A young woman and two girls are in a house. Probably, they may be mother and her children. The children walk upstairs led by the woman. Reaching a room, they firstly come to be interested in an antique-styled chair. They race to the chair and fight over it. At that time, the woman makes them pay attention to some other thing - a hole in the white wall. The position of the hole is much higher than the children’s height, and there is a stepstool which has already been prepared. Then, the second object of the children’s concern is the hole. Going up on the stool to peep inside of the hole and stepping down from it - they repeat these acts again and again. “What is in the hole?” The sound of a trumpet starts to be heard from inside of the hole as if it arouses the children’s interest in the hole more intensely.
    This Yuki Okumura’s film work entitled “Echoesa small consert for Lina and Sayo” [fig. 2] gives us a similar image to that of a home video of a young families’ life. As the title includes the alphabet, “(B)”, this exhibit was made paired with another work named “Echoesa small consert for Lina and Sayo” [fig. 1]. These two creations are displayed keeping an adequate distance with each other. The work, “(A)”, shows a figure of a man who is making the sound of a trumpet which is exactly heard from inside of the hole. In this exhibition, the “(A)” is displayed directly attached on the wall along the stairs and the “(B)” is shown on a small monitor in an exhibition room upstairs. The two films show images of the very same time. After a while, the woman leads the children to another room where there is a man playing the trumpet. We are breathily moved by a scene in which the children solve a mystery of the sound of a trumpet and at that moment the two worlds which are depicted in the “(A)” and the “(B)” come to be connected with each other.

    Borderless Art Museum NO-MA was established as an alternative space in June 2004 with the aim of focusing on works created by disabilities and showing them together with common artists’ creations. This planned exhibition entitled “The way to be connected with this world - Touch the World” is held having appointed Kenjiro Hosaka (researcher, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo) as a curator and providing us with an opportunity to view creations which were made by a wide range of artists beyond differences of their positions. Exhibitors are the following eight artists: Sisui Akiba, Yuki Okumura, Rinko Kawauchi, Sumiko Naka, Hiroyuki Hashiguchi, Yoshito Matsuo, Hiroyasu Matsumoto and Hiroaki Morita. There are various kinds of exhibits, such as planar works, images and installations. Indeed, the title, “The way to be connected with this world”, seems to give us a little bit abstract impression, but almost all of the creations shown in this exhibition have one thing in common in that they were created based on a thing which is familiar to each artist, including an artist himself/herself and his/her daily life. Among all exhibits, the above-mentioned “Echoesa small consert for Lina and Sayo” gave me the most beautiful impression.
    Let me introduce some works displayed in this exhibition. In Hiroaki Morita’s film creation entitled “Clockwise” (2005-2008), there is a scene which was taken using fixed-point observation, in which articles for daily use, such as a pencil, a pair of pincers, a ruler, an eraser, a cigarette lighter and paper tape, have been littered. At a glance, there seems to be only image in which items have been scattered. Nevertheless, actually, a digital clock shows the process that the littered things consist the present “time”. In other words, the place of items continuously switches with each other. It is extremely wonder that there is a connection between the time which was displayed in the film work and the present time which viewers spend at the venue. The picture plane of a work which was created by Hiroyasu Matsumoto [fig. 3 and 4] is filled with patterns of varying colors and shapes. All of the patterns which are drawn in his creation give me an overwhelming impression in that they are tenaciously depicted using various kinds of motifs. Nonetheless, compared with works made by Yayoi Kusama and Yayoi Deki, Matsumoto’s work does not evoke a fear of space because of its thin drawings and colorfulness. As for this Matsumoto’s work, it is difficult for me to fix observing point and my eyes freely glide over the picture plane. This comfortableness is beyond all description. Hiroyuki Hashiguchi’s painting includes a mysterious scene which can be described as Surrealistic. Nevertheless, why is that magic scene depicted as if it exists naturally? This may be due to the fact that Hashiguchi could make a quick decision about what he depicted in the work. His creations seem to tell us that scenes which are depicted in them are important for the artist himself even though they are preposterous for others. Rinko Kawauchi’s “Cui Cui” (2005) is displayed at not NO-MA but Oga Showten which is located about three minutes’ walk from NO-MA. The “Cui Cui” is composed of family photographs which were taken by Kawauchi on a daily basis over thirteen years, from 1992 to 2005. Pictures which are shown at intervals of a few seconds express both joys of life and sorrows of death. Nevertheless, all the photos give me a bright impression. This must be because Kawauchi basically affirms living itself.

    I apologize for having written this article at great length, but lastly it would be notable that this exhibition allowed me to concentrate on viewing exhibits. This may have been due to the fact that all the creations are displayed focusing on showing them, though I am not sure whether all exhibitions in the venue are always held using such a display form as mentioned above since it was the first time for me to visit the space. In the venue, there cannot be found any obtrusive descriptions about creations. Viewers get the minimum information of exhibits, such as names of artists, titles of works and their created year (there is nothing written about even names of materials which were used to create exhibits!). In fact, a floor guide which we can get at the reception of the venue includes brief introductions of artists, but it provides us with only little supporting information in viewing exhibits and it does not refer to each artist’s birth date and career. Thus, this exhibition is not held under the concept of admiring “pure” expression of “outsider art” which is often found in other planned exhibitions which have similar characteristics to those of this exhibition. This must be the reason the exhibition succeeds in showing us creations without filters called “preconceptions”. This exhibition represents one practical and critical accomplishment of releasing pervasion of art which is due to “preconceptions”. I would like to expect the perspective in this exhibition to extend toward the outside of the venue.
(Translated by Nozomi Nakayama)