I was invited to participate in the experimental art installation “Fantastic Voyage.

Seba-san (Sebastian Masuda) has lost a number of projects due to the Corona lockdown since last year. He went to Enryakuji Temple on Mt. Hieizan in Kyoto to ask himself what he could do with his art.

The monks he saw there were constantly “thinking” day in and day out.
That’s when I got the idea for this installation!

‘Now [in an isolated world],’ he said.
‘Now [in an isolated world],’ he said.
It’s the only positive act.”

It is the ultimate minimalist lifestyle of self-restraint. Without the Corona, humans could have traveled freely around the world, but everything was suspended.

In this art installation, a person sits in a moving shelter that can accommodate one person, lost in contemplation.

This must be the “Gordian Knot” for Seba. It made me think about the possibility of being the maximum by being the minimum.

It is only the human imagination that can propel civilization forward. Perhaps that is the power of art.

Although many parts of this project are still in the experimental stage, it is very much complete. The day when this work will be opened to the public as experiential art is eagerly awaited.

Nao Tazaki, thanks for inviting me to this great event!

Incidentally, “Fantastic Voyage” was the original title of the movie “Microcosmos” (1966).

P.S.: The Gordian Knot was a knot of the Phrygian city of Gordes in ancient Anatolia. The myth of Alexander the Great and the legend of Alexander the Great. By this legend, it is a metaphor for solving an unruly problem in a daring way that no one had thought of before.