Tokyo Street View

Kai Sano, Yu Suzuki, Souya Handa

Curated by Souya Handa

Venue: Red and Blue Gallery (Tokyo)

Dates: 22 June - 6 July 2019

The catastrophic event that struck eastern Japan in 2011 served as a catalyst for reevaluating the condition of the city. Tokyo, with its concentration of government agencies and major corporate headquarters, experienced administrative and economic paralysis. The shutdown of nuclear power plants and subsequent rolling blackouts heightened the sense of impending crisis, even for me as a high school student residing in western Japan at the time.

However, as eight years have elapsed since then, Tokyo seems to have taken a different trajectory than anticipated. Urban areas are witnessing an influx of people as rural regions face depopulation, while the Olympics contribute to the renewal and strengthening of Tokyo's architectural landscape. Artists are now employing unique perspectives to depict the evolving cityscape, specifically focusing on street views that are in a constant state of flux.

Kai Sano's artworks encapsulate the essence of the city as a cohesive entity. In Gazed Landscape, he peeks through a hole in a wall to reveal a city veiled in ashes. This dark urban landscape transcends the physicality of a mere concrete jungle, transforming into an abstracted conceptualization of urban existence.

Sano's Particle Drawing series showcases charcoal sketches of a city shrouded in darkness, juxtaposed against a sturdy concrete board. The delicate charcoal particles on the paper harmonize with the tangible solidity of the concrete, creating a unified composition. This interplay evokes the image of Tokyo, where the unstable nature of the urban landscape, susceptible to change at any moment, coexists with the tangible reality of the cityscape itself.

Yu Suzuki's artworks capture the city as an architectural entity. As a photographer with a background in architecture, Suzuki focuses on renowned post-modernist architects like Kenzo Tange and Kunio Maekawa. His "Architecture" series comprises large-format prints, partially framed to provide viewers with Suzuki's unique perspective, steeped in architectural expertise. The blurred and unsteady images of roof supports serve as a reminder of the final stage of "architecture," destined to be demolished to make way for the urban development of future generations.

Souya Handa's artworks approach the city through the lens of objects. His "Lost Property" series is a conceptual art endeavor that involves capturing images of lost and found items with a camera at hand. The distinction between lost and found and mere trash lies in the presence or absence of the desire to possess those objects, reflecting the artist's contemplation of parting with possessions. Handa's photographs of these items provide glimpses into the hidden human activities that transpire in the city's underbelly. Furthermore, Handa actively shares these images on social networking sites using the "#lostpropertyseries" tag, signifying his work's reflection of the post-Internet era, where the ever-changing appearance of the city is continuously archived moment by moment.

The city undergoes development through growth and destruction through disaster. How should we remember this perpetually changing and unstable urban landscape? It is our hope that the experiences garnered from this exhibition will offer insights and enrich our perspectives on the city.

Text by Souya Handa