1 - Toji Kamata

URL: Toji Kamata | Global Philosophy of Religion Project | Shinto

In this video, Toji Kamata clarified what true Shinto is. This subject has been the most ambiguous for many Japanese. This is because it is often referred to by 'non-religious people'. This is because Shinto, which originally existed in Japan, and Buddhism, which came from Central Asia, are ambiguously mixed in people's spirituality. We live with a vague perception of Shinto as a cultural practice, and without knowing what our identity is. This must seem very strange when compared to other religions. But on the other hand, it can also be said that we are in a position to naturally accept diverse religious beliefs and ways of thinking without denying them.

And he states that the most important concept in Shinto is “place”. This is because Shinto ideas are intended for the climate and environment of Japan. Furthermore, since ancient times Japan has been living side by side with various natural disasters such as earthquakes, typhoons and volcanic eruptions, and the fact that nature itself is something awe-inspiring that humans have no control over is considered to be a major factor in the people's mentality.

In his book "Memories of Sacred Places: The Body of Japan," he explains the folk tales and legends associated with these places, linking them to Shintoism. For example, a story about an entrance into Eden in Shambala, Tibet, connected to Mount Kurama in Kyoto. Mount Kurama is also famous for the legend of Tengu(heavenly goblin), and folk tales about them are believed to exist. These stories are considered urban legends, but when talking about the world of the spirit, they seem to be a metaphor for the truth. It may be linked that since anthropomorphism is also present in modern anime and manga culture, the Tengu legend may be considered an urban legend created by the local climate. Thus, when we unravel the history of stories in Japan, we can see that the Shinto idea of awe of nature as a living creature has continued uninterruptedly.

2 - David Hockney: Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away)

The cubic space, with its vast projection, was a new experience. David Hockney's perspective on space, his love of nature and his exploration of natural details were familiar to my research. This project is structured with 'spatiality' in mind, but it also presents his expression in the visible world, the meaning of seeing and drawing, which he has been searching for during his long career. He said: “In photography, you are not really looking. But when you are painting one blade of grass, you are looking, and when you look at another blade of grass, you are always looking more.”

In other words, the act of painting invites us to see more than what we are seeing. So how does the act of taking pictures differ from drawing? I would say that photography’s results show more detail than painting, but the act itself is perceived as a seizing of space. Moreover, he said crucial critical phrases in part of this work, Perspective Lesson: “The whole of landscape experience is really spatial. It’s a spatial experience. We like space. I mean, I do. I’m a space freak, really. Actually my sister once said to me that she thought space was God. I thought that was rather poetic in a way.”

He mentioned that there is no centre of focus in the Grand Canyon. I guess this is because when he photographed the landscape, he likened it to the function of a camera, which is like a panoramic photograph where the focus is set on the entire screen. We certainly feel the whole landscape, but it is not in a perspective way of eyesight. His experience emphasises that we understand space more sensibly with the total of our senses.

3 - ChRIstian Boltanski: Animitas

I found a familiar concept of sounds in Christian Boltanski's work Animitas (Spanish for 'little soul'). The work is an installation in a remote open field as a tribute to small roadside altars dedicated to the dead. The first work in the series was set in the Atacama Desert in Chile, where Boltanski used 300 wind chimes to recreate the starry sky he saw in the southern hemisphere. The series then moved to Teshima in Japan, the island of Orléans in Quebec and along the shores of the Dead Sea in Israel, in various forms, in order to unite Boltanski's personal history with the stories of each location.

The installation was developed as a video work and seen on display at a museum in Tokyo. The Animitas video, shot in one cut from sunrise to sunset, was combined with a carpet of grasses and flowers. The plants and flowers naturally transform with the passage of time, and the sound of wind chimes, reminiscent of what Boltanski called “the music of the stars, the voice of the drifting soul”, gently echoed through the exhibition space. The series evokes an airy feeling, like a passageway between different places, even if it is between nature and the city.

Many years after seeing the video works, I actually visited Teshima to see the works. There, the space and experience of the viewer was felt to be an integral part of the work. I thought it was emphasised that the artwork was only a contribution to the place. When Christian Boltanski talked about an exhibition he had done in a church in the past, he said: “Ideally, the people who came would not realise that there was a contemporary artwork there”. This is evident in his other work, where he builds his pieces around the memory and spirituality of the place itself. In particular, the slightest sound when someone passes by a wind chime or when the wind blows establishes a momentary relationship between nature and the artwork.