Technology cultivated by each individual should not be used in part or trivialized for compromise. Art is a series of“technology of return” that is, the means by which to return from points such as “Art is a capitalist game and is meaningless” or “I’m gonna die someday, and there’s nothing left.” The wilderness of emptiness and relativity is never an ultimate
objective, even if it is your current destination. While it indeed could be meaningless, there is still something that you
want to do. That’s why you turn on your heels to return, instead of compromising in the wilderness and pretending that it
is your destination.
Consider compromise as being “halfway happy.” What it potentially harbors is the time of future. This year,
αM project presents exhibitions with five artists, who each through their individual approach, attempts to study andshare technologies of return for believing in the future in this day and age in which they live and die.

αM Project 2020 Ŧ 2021
約束の凝集 Halfway Happy
Vol. 4

Yu Araki2021.6.18 FRI Ŧ 9.22 WED
13:00 ‒ 20:00
Closed on Sunday, Monday, Holidays.
Entrance Free

Yu Araki

Yu Araki

Born in 1982, Ishikawa Prefecture. Initially engaged in music
activities as part of a band, came to work as a stylist at a salon in
Kamishinjo, after graduating from a beauty school in Osaka.
Launched his independent business on June 17th 2020, and opened
the hair salon LetrA in Yagi, Kanazawa. The name of the salon isderived from the phrase “Leather Tramp” mentioned in the film Intothe Wild (2007). From the time the film was released in theaters, hehad been intent on using this as the name for his own business.
Araki’s expertise lies in proposing styles that maximize people’s
personality, through engaging in careful and considerate counselingto gain an understanding of “how they want to look” while determining the total balance of their fashion, skin tone, and overall
atmosphere. A food that he dislikes is shiitake mushrooms, and hecan still clearly remember memories of throwing up after eatingthem as a 0 year old baby. He is a father of two children.

Born 1985 in Yamagata Prefecture. Araki studied sculpture
at university and moving image at graduate school. Selected solo
exhibitions include Three Days, Five Nights, Itamuro Onsen
Daikokuya (Tochigi, 2021), Rush Hour, CAI02 (Hokkaido, 2019),
LE SOUVENIR DU JAPON, Shiseido Gallery (Tokyo, 2019), Bivalvia:
Act I, MUJIN-TO Production (Tokyo, 2017), and Temple of the
Templet, Art Gallery 1 / Cafe Ogurayama, Yokohama Museumof Art (Kanagawa, 2016). Selected group shows include Returning:
Chapter 1, Sydney Opera House (online, 2021), CONNECTIONS:
150 years of Modern Art in Japan and France, Pola Museum ofArt (Kanagawa, 2020), and The Island of the Colorblind, Art Sonje
Center (Seoul, 2019). He was one of the finalists for the Future
Generation Art Prize 2019.

IL VINO 1F, 2-140 Yagi, Kanazawa City,
Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, 921-8066
Open 10:00–19:00 We have an irregular closing schedule
instagram: @letra_araki
Cut ¥4,600
College student ¥4,100,
High school student ¥3,700,
Junior high school student ¥3,300,
Elementary school student and younger ¥2,800

Perm ¥7,200 –Coloring ¥6,400 –Treatment ¥2,500

Summer Holidays: 8.1‒ 8.23
Guest Curator

Arata Hasegawa

Cooperationɧ

Yu Araki

LetrA

CASAMATERAStudio Antani

6

Dario Adduce

5
1 Welcome

2021 | Lambda prints, refrigerator, magnets | 1175475560 mm |Printing: Color Science Labo Co., Ltd
2 LetrA

2021 | Zinc iron sheets, lacquer | 15066050 mm | Production: ANTWARP
3 Halfway Happy (Teeth)

2021 | Postcards, HD video | 100148 mm, 27ŵ
27Ŷ|
Equipments: Studio Antani, Photo: Silvana Spada,
Cooperation: Emanuele Cifarelli (POLIFORM srl.), Luca Colacicco (Colacicco Legno)
4 Meteorite

2001 | Ball, Mark McGwireŪs signature | 75 mm | Special thanks: Kate Hunter
5 Eclipse

2021 | HD video, screen | 35ŵ
48Ŷ
, 18003200 mm |Special thanks: Hideaki Soma, Koki Muroi

entrance

6 Oneiros' Eye

12021 | HD video, screen | 11ŵ
24Ŷ
, 18003200 mm |Actor: Yu Araki, Shooting and editing: Yuji Oku
7 Leather Tramp

2021 | Amplifier, speakers | 46ŵ
27Ŷ|Sound: Yu Araki, Recording and editing: Yuji Oku

4

3
10

8 Deep Search (digested version)2009 | SD video, CRT monitor | 4ŵ00Ŷ2

9 Collected Moments, Transit Memories

2011 Ŧ ongoing | HD video, LCD monitor |584 files‒ (230ŵ
) | Equipment: ARTISTSŪ GUILD
10 Lucky Charms

92021 | CuratorŪs tooth, figure, Moon rock (*faux) |201110 mm, 10710 mm, 885 mm

8

1 Welcome

2 LetrA
1

3 Halfway Happy (Teeth)

2

The cave dwellings in the city of Matera in the Basilicata region of Southern Italy are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and are also recognized as a famous filming location. There are numerous caves nestledalong the walls of the ancient river canyon overlooking the Sassi (Matera’s
Old Town), their openings of which to me had looked like a series of gaping
mouths. In the final week of my stay, with the help of my coordinator Dario
Adduce and his friends, I decided to temporarily install a set of sponge
teeth in the caves, documenting the entire process from the other side of
the valley. Since the local people often compared the caves to “eyes”,
some had apparently found my interpretation new and refreshing. (YA)
The photograph of the Sassi di Matera is also featured in the posterand flyer for the Halfway Happy exhibition series. The Japanese premier ofthe film 007 / No Time to Die, which was shot in Matera, was postponed
from its original release date (April 10th, 2020) to October 1st, 2021. (AH)
4 Meteorite

3

This ball signed by MLB slugger Mark McGwire, was given to me as giftfrom a friend back when I was in high school. While having numerous
remarkable achievements to his name such as setting the major league
single-season home run record with 70 in 1998, and ranking 11th (as of2021) in all-time home runs with 583, his confession of steroid use had
plummeted his reputation as a player, resulting in him not being elected to
the Hall of Fame. The “01” written along with his signature is the year of the
final season of his playing career. The parabola formed by a batted balland a star player’s fall from grace, could perhaps be likened to a meteorite
traveling through outer space. (YA)
5 Eclipse

4

A pebble suspended in mid-air by a spider’s thread, is seen together withmy right hand. In my case, the works I produce are significantly influenced
by the things that I am able to encounter, and are shaped by this confluent
relation. The title of the work stems from Michelangelo Antonioni’s film
L’eclisse (1962) and my failing to see the supermoon lunar eclipse on May
26th 2021. If the lamp of the projector, which is a light source, is regarded
as the sun, the screen is the moon, and those who view the images always
find themselves in the space between the two. (YA)

The film is a close-up of stylist Yu Araki’s left eye, shot while he was asked
to watch various videos of his daily life and surroundings that he had takenwith his iPhone. Artist Yu Araki had asked me to get in contact with stylist
Yu Araki with whom he shared exactly the same name, and create a video
work. The work was installed in the exhibition without the artist having any
knowledge of its content ever since placing this request. What is more,
despite not knowing the contents (if I may reiterate) of what was originallyplanned to be a small work, boldly enough, he had suggested presenting itin the main space in pair with Eclipse on a double-sided screen. Although
being a part of a solo exhibition bearing the artist’s own name, this project
had completely been entrusted in the hands of others. The video wasfilmed by Yuji Oku, I myself had served as coordinator. It was a very valuable opportunity that enabled me to experience the groundlessness of
producing a work of art. At the same time I was reassured that I was
definitely no artist, and I confirmed my resolve to continue working together with people who cannot help producing things and engaging in thought
no matter how groundlessness it may be. As those who have already seen
the Halfway Happy exhibition series may have noticed, Yuji Oku has also
taken part in filming for the exhibitions of Yutaka Sone and Kosuke Nagata,and his presence has indeed become an indispensable part of thisventure. He has also given the title for this work. In Greek mythology,
Oneiroi were various gods and demigods that ruled over dreams. (AH)

7

7 Leather Tramp
The work consists of recordings of stylist Yu Araki giving haircuts at LetrA,
centering on the sounds of his feet as he moves around. A stylist is a jobthat requires a lot of standing, yet Araki himself says that this doesn’t
bother him at all. Several vibrations speakers are installed in the venue. In
the film Into the Wild (directed by Sean Penn, 2007) the protagonist isreferred to as a “Leather Tramp” by a group of hippies that he encounters
during his travels, and stylist Yu Araki had decided to use this name when
the time would come for him to open his own store. Even in the original
novel on which the film is based, “rubber tramps” who own vehicles are
mentioned in contrast to “leather tramps” who do not have any means oftransport and are thus forced to hitchhike or wander on foot 1 . (AH)8

8 Deep Search (digested version)
This is a work that I made when I was a student. Please don’t try this at
home. (YA)
9 Collected Moments, Transit Memories
Collected Moments, which is project I had engaged in since 2011, createdan opportunity for me to meet Arata Hasegawa. Since 2015, I have referredto those filmed with my iPhone as Transit Memories. As they are played on
shuffle, there is a extremely low probability of encountering the same shotand shot combination. (YA)
After coming across Collected Moments on YouTube in 2014, I sent anemail to artist Yu Araki for the first time, asking him to take part in an exhibition I was curating. As a result, this work was presented in 2015 in an
exhibition held at The Three Konohana gallery in Osaka’s Konohana ward 2 .
As a curator, I encountered the artist Yu Araki not so much as someone
who studies human constructs like narrative, history, and language, but asa person who cannot help but point his camera at the sense of oddness
and sophistication that is present within certain actions, including phenomena such as the transmission, repetition, and reflection of images. (AH)
10 Lucky Charms
The curator’s wisdom tooth, removed on June 4th 2021. (AH)
The actual doll that was swallowed in the video work Deep Search(digested version). A pebble that was collected near the local where thework Eclipse was filmed. (YA)

5

6

9

10

1

Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild, Anchor, 19972

http://thethree.net/exhibitions/2111
Director’s Eye #3 “OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN
THEY APPEAR”
January 10th–March 1st, 2015

Vol. 4

The neon signboard found at the entrance of the hair salon LetrA run by
the stylist Yu Araki, has here been reproduced to 40% scale. An order for
its production was placed with the same designer who had made theoriginal. Artist Yu Araki stated that if he were to title this solo show, it wouldbe “Makeover.” In truth, the impression of gallery αM had changed
altogether, simply by installing this signboard at the entrance. (AH)

6 Oneiros’ Eye

Halfway Happy

This refrigerator is used by the staff of gallery αM. As far as I know,
Americans often stick photographs of their loved ones and friends on theirrefrigerators. The photographs displayed here show images of people whogreeted me at the airport or train station while holding up a sign with myname on it. The moment you meet someone for the first time is indeed aonce-in-a-lifetime experience between you and that person. The photographs are each a memento of these moments. (YA)αM Project 2020–2021

Liner Notes Yu Araki  Arata Hasegawa

The following liner notes are written by Yu Araki (YA) and Arata Hasegawa(AH) regarding the works in this exhibition. Please feel free to refer to themwhen viewing the works.

Technology cultivated by each individual should not be used in part or trivialized for compromise. Art is a series of“technology of return” that is, the means by which to return from points such as “Art is a capitalist game and is meaningless” or “I’m gonna die someday, and there’s nothing left.” The wilderness of emptiness and relativity is never an ultimate
objective, even if it is your current destination. While it indeed could be meaningless, there is still something that you
want to do. That’s why you turn on your heels to return, instead of compromising in the wilderness and pretending that it
is your destination.
Consider compromise as being “halfway happy.” What it potentially harbors is the time of future. This year,
αM project presents exhibitions with five artists, who each through their individual approach, attempts to study andshare technologies of return for believing in the future in this day and age in which they live and die.

αM Project 2020 Ŧ 2021
約束の凝集 Halfway Happy
Vol. 4

Yu Araki2021.6.18 FRI Ŧ 9.22 WED
13:00 ‒ 20:00
Closed on Sunday, Monday, Holidays.
Entrance Free

Yu Araki

Yu Araki

Born in 1982, Ishikawa Prefecture. Initially engaged in music
activities as part of a band, came to work as a stylist at a salon in
Kamishinjo, after graduating from a beauty school in Osaka.
Launched his independent business on June 17th 2020, and opened
the hair salon LetrA in Yagi, Kanazawa. The name of the salon isderived from the phrase “Leather Tramp” mentioned in the film Intothe Wild (2007). From the time the film was released in theaters, hehad been intent on using this as the name for his own business.
Araki’s expertise lies in proposing styles that maximize people’s
personality, through engaging in careful and considerate counselingto gain an understanding of “how they want to look” while determining the total balance of their fashion, skin tone, and overall
atmosphere. A food that he dislikes is shiitake mushrooms, and hecan still clearly remember memories of throwing up after eatingthem as a 0 year old baby. He is a father of two children.

Born 1985 in Yamagata Prefecture. Araki studied sculpture
at university and moving image at graduate school. Selected solo
exhibitions include Three Days, Five Nights, Itamuro Onsen
Daikokuya (Tochigi, 2021), Rush Hour, CAI02 (Hokkaido, 2019),
LE SOUVENIR DU JAPON, Shiseido Gallery (Tokyo, 2019), Bivalvia:
Act I, MUJIN-TO Production (Tokyo, 2017), and Temple of the
Templet, Art Gallery 1 / Cafe Ogurayama, Yokohama Museumof Art (Kanagawa, 2016). Selected group shows include Returning:
Chapter 1, Sydney Opera House (online, 2021), CONNECTIONS:
150 years of Modern Art in Japan and France, Pola Museum ofArt (Kanagawa, 2020), and The Island of the Colorblind, Art Sonje
Center (Seoul, 2019). He was one of the finalists for the Future
Generation Art Prize 2019.

IL VINO 1F, 2-140 Yagi, Kanazawa City,
Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, 921-8066
Open 10:00–19:00 We have an irregular closing schedule
instagram: @letra_araki
Cut ¥4,600
College student ¥4,100,
High school student ¥3,700,
Junior high school student ¥3,300,
Elementary school student and younger ¥2,800

Perm ¥7,200 –Coloring ¥6,400 –Treatment ¥2,500

Summer Holidays: 8.1‒ 8.23
Guest Curator

Arata Hasegawa

Cooperationɧ

Yu Araki

LetrA

CASAMATERAStudio Antani

6

Dario Adduce

5
1 Welcome

2021 | Lambda prints, refrigerator, magnets | 1175475560 mm |Printing: Color Science Labo Co., Ltd
2 LetrA

2021 | Zinc iron sheets, lacquer | 15066050 mm | Production: ANTWARP
3 Halfway Happy (Teeth)

2021 | Postcards, HD video | 100148 mm, 27ŵ
27Ŷ|
Equipments: Studio Antani, Photo: Silvana Spada,
Cooperation: Emanuele Cifarelli (POLIFORM srl.), Luca Colacicco (Colacicco Legno)
4 Meteorite

2001 | Ball, Mark McGwireŪs signature | 75 mm | Special thanks: Kate Hunter
5 Deep Search (digested version)2009 | SD video, screen | 4ŵ00Ŷ
, 18003200 mm

entrance

6 Oneiros' Eye

2021 | HD video, screen | 11ŵ
24Ŷ
, 18003200 mm |1

Actor: Yu Araki, Shooting and editing: Yuji Oku
7 Leather Tramp

2021 | Amplifier, speakers | 46ŵ
27Ŷ|Sound: Yu Araki, Recording and editing: Yuji Oku

43
9

8 Eclipse

2021 | HD video, screen | 23ŵ
39Ŷ
, 9001600 mm |Special thanks: Hideaki Soma, Koki Muroi

2

9 Lucky Charms

2021 | CuratorŪs tooth, figure, Moon rock (*faux) |201110 mm, 10710 mm, 11105 mm

8

1 Welcome

2 LetrA
1

3 Halfway Happy (Teeth)

2

3

The cave dwellings in the city of Matera in the Basilicata region of Southern Italy are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and are also recognized as a famous filming location. There are numerous caves nestledalong the walls of the ancient river canyon overlooking the Sassi (Matera’s
Old Town), their openings of which to me had looked like a series of gaping
mouths. In the final week of my stay, with the help of my coordinator Dario
Adduce and his friends, I decided to temporarily install a set of sponge
teeth in the caves, documenting the entire process from the other side of
the valley. Since the local people often compared the caves to “eyes”,
some had apparently found my interpretation new and refreshing. (YA)
The photograph of the Sassi di Matera is also featured in the posterand flyer for the Halfway Happy exhibition series. The Japanese premier ofthe film 007 / No Time to Die, which was shot in Matera, was postponed
from its original release date (April 10th, 2020) to October 1st, 2021. (AH)
4 Meteorite
This ball signed by MLB slugger Mark McGwire, was given to me as giftfrom a friend back when I was in high school. While having numerous
remarkable achievements to his name such as setting the major league
single-season home run record with 70 in 1998, and ranking 11th (as of2021) in all-time home runs with 583, his confession of steroid use had
plummeted his reputation as a player, resulting in him not being elected to
the Hall of Fame. The “01” written along with his signature is the year of the
final season of his playing career. The parabola formed by a batted balland a star player’s fall from grace, could perhaps be likened to a meteorite
traveling through outer space. (YA)
5 Deep Search (digested version)

4

This is a work that I made when I was a student. Please don’t try this at
home. (YA)
6 Oneiros’ Eye

5

The film is a close-up of stylist Yu Araki’s left eye, shot while he was asked
to watch various videos of his daily life and surroundings that he had takenwith his iPhone. Artist Yu Araki had asked me to get in contact with stylist
Yu Araki with whom he shared exactly the same name, and create a video
work. The work was installed in the exhibition without the artist having any
knowledge of its content ever since placing this request. What is more,
despite not knowing the contents (if I may reiterate) of what was originallyplanned to be a small work, boldly enough, he had suggested presenting itin the main space in pair with Eclipse on a double-sided screen 1 . Although
being a part of a solo exhibition bearing the artist’s own name, this project
had completely been entrusted in the hands of others. The video wasfilmed by Yuji Oku, I myself had served as coordinator. It was a very valu-

7 Leather Tramp
The work consists of recordings of stylist Yu Araki giving haircuts at LetrA,
centering on the sounds of his feet as he moves around. A stylist is a jobthat requires a lot of standing, yet Araki himself says that this doesn’t
bother him at all. Several vibrations speakers are installed in the venue. In
the film Into the Wild (directed by Sean Penn, 2007) the protagonist isreferred to as a “Leather Tramp” by a group of hippies that he encounters
during his travels, and stylist Yu Araki had decided to use this name when
the time would come for him to open his own store. Even in the original
novel on which the film is based, “rubber tramps” who own vehicles are
mentioned in contrast to “leather tramps” who do not have any means oftransport and are thus forced to hitchhike or wander on foot 2 . (AH)

78 Eclipse
A pebble suspended in mid-air by a spider’s thread, is seen together withmy right hand. In my case, the works I produce are significantly influenced
by the things that I am able to encounter, and are shaped by this confluent
relation. The title of the work stems from Michelangelo Antonioni’s film
L’eclisse (1962) and my failing to see the supermoon lunar eclipse on May
26th 2021. If the lamp of the projector, which is a light source, is regarded
as the sun, the screen is the moon, and those who view the images always
find themselves in the space between the two. (YA)

8

9 Lucky Charms
The curator’s wisdom tooth, removed on June 4th 2021. (AH)
The actual doll that was swallowed in the video work Deep Search(digested version). A pebble that was collected near the local where thework Eclipse was filmed. (YA)
9

Collected Moments, Transit Memories 3
Collected Moments, which is project I had engaged in since 2011, createdan opportunity for me to meet Arata Hasegawa. Since 2015, I have referredto those filmed with my iPhone as Transit Memories. As they are played on
shuffle, there is a extremely low probability of encountering the same shotand shot combination. (YA)
After coming across Collected Moments on YouTube in 2014, I sent anemail to artist Yu Araki for the first time, asking him to take part in an exhibition I was curating. As a result, this work was presented in 2015 in an
exhibition held at The Three Konohana gallery in Osaka’s Konohana
ward 4 . As a curator, I encountered the artist Yu Araki not so much as
someone who studies human constructs like narrative, history, andlanguage, but as a person who cannot help but point his camera at thesense of oddness and sophistication that is present within certain actions,
including phenom-ena such as the transmission, repetition, and reflectionof images. (AH)

Installation View (First Period)

1

The paired work has been changed to Deep Search (digested
version)2

Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild, Anchor, 1997

3

The work has been cut from the active roster as of July 30th,
due to the team manager’s decision.

4

http://thethree.net/exhibitions/2111
Director’s Eye #3 “OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN
THEY APPEAR”
January 10th–March 1st, 2015

Vol. 4

The neon signboard found at the entrance of the hair salon LetrA run by
the stylist Yu Araki, has here been reproduced to 40% scale. An order for
its production was placed with the same designer who had made theoriginal. Artist Yu Araki stated that if he were to title this solo show, it wouldbe “Makeover.” In truth, the impression of gallery αM had changed
altogether, simply by installling this signboard at the entrance. (AH)

6

Halfway Happy

This refrigerator is used by the staff of gallery αM. As far as I know,
Americans often stick photographs of their loved ones and friends on theirrefrigerators. The photographs displayed here show images of people whogreeted me at the airport or train station while holding up a sign with myname on it. The moment you meet someone for the first time is indeed aonce-in-a-lifetime experience between you and that person. The photographs are each a memento of these moments. (YA)

able opportunity that enabled me to experience the groundlessness of
producing a work of art. At the same time I was reassured that I was
definitely no artist, and I confirmed my resolve to continue working together with people who cannot help producing things and engaging in thought
no matter how groundlessness it may be. As those who have already seen
the Halfway Happy exhibition series may have noticed, Yuji Oku has also
taken part in filming for the exhibitions of Yutaka Sone and Kosuke Nagata,and his presence has indeed become an indispensable part of thisventure. He has also given the title for this work. In Greek mythology,
Oneiroi were various gods and demigods that ruled over dreams. (AH)αM Project 2020–2021

Liner Notes Yu Araki  Arata Hasegawa

The following liner notes are written by Yu Araki (YA) and Arata Hasegawa(AH) regarding the works in this exhibition. Please feel free to refer to themwhen viewing the works.