KIKA contemporary art space (KIKA cas) is pleased to present KIKA collection - Kūkitai (vaporous), the first group exhibition at our new location in Kamigyo Ward.

Since 1990, contemporary art has repeatedly permeated various visual images in our social lives combined with other trends in globalization. It has transformed into something different from previous periods and, according to Yves Michaud, has vaporized (kika) into a gaseous state that lingers all over the world. [*]Ogura masashi chosaku sensū gendai āto wa doko e iku [Where is Contemporary Art Going?: Masashi Ogura Selected Writings]. Tokyo, Suiseisha Co Ltd., 2022
[*] L’Art à l’état gazeux : essai sur le triomphe de l’esthétique, 2003

Sander Wassink uses technology to engage in dialogue with the environment, reframing a beer can found along a riverbank not as a "sign of environmental destruction," but as something already part of the natural landscape. Kiborio Takase deconstructs painting down to its most basic components, questioning its form and phenomenology. Manabu Kanai’s structures illustrate mass’s orbital trajectories and possibilities.

Jens Sundheim's prints, developed under moonlight, invite us to see the familiar world around us at a different pace. Yuka Emi’s objects suggest uncertain truths lurking in our daily lives through the strange harmony of disparate materials. Kei Ota’s scale model for a future production explores the boundary between “painting” and “performer” through the theatricality of paintings.

Produced during her residency in Ibaraki, Mizuki Kajihara’s Minyo explores the communication of "sound," which inherently resists textual description. Formed in 2021, URUSHI PROJECT (Junichiro ISHII / Ryuji Onari / Mizuki Kajihara) challenges contemporary society’s notions of rationality by irrationally applying urushi lacquer to urushi lacquer trees.

Just as matter leaves traces as it evaporates and alters form, the definition of contemporary art continues to change shape and influence every aspect of society. This exhibition re-examines the diverse range of contemporary art, indicative of its abstract and expansive “vaporous” state.