Vol.4-Tracing the vagueness of memories

Minako Matsueda

This is my 15th year of production. I don’t have a particular standard my method of expression.
Since 2009, I have been exhibiting in many places that are not white cubes. An abandoned house, an old elementary school, old brewery, etc. While presenting my work, I realized that there are several key words in my work.
Border, Memory, Circulation, Line of sight
What I cherish in my creations are my personal memory and my childhood sensations.I want to make the structure through the keywords more intuitive and simple in my work.
Using relatively general-purpose materials such as ropes, non-woven fabrics, and annealed iron wires, we try to visualize invisible walls, gaps, and distances that are hidden in everyday life. Sometimes it expresses a world view through something that is not a person.
In the process of making the work, I weave a narrative around the inspiration I get from the place where I am installing the work, the things I experience, and the things I accidentally encounter before and after my stay. I install the work throughout the space, leading the viewer inside and sometimes inviting them to intervene. My intention is to share the feeling of immersion, a sensation that cannot be verbalized from my childhood, but is clearly experienced.
　

1. Red Hermitage

---

Two years after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident. Tsuchiyu Onsen, close to Fukushima station, is a rare place surrounded by mountains and unaffected by radiation due to the weather conditions.
The sound of the stream flowing beside this abandoned house on high ground further emphasized the quietness of the place.
Assuming that the “red hermitage” is a highly personal space, they are scattered throughout the abandoned house, accompanied by packing tags and pencils.
Visitors could write their own thoughts and hang them in the places of their choice.
During the exhibition, the various soliloquies were accumulated, and the exhibition was completed at the end of the exhibition.
　

　

2. The world is mildly suffering

---

The old Gotanda School is a historical building built over 100 years ago.
At the end of a long corridor, the classrooms at the far end of the building are crammed with donated old folk and agricultural implements.
Even the long ladle and the rake are labeled with source information and numbers to preserve them as cultural artifacts.
On the diagonal of the classroom, I made a corridor-like enclosure with non-woven fabric. And I made several small windows in the walls and ceiling.
What you see through the small, hazy openings in the field of vision are selected and purposefully rearranged that cultural artifacts.
I treated them as actors and marked their numbers on the floor as credit titles.
I also played a 20-minute video of the sunset in July (at the time of setup) taken from the classroom window at the end of the corridor.
　

It seems to me that in our pursuit of convenience and comfort, we have been living in a state of repeated, invisible division and interruption.
Perhaps this is why I feel an uneasy sense of hollowness in living on top of the layers of history that have been piled up.
The translucent curtain in the room covers the entire space and blurs the boundary of outside and inside like a soft mist.
It is difficult to judge whether the glimpses through the scattered small windows are real or fake, and we may be living in this world relying on the uncertain and capricious information in this corner.
　

3. In the clouds

---

The large staircase on the roof of this building has never been used before due to safety concerns and is usually closed off.
At the top of the stairs, there is a flat space. But as far as we can see from below, all we can see is the concrete edge and the sky.
I overlaid the image of the horizon on the edge of the stairs leading to the sky.
Then, up to 21 meters of aluminum tape was stretched like the ocean, and small triangular flags swaying in the wind was placed like a buoys.
The aluminum tape flutters by a strong wind made a violent noise and alternately reflected the sky and the concrete on both sides of the mirrored surface, then flipped.
　

　

4. The distance between the deep green

---

The landscape of Oshima Island, even to the casual observer, is a lavish display of thick, deep greenery.
Even the bare mountain slopes, bare from a massive landslide, are covered with a sturdy, young greenery.
I feel guilty about feeling beautiful again, but when I get home, the vividness of the photos I’ve taken makes the distance between the landscape and the deep, dense greenery I’ve stayed in all the more apparent.
As I was led around the island, the landscapes I took seem to have been distorted, shaped, and collaged in my memory, with a lot of help from my lack of sense of direction and vague positioning.

Once again, I looked into the landscape of Oshima Island and measured the distance between me and the dark greenery reflected in it.
　

　

5. Sequence in Niijima

---

This is the abandoned factory of the Kusaya(dried fish processing) in Niijima. The sunshine and the sea breeze that comes through the window of the factory are the same as those days.
This time, I made the shape of a fine net and hung it at random.
As a kind of device to capture something invisible.
For example, between stormy weather and a calm.
　

　

Biography

[Group Exhibition]
2020 Saitama hall Esplanade Exhibition 2020 (Saitama prefecture)
2019 19th Art in Hamura (Tokyo)
　　　Only one book in the world Exhibition (Hokkaido)
　　　The 9th International Contemporary Art Exhibition Art Islands TOKYO 2019 (Oshima/Niijima)
2018 18th Art in Hamura (Tokyo)
　　　Only one book in the world Exhibition (Hokkaido)
　　　The 8th International Contemporary Art Exhibition Art Islands TOKYO 2018 (Izuoshima)
2017 Only one book in the world Exhibition (Hokkaido)
　　　17th Art in Hamura (Tokyo)
2016 Kaizuka machinaka art museum2016 (Osaka)
2015 Path “The flags of less than” Gallery OGU MAG (Tokyo)
　　　Nakanojo Biennale2015 (Gunma prefecture)
2014 Kaizuka machinaka art museum2014 (Osaka)
2013 Nakanojo Biennale2013 (Gunma prefecture)
　　　Tsuchiyu Arafudo Art Annual2013 (Fukushima prefecture)
　　　feel2013~Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Art (Yamanashi prefecture)
2012 15th Abiko international Open-Air Exhibition (Chiba prefecture)
2011 Nakanojo Biennale2011 (Gunma prefecture)
2009 Nakanojo Biennale2009 (Gunma prefecture)

[Solo Exhibition]
2008 “Usobuku Niwa” exhibit Live&Moris (Tokyo)
2007 “Reason for Absence” Shinjuku Ganka gallery (Tokyo)
2006 “Nukegara no chikara” GALERIA RASEN (Tokyo)
2005 “Touka surumono shinaimono” GALERIA RASEN (Tokyo)