Hirosaka area
KAWAMATA Tadashi
Drawing for Kanazawa Squatters’ Project 2018, 2018 © Tadashi Kawamata
Artist Statement
Kawamata: Kanazawa Squatters’ Project
For this international exhibition held as part of the “Culture Citiy of East Asia” program of Kanazawa City, I planned a project of turning an entire building located close to the museum into a work of art. This project was made possible through the good offices of the owner of the Hakuichi Building, who agreed to rent the whole building to me during the exhibition period.
I will stay in the building and work on the project while also introducing my earlier work. And I hope to present the building in its entirety, both inside and out, as a work of art. Come to think of it, this creative endeavor is drawn from the series of apartment projects conducted from around 1982 to 1986.
The work may appear an abruptly-materialized unknown object, totally incongruous with the surrounding landscape, which includes the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa.
It is my hope, however, that something different will come into view from this standpoint.
But first, come and experience this Squatters’ Building for yourself.
KAWAMATA Tadashi, Paris, March 2018
Born in 1953 in Hokkaido, Japan. In 1979 he graduated from the fine arts department of Tokyo University of the Arts with a focus in oil painting, and in 1984 he withdrew from the PhD program at the same university. Beginning with the Venice Biennale (1982), “PS1 Project” (New York, 1985), documenta (Kassel, 1987 and 1992), São Paulo Biennale (1987) and others, he participated in many projects and exhibitions both domestically and abroad. He received high praise for work that utilizes temporary assemblages of waste materials in and around existing structures such as abandoned buildings, creating strong relationships with the surrounding environment by drawing on its meaning and altering it through dissimilation. He was the 2005 Yokohama Triennial General Director. Since 2007 he has served as a professor at National School of Fine Arts, Paris.