KIKA contemporary art space (KIKA cas) is pleased to present KIKA collection - Kūkitai (vaporous) vol.2, 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

Through her photographs of reeds taken around Mount Fuji, Antoinette Nausikaä captures glimpses of harmony that lurk between city and nature. Masaru Iwai’s prints reveal the classification structures innately present in society by attaching loaded adjectives of “clean” and “dirty” to various objects and ideas. Kuo-Wei Lin’s print, made by transferring heat onto thermal paper through a processed metal plate, depicts the invisible forces and movements of temperature and air. In a performance where she disassembled a hand-bound book with a handmade knife and distributed it in the gallery, An Onghena shed light on the art book as a medium and revealed its imagined landscapes. Junichiro Ishii’s work symbolizes current issues of division and coexistence, inspired by popular 14th-century souvenir plates from Cyprus. In contrast, Kei Ota’s practice of automatic painting may offer a way to abstract ruptures within our society through imagination.

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.