allow me to live in the properties handled by Obayashi Corporation and Mori Building, and it’s only through exhibitions like this that I can have any connection with them. I recently came to the realization that I only like living in two-story homes, and that informed this exhibition. In any case, I’ve never lived in a building that was more than two stories high, and the idea of living any further off the ground than that disturbs me, so although it’s mostly unconscious, that’s been the basis for how I’ve chosen my homes so far. MA: I did my show at the Mori Art Museum several years ago, and of course there are business connections between the museum and the Obayashi Corporation – and now I’m working with the Obayashi Foundation. You have to pay a premium to stay there, and the people without money are treated as so many weeds to be cleared away. The fabric of Tokyo’s neighborhoods is changing, and the land is being rapidly monetized by developers – with Roppongi Hills being the prime example of this. In advance of the 2020 Olympics we are seeing more and more real estate development projects here in Tokyo, and it almost seems that as soon as an elderly person living in a single-family home dies, the land is sold and redeveloped into a multistory tower. All images: Unless otherwise noted, installation view, “Ground No Plan,” photo Kei Miyajima, © Makoto Aida, courtesy Mizuma Art Gallery, Tokyo.ĪRT iT: We were just talking about your work Weed Cultivation and the organic way that shantytowns come together. “Ground No Plan,” installation view, Aoyama Crystal Building, Tokyo, 2018.