We are pleased to present a selection of works from KIKA cas’s collection, KIKA collection: Vaporous vol. 3, at HIGURE 17-15cas in Tokyo’s Nishi-Nippori neighborhood.

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

Masaru Iwai’s prints reveal the classifications we inherently assign in society by attaching loaded adjectives of “clean” and “dirty” to various objects and ideas.
An Onghena sheds light on the art book as a medium and its imagined landscapes by disseminating a hand-bound book into the gallery with a handmade knife.
In tandem, Jun’ichiro ISHII’s three images explore the delicate tension between the material and the conceptual.
Inspired by the 1970 Osaka Expo, Mizuki Kajihara’s work interrogates the concept of “imagination” in response to today’s materialistic society.
In contrast, Yuka Emi’s objects suggest uncertain truths lurking in our daily lives through the strange harmony of disparate materials.
Kei Ota’s practice of automatic painting may offer a way to abstract ruptures within our society through imagination.
On the other hand, the video by Ecem Dilan Köse, generated through algorithms, appears to reflect the question of “beauty” in a future where artificial intelligence is increasingly embedded within the fabric of social infrastructure.