中田一志　Kazushi Nakada

I had the opportunity to learn about Japanese Buddhism from my local region as well as Tibetan Esoteric Buddhism. Simply, I was influenced by the interpretation of "time" and "end." And it reminded me of something my grandmother told me once when I was very small: "Kazushi, when we are born, we are given a certain amount of time from the gods." Some get long, some get short.... and when time is up, we're gone. People pass away naturally……they do not die because of a car accident or illness. They had completed their sentence, which is why they left. We are sad because we cannot talk to them. However, this does not imply that they have vanished. "They are always around." I replied, "How much time do you think I have left?" "And where do I go next?" The buried objects will be there until they are found. Actually, they might not be found at all. To be honest, I have the impression that they may exist in the "next" that I imagined when I was a child.

 

You can make anything in art these days. There are huge sculptures, installations with high-tech digitalized systems, and environmental art using buildings. Creativeness seems to be endless. I have also done such work and may do so again in the future. In this project, many basic elements of art are missing compared to my previous artwork. A part of an art object is buried, and we cannot see it anymore. In a way, those art objects are "undone." One’s episodic memory plays an important role in this project. But it is someone’s memory. Is it possible to refer to one's "episodic memory" as artwork, despite the fact that I planned...These are not tangible or sensational, but the project is very suggestive, and it makes me think about many things.

 

We do not know what is going to happen to the project or what kind of art will exist in the future. However, whether or not I exist, whether or not art exists, my archaeology project exists in nature and in one's memory and will continue to do so in the future.