The theme for this exhibition comes from an ongoing interest in territories that has been evident ever since Sawa’s earliest works. Through videos, drawings, and sculptural works that range from earlier works to specially-created new works, the exhibition invites an examination of territory, and the meaning of territory, both for Sawa, and for each of us as individuals.
1. Under the Box
The exhibition begins with a long, maze-like passage displaying drawings and small plaster sculptures cast from items that Sawa had placed in his surroundings, such as teacups and fossils. Many of Sawa’s videos make their viewers aware of boundaries or territories by slightly distorting reality within a closed space, such as by having miniature creatures walking around inside an apartment. They also make viewers think of formless territories, such as an individual’s memory, which defines what sort of person that individual is. Information from outside accumulates inside a person’s mind, and over time it ferments to produce a world that is unique to that person. Lineament is a work that the artist created when thinking about memory—which is a territory associated with a timeline—and was inspired by a close friend who actually lost his memory.
《Lineament》
2012
courtesy of the artist and Ota Fine Arts
《Did I ?》
2011
courtesy of the artist and Ota Fine Arts
2. Behind the Radiator / Plumbing
The radiator is a part of the central heating systems found in many European homes, where radiators in different rooms are linked together through plumbing. Sawa envisaged this system as creating boundaries while at the same time gaining a covert view of whatever is on the other side of the boundary. In a space that is reminiscent of Sawa’s London studio, video and sculptural works are displayed on tables and bookshelves, suggesting that points of contact with other territories are an everyday experience and present in the things in our immediate surroundings.
《Dwelling》
2002
courtesy of the artist and Ota Fine Arts
《Souvenire IV》
2012
courtesy of the artist and Ota Fine Arts
3. Beyond the Bounds
Lenticular is a new work filmed at an old astronomical observatory in Scotland. The exhibit includes a planetarium, where the skies and abstract images are projected onto a large dome-shaped screen. The images are accompanied by music, overlapping with the voice of self-taught astronomer, Robert Law. Light from the stars reaching the earth from far away across the universe is gathered together by lenses, and lenses emit the light that has been gathered. This is reminiscent of the way that video enables images to be projected at some distance. Also in this gallery is another new work created for this exhibition, utilising large mirrors to display an entrance to a different world. Sawa’s focus is shifting from indoors to outdoors, but it doesn’t mean that his territory is expanding toward the universe. Instead, he is still in his own space, connected with a remote world via the telescope, plumbing, or other channel. As a whole, this gallery space enables viewers to experience what it is that Sawa senses.
《Lenticular》
2013
courtesy of the artist and Ota Fine Arts
《Aurora》
2013
courtesy of the artist and Ota Fine Arts
