"Travel Journal"
Travel Journal 2022
Mixed media, video installation
Dimension variable
Installation view (detail) :
「DOMANI: The Art of Tomorrow Exhibition 2022–23」
The National Art Center, Tokyo
Photo: Otsuka Keita + Inaguchi Shunta
Photo Courtesy: The Agency of Cultural Affairs
2022年の春、シュトゥットガルトでの研修を終えて帰国した。研修が決まったのは、新型コロナウイルス感染症が蔓延し始めた頃だ。瞬く間に世界中で感染が広がっていく。いったい世界はどうなってしまうのだろうか。準備していた海外での展覧会も中止や変更を余儀なくされた。研修に行くべきか、行かざるべきか。予定は未定になり、この時期の僕は、悶々とした日々を過ごすことになる。日本にいてもステイホーム、籠るならどこでも一緒じゃないか、謎ウイルスによる全世界的なパンデミックの最中に、別の国の知らない場所で生活するなんてことは、おそらく今後の人生でも無いだろう。僕は、不安を抱えながらも旅立つことにした。
お隣の世話好きな老夫婦や、困った時に手を差し伸べてくれた友人たち。彼らとの些細な触れ合いや出来事は、僕にとって大切なものになっていく。また、不確かさと向き合うことの可能性についてこれまで考えてきたが、この滞在は流動的で不確かな世界に生きていることをあらためて実感する日々だった。ポジティブなこともネガティブなことも引っ括めて、この世界線だからこそ繋がっていく未来がある。 研修のコンセプトは、「セルフポートレイトを巡る」だった。パンデミックが起きるなんて想像もできなかったし、計画とは異なった研修となったのだが、帰国してひとまずは、僕の記憶と記録の滞在記─トラベルジャーナル─から、セルフポートレイトを巡ろうと思う。 （ DOMANi・明日展2022-23 展覧会カタログp.42）
In spring 2022 I finished my time in Stuttgart and headed home. I had been accepted onthe program just as Covid-19 began to take hold, and in the blink of an eye, the virus had spread across the globe. What would become of the world? I was also forced to cancel overseas exhibitions that were in the pipeline. To head off on my studies, or not? That was the question. With all plans in hiatus, it was stressful time. Stay in Japan and I'd be staying home anyway... if my fate was to be closeted somewhere, surely the loca-tion was immaterial... living in an unfamiliar place in another country in the midst of the global spread of a mystery virus was hardly going to be the rest of my life, after all... Finally, in the spring of 2021, with some trepidation, I resolved to go. The kind elderly couple next door, the friends who were there with a helping hand when I needed it: such minor everyday interactions and incidents became personally precious. Another thing was that though I'd considered the possibilities of confronting uncertainty before, my stay in Stuttgart really reminded me, every day, of the uncer-tainty, the constant state of flux in the world we inhabit. Positive and negative all jumble together, and it is precisely this worldline that ensures there is a future to connect to. The concept for my studies was "going around the self-portrait." At the time when I applied for the program, never could I have predicted a pandemic, and my time on the OSP turned out different to what I'd planned, but having returned to Japan I think the first thing I will do is to go around the self-portrait from my memories, and from the travel journal that is the record of my stay.
(DOMANI: The Art of Tomorrow Exhibition 2022–23, exhibition catalogue p.42)
Travel Journal (detail)
(tabletop) Handmade postcards (posted from Germany), letters, newspapers, magazines, frame(instax film, plyeood)
「DOMANI: The Art of Tomorrow Exhibition 2022–23」 The National Art Center, Tokyo, Photo: Otsuka Keita + Inaguchi Shunta, Photo Courtesy: The Agency of Cultural Affairs
untitled album photo (Travel Journal) 4-22 2022
Chromogenic print
120×80cm
untitled album photo (Travel Journal/airport) 7-22 2022
Chromogenic print
41×27.5cm
untitled album photo (Travel Journal) 1-22 2022
Chromogenic print
120×80cm
From the series Travel Journal
untitled album photo (Travel Journal) A-2-22 2022
Instax film, plywood, fram
39.7×30.5cm
The copyright in these pictures and captions etc, are owened by Nobuyuki OSAKI.
No part of these works may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of Nobuyuki OSAKI
