「スケール（尺度）」をテーマとし日用品を素材に作られた私達の作品にとって、住居として設計された庭園美術館での展示は、ホワイトキューブの空間とは異なり、作品における文脈が大きく変わります。そのため、作品の特徴を最大限に活かしながら、空間との関係性を重視する展示を試みました。例えば書庫では、開館当初から不在の梯子と本に代わり旧作の「梯子」と「豆本の山」を設置する、というように部屋の用途や逸話を元に、遊び心を持って空間に介入し室内構成を展開しています。私達にとってその行為は、展覧会のテーマである‘装飾’につながるインテリアデコレーションであり、同様の試みは新作にも発展させています。「Jewelry Room」に使用した暖炉には煙突がなく、室内装飾として設えられたもので、火が灯されたことがありませんでした。その事実をきっかけに、館内の照明のデザインを引用し、アクセサリーを再構成した小さなシャンデリアを暖炉の中に輝かせることにしました。また、実際に館内で使用されていた壁紙をイタリアから取り寄せて暖炉の壁面を飾る等、館内の装飾を意図的に取り込み、小さな暖炉の中に集約することで、普段展示には利用されない空間が、新しい役割を担って活用されます。

 

もう一点の新作「In the wardrobe」では、館内の数少ない家具から生活感のある洋服ダンスを選び、衣服や服飾品を素材にした作品を配置しました。素材のもつ風景などの絵柄や幾何学模様の刺繍の装飾を観察すると、装飾箇所が立体刺繍やレース編みといった装飾的な技法や表現を自ずと示してくるように感じました。これまで使用しなかった装飾性の高い素材を選択したことで、想像力を喚起させる装飾の力に気付きました。作品では、洋服ダンスの中に、春夏秋冬の自然の様相と四季が繰り返される大きな時の流れを閉じ込めるよう表しています。

 

数あるセカンドハンドの品々から選び抜いた新作の素材であるアイテムは、オークションやリサイクルショップで所有者に手放され販売されていたものです。それらの不要品の装飾を引き立てることによって作品に変換しています。私達がこれまで素材として使用してきた身の回りにあるものも、大量に生産され使い捨てられてしまうものです。時に装飾を伴って細やかに手を加えると、唯一無二のものへと変容します。装飾は、何の変哲もないものに新たな価値を与える力がある、と私達は思います。

 

英訳

For our work that is based on the theme of “scale” and is made using everyday objects, exhibiting in the Teien Art Museum that was originally designed as a residence, unlike the space of a white cube, serves to significantly change the context of the work. It is for this reason that we attempted a means of presentation that maximized the characteristic features of the works while emphasizing their relationship with the space. For example, in the library we installed two of our former works entitled Ladder and A pile of Miniature Books in place

of the ladder and books that have been absent from the room since the initial museum’s opening. In this respect we drew inspiration from the uses and anecdotes of the various rooms and came to develop the interior composition through intervening with the space in a spirit of playfulness. For us this act is a means of interior decoration that links to the very theme of this exhibition, and similar attempts have also been developed into new works. The fireplace that was appropriated in the work Jewelry Room no chimney and was installed for purpose of decoration, thus its fire had never been lit. Taking this fact into account, we decided to reference the design of the museum’s lighting to create a small shining chandelier within the fireplace by means of reconstructing an item of accessory. Furthermore, we ordered the same wallpaper from Italy that is used throughout the museum to adorn the walls of the fireplace. By intentionally incorporating the decorations present within the museum and consolidating them to this small fireplace, a space that is ordinarily not used for exhibition is utilized and comes to take on a new role.

 

In the other new work entitled In the Wardrobe, we selected a wardrobe that had a once-used feel from amongst the very few furniture that remained in the residence, and within it installed pieces that appropriated clothing and accessories as their material. When observing the designs such as that of landscapes as well as the embroidered geometric patterns in the material, we saw that these decorated sections naturally informed us of decorative techniques and expressions such as three-dimensional embroidery and lacework. By selecting highly decorative materials that we had never worked with before, we came to recognize decoration’s ability to evoke imagination. In this work, as enclosed inside the wardrobe, we convey the aspects of nature seen respectively in the spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and the extensive passage of time in which these seasons are repeated.

 

The items that serve as the materials for the new works have been selected from amongst various secondhand objects, and were those that had been given away by their former owner to be sold in auctions and recycle stores. We have transformed these unwanted items into works by complementing and emphasizing their decorations. The things that we find in our surroundings, which we had previously used in producing work, are also the kinds of things that are mass-produced and discarded. When decoration is appropriated and applied with fine and delicate handiwork, it at times can transform into something that is entirely unique. We believe that decoration has the ability to instill new value in the most commonplace of things.

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https://www.teien-art-museum.ne.jp/exhibition/171118-180225_decoration.html