“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.” FirstsIdeasSeaContemporaryIslandsRelatedThemeOblivionContemporary Society Author:Yasumasa Morimura
“I planned the exhibition so that it becomes a story where the viewer travels through these islands [of ideas]. Whether the contents of each chapter came first or the artist came first in making the decision was different in each case.” FirstsIdeasDifferentStoriesArtistDecisionCasesIslandsChaptersViewersExhibitions Author:Yasumasa Morimura
“"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.” WorldWayArtTurnsAbilityLevelsArt IsFundamentalsOblivion Author:Yasumasa Morimura
“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.” WorldLooksArtValuesAbilityImpossibleArt IsForgottenInvisibleOblivion Author:Yasumasa Morimura
“To think about "oblivion" is to think about "what art is".” ThinkingArtArt IsOblivion Author:Yasumasa Morimura
“Of course, the process of curating is different from art making. Exhibition-making is a process that involves collaboration with various participating artists.” ArtDifferentArtistCoursesProcessVariousCollaborationParticipatingExhibitionsArt Making Author:Yasumasa Morimura
“I was worried that I, the artist Morimura, would have conflicts with the participating artists and develop a strenuous relationship with them. But the actual experience was completely the opposite. The artists accepted my requests rather positively, because it came from a fellow artist. I strongly feel that the fact that my being an artist avoided the usual curator vs artist tension, and led to creating a positive atmosphere as well as developing a solidarity amongst artists and building a community for artists.” FeelsWellsFactsArtistCommunityBuildingConflictCreatingOppositesFellowsAcceptedDevelopingWorriedAtmosphereTensionUsualSolidarityPositivelyAvoidedRequestParticipatingBeing An ArtistCurator Author:Yasumasa Morimura
“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.” FeelsArtArtistAliveImagineContemporaryBordersUncomfortableContemporary Art Author:Yasumasa Morimura
“By putting a border line between life and death, we separate the world of death from our world of life, casting the dead away into the "world of oblivion".” WorldLinesBordersLife And DeathOur WorldCastingOblivionBetween Life And Death Author:Yasumasa Morimura
“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".” IfsFeelsArtistAliveCallingContemporary Author:Yasumasa Morimura