Yasumasa Morimura Quotes

“Art is the ability to turn one’s gaze to the world of oblivion.” This is the way in which I understand art at fundamental level.

The artists could be dead, but some of them are not so distant from us, and make us feel as if they are alive with us. Such artists are worth calling “contemporary artists”.

Of course, I, like the sponsoring government, would like to have as many people as possible visit Yokohama Triennale. This is because I believe that art should not be monopolized by professionals and specialists.

“Triennale in the City” is a scheme that is of priority for the sponsoring local government. For many local governments, revitalization is an important mission for the local community, and, therefore, the attitude to achieve this mission through the cultural and/or artistic activities should not be denied.

To think about “oblivion” is to think about “what art is”.

Art is basically entertainment.

When we talk about contemporary art and contemporary artists, we usually imagine artists who are alive. But I feel very uncomfortable about placing a border between living artists and dead artists.

Taking photographs is generally an act of ‘looking at the object, whereas ‘being seen’ or ‘showing’ is what is most interest to one who does a self-portrait…self-portraits deny not only photography itself but the 20th century as an era as well…an inevitable phenomenon at the end of the 20th century.

The value of art is its ability to look into the “world of oblivion” and to find things that are generally unrecognized, forgotten, invisible and impossible to tell.

I have always thought that it would be nice to not complete the exhibition in one place and close off the others as a result. Exhibitions should connect with various locations and promote exchange and interaction.

I first wrote down all the phenomena that have emerged in contemporary society that I thought were related to this theme [“sea of oblivion”], and then sorted them out by grouping them into islands of ideas.

Even Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci were entertainers. In that way, I am an entertainer and want to make art that is fun.