環境が変われば評価も変わる。ならば自らが変わるのではなく、自分に合う環境をより多く選択出来るよう海外の発表も視野に入れた。しかし日本は海に囲まれているため、国外への作品輸送は空か海＋陸路が必須で、若い作家にはそのコストを賄えない。質量があるものは四方の海で国内に閉じ込められてしまう。そうなると作家活動を継続させるためにロジスティクスを考える必要がある。質量を伴わない知恵や経験だけを現地に移動させ、現地の物を仮説的に組み立て、展示後は分解し最小限に畳んで輸送してもらうという仮説を立てた。

それが実現可能か身を以て知るために自費でイギリスの大学院に留学した。しかし現実は過酷で、高額な授業料や当時のポンド高為替もあり極貧生活を強いられた。支出を極限まで切り詰めたので、素材は必然的に拾ったゴミや私物を使わざるを得なかった。素材選択のきっかけはそれで良いが、それだけだと単に貧乏だっただけで済まされてしまう。お金がなくて買えないのと、お金はあるが買わないのでは意味が違う。しかし留学中の1分1秒は、失敗の許されない出費に脳内換算され、その意味を検証する余裕を持てなかった。活動の変化を肯定的に体系化するには、目先の成果に捕らわれることなく、立ち止まる時間が必要だと考え、帰国後すぐに新進芸術家海外研修制度に申請した。

採択後は再度イギリスの地方都市であるエジンバラを拠点にし、 課題に押し進める形でスタジオ、素材、輸送、会場費といったランニングコストを限りなく0に設定し、場所に縛られない柔軟で軽やかな環境を整えた。従来の価値体系や時間の使い方から脱却しつつ、パブやホテル、エジンバラ城、遊休施設といった特殊な会場からインスパイアされる実践的な展示試みを続けた。技術向上や制作に集中するのではなく、特殊な環境と限られたリソースを固定化せずに、どう有機的に連動させられるかを鉛筆一本で世界を渡り歩くアラン・ジョンストンの元で研修した1年だった。

この時の場所を選ばない実践的な試行錯誤が、研修の翌年に招聘されたリヨンビエンナーレ2009への出品作品に繋がり、のちに続く様々な国際展参加への道を切り開いた。また研修した作家を支援する「DOMANI・明日展」（第17回、2014年）の参加以降は、海外だけでなく国内の展覧会にも呼ばれる機会が増えた。DOMANI 展では、国立新美術館の天井高がある空間を活かすべく、五重塔を象った新作の《リフレクション・モデル》を発表した。これは従来の水平性の強い作品に対し、天井と地面を繋ぐ縦軸の視点を新たに生むことに成功した。在研から10年の節目に当たる2017年のヴェネチアビエンナーレ・日本館での個展では、唯一旧作であるこの五重塔を展示に組み込むことで、全体が水平に流れてしまう視線を遮って緊張感のある回遊式空間を創出できた。

このようにヴェネチアの個展をはじめ国内外で活動を継続できた核には、作家として重要なターニングポイントで、生存に直結しない贅沢な時間と機会を、在研制度が陰ながら支援してくれたことがあると考えている。現在、未曾有のパンデミックによって様々な変更を余儀なくされている中、DOMANI 展が東京一極の開催から地方への展開を試みたように、作家も単に閉じてしまうのではなく新たな変化を求められている。

A change in environment can also mean a change in how one is perceived, or received. So rather than changing myself, I began to look at presenting work overseas, to access more, and more suitable environments. But because Japan is surrounded by water, shipping works abroad necessitates sending them by air or sea then overland – unaffordable for young artists. Anything remotely bulky therefore ends up being confined to Japan. So sustaining activities as an artist becomes in large part, a matter of logistics. Hypothetically, I thought, it should be possible to transfer only knowledge and experience – no bulk there – to the site, assemble stuff from there, and following display of the resulting work, dismantle it, pack it down to the most compact size possible, and have it shipped.

To find out first-hand if it were possible to do this, I took myself off to the UK for some postgrad study. But the reality was harsh, the high tuition fees and strength of the sterling at the time leaving me living virtually hand to mouth. Having tightened my belt as much as I could, for materials I had little option but to use the likes of rubbish I’d picked up, or my own personal belongings. Which of course serve perfectly well as materials, but if they are all you have, then in the end, it means you were just poor. There’s a difference between not being able to buy something because you don’t have the cash, and having the cash, but choosing not to buy it. Frantic mental calculation of my outgoings was a constant theme, with no margin for error, or room to scrutinize the meaning of my straitened circumstances. If I were going to make systematic changes to my practice in a positive way, I figured that instead of being obsessed with immediate results, I needed time to pause and take stock. So on returning to Japan, I promptly applied for the Overseas Study Program.

After being accepted, I once again based myself in Edinburgh, and keeping running costs as close to zero as possible in terms of studio space, materials, shipping, and venue hire, the idea being to further develop the approach conceived in my earlier Scottish sojourn, I put together a flexible, nimble-footed, non-site-specific environment, shaking off conventional value systems and ideas about the use of time to experiment with showing work under eminently practical conditions, inspired by unusual venues such as pubs and hotels, Edinburgh Castle, and idle facilities. Rather than concentrating on improving my techniques, or making things, I spent the year studying under artist Alan Johnston – who travels the world with just a pencil –learning how to organically connect unique environments and limited resources, while resisting fixed ideas.

This practical trial and error in diverse settings led to an invitation to exhibit at the Lyon Biennale in 2009, the year after my OSP studies, and opened doors to other, subsequent international shows. And since taking part in the ¬17th “Domani: The Art of Tomorrow” exhibition (2014) designed to support former OSP artists, I have been invited to more exhibitions both overseas and at home in Japan. At Domani, I made the most of the high-ceilinged space at NACT, to exhibit Reflection Model, a new work depicting a five-storied pagoda and its reflection. Emerging from this with some success was a new, longitudinal floor-to-ceiling perspective, in contrast to my previous works, which were notable for their horizontality. At my solo exhibition in the Japanese pavilion at the 2017 Venice Biennale, ten years after my OSP experience, by incorporating this pagoda as the sole older piece I was able to interrupt a line of sight that would otherwise have swept entirely along the horizontal, adding tension to the viewing swept entirely along the horizontal, adding tension to the viewing circuit.

I believe that the sideline support I received from the Overseas Study Program was a vital turning point for me as an artist, and in giving me time and opportunities not directly crucial to actual survival, has formed the core of my ability to continue my work both in Japan and elsewhere, starting with the show at Venice. As the unprecedented circumstances of a global pandemic now force so many changes upon us, just as Domani has this year experimented with shifting from a solely Tokyo event to include regional exhibitions, rather than simply shutting off, artists too are being required to make changes to the way they do things.