mi El Camino 2018, mixed-medium installation In autumn 2018, I walked the so-called French Way of Camino de Santiago for 31 days in an unusual way: throughout the pilgrimage I used my body to trace and reenact former Japanese pilgrimsf experiences, referring to their past diaries that I collected mostly from the Internet, while also recording random events occurring just to me due to different situations and subjectivities. During my journey, I developed my own diary, composed of literally cut-and-pasted printed fragments of text by others (for the grepeatingh events) and my own handwriting (for gnewh experiences). The result is a peculiar collage of various personal memories beyond spacetime. In this exhibition, the project takes a form of mixed-medium installation, whose central element is a video documenting myself reading aloud gmyh diary. While the monotone voice flattens episodes originating from different individuals, self and others are differentiated by subtitles that do not accompany my unique stories. 
Installation views in Foreshadows at Tokyo Arts and Space Hongo, Tokyo, 2019; photo: Takahashi Kenji / photo courtesy: Tokyo Arts and Space |