PRESS RELEASE

2020.12.17

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture
are carrying out this exhibition as part of the Tokyo Tokyo FESTIVAL.

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo

MOT Satellite 2020
High Five – Our Envisioned Voices
Sat. 9 January – Sun. 14 February, 2021
Wed. 13“MOT Satellite” is a serial project that was inspired by the idea to connect with the area that immediately
surrounds the museum, with the aim to unearth the hidden charms of the city. Since 2017, the program
has been implemented four times on four different themes – “By the deep rivers,” “Connecting Scapes,”“To become a narrative” and “Wandering, Mapping” – at the museum and locations across the Kiyosumishirakawa area. At this fifth and final installment, titled “High Five－Our Envisioned Voices,” two pairs ofartists show their works at two public spaces inside the museum.
The human society is divided in invisible ways, according to conflicting doctrines, allegations, and various
other factors. While the current pandemic has emphasized and accelerated this division, the need toovercome the difficult situation has also inspired creative new ideas and attitudes of solidarity. “High Five”
is what we do when we are happy or have accomplished something, and want to share that joy with others.
“Our Envisioned Voices” refers to our thoughts and feelings about people, things and occurrences that weencounter in daily life, which we share/exchange in a similar “high-five” kind of style with other people.
The first step in this chain of interactions is certainly to listen to the “envisioned voices” of others, that aredifferent from our own.
For this exhibition, two pairs of artists created new works with a focus on “our envisioned voices,” in themuseum’s immediate environment. Tomoko Aso and Akiko Takeuchi, together operating under the name
Wataridori Keikaku, captured the most impressive sceneries and experiences made while traveling aroundKiyosumi-shirakawa and the greater Fukagawa area, in formats as varied as karuta (Japanese playing cards),shiori (leaflets), paintings, pottery and video works. The respective places that are featured on the playing
cards are also marked on a map put up at several locations in and around the museum, which creates aloose connection between the museum and the area around it. Takuya Takahashi + Shinya Matsuyama
focus on the culture that revolves around the relationship between humans and water, and on individual
personal stories, based on examinations of the Onagi River that runs through Kiyosumi-shirakawa. Throughthe multi-media installation that is shown here, they attempt to rouse the viewer’s memories andsensations.
These diverse and polyphonic works are installed within the coming and going of a wide variety of visitors
at public spaces inside the museum, as artificial projections of aspects of the surrounding city. A visit will
be an opportunity for listening to the artists’, the local people’s, and also one’s own “envisioned voices”
both in and outside the museum, and thereby encounter a variety of new and unfamiliar ideas andperceptions.
Artists: Wataridori Keikaku (Tomoko Aso and Akiko Takeuchi), Takuya Takahashi + Shinya Matsuyama
Contact

Museum: Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
Public Relations Mihoko Nakajima / Chiako Kudo
TEL: +81-3-5245-1134

E-MAIL: mot-pr@mot-art.jp

URL: https://www.mot-art-museum.jp/en* All Programs are subject to change.

1Artists and exhibits
Wataridori Keikaku (Tomoko Aso and Akiko Takeuchi)
Wataridori Keikaku is the name that painters Tomoko Aso and Akiko Takeuchi use for their projects in which,just like migratory birds (wataridori) traveling to different places in pursuit of warmth and food, they go onjourneys in search of subjects and exhibition spaces. At each of their destinations, Wataridori Keikaku create
and exhibit works inspired by, and in accordance with, the respective locations and exhibition venues. This timethey traveled around the Fukagawa area including Kiyosumi-shirakawa, where the MOT is located, and captured
the most impressive sceneries and experience made along the way, in a number of different artworks. Items on
display here include “Hand-colored Journey Postcards,” and ”Hand-colored Fukagawa Journey Karuta” withpictures based on illustrations on the former, as well as several paintings, ceramic works and video pieces. In
addition, put up in and around the museum are ”Fukagawa Journey Leaflets by Wataridori Keikaku” with maps
on which the artists indicate the various spots that inspired the respective works. This encourages visitors toview artworks at the museum, and then step out into the streets to examine the places that inspired them.
Following in the artists’ footsteps using these journey leaflets as guides, visitors will enjoy discovering the cityfrom a fresh new perspective. At the Information corner in the museum’s basement, a new installation work
based on playing cards is on display, along with a selection of hand-colored postcards, and a map tracing
Wataridori Keikaku’s creative journeys of the past twelve years.
[Aso and Takeuchi also work independently, so rather than a name that refers to them as a pair, “WataridoriKeikaku” is a moniker that they use for their occasional joint projects.]

1 Tomoko Aso, Autumn rain on the Sumida River, 2020

2 Akiko Takeuchi, Cloudy sky above the drainage pump station, 2020

3 Wataridori Keikaku, Visit to the shrine, 2020

Contact

4 Wataridori Keikaku, Boat, 2020

Museum: Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
Public Relations Mihoko Nakajima / Chiako Kudo
TEL: +81-3-5245-1134

E-MAIL: mot-pr@mot-art.jp

URL: https://www.mot-art-museum.jp/en* All Programs are subject to change.

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5 Wataridori Keikaku, Hand-colored Fukagawa Journey Karuta: to,2020

6 Wataridori Keikaku, Hand-colored Fukagawa Journey Karuta: mo,2020

Takuya Takahashi + Shinya Matsuyama
Musician Takuya Takahashi and designer/engineer Shinya Matsuyama examined the basin of the Onagi Riverthat runs through Kiyosumi-shirakawa, and created a work themed around the age-old relationship and culturethat connects the water network in the Fukagawa area with the local people. The artists collected images andpersonal stories, which they visually and acoustically translated into a multi-media installation titled “Whenthe lightning dreams of the boat and the catfish.” Fragments of these images and stories are projected as
combinations of video, photo, graphic and sound elements, onto two monitors installed next to each other. At
the same time, sensors detect visitors’ movements around a bench and a water feature, from which theygenerate new, unique images that are incorporated in real-time into the original images on the screens. As aresult, the “narratives” of visitors and locals blend together in many different ways, continuously creating newones that fill the exhibition space with visuals and sounds, to stimulate people’s subconscious senses, andextract individual memories and emotions. Exhibited in the Information corner in the museum’s basement isanother new work, ”Subtracting Narrative.”

7 Takuya Takahashi + Shinya Matsuyama,

When the lightning dreams of the boat and the catfish, 2020
work in progressContact

8 Takuya Takahashi + Shinya Matsuyama, Subtracting Narrative,
2017 [Reference Image]Museum: Museum of Contemporary Art TokyoPublic Relations Mihoko Nakajima / Chiako Kudo
TEL: +81-3-5245-1134

E-MAIL: mot-pr@mot-art.jp

URL: https://www.mot-art-museum.jp/en* All Programs are subject to change.

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Profiles
Wataridori Keikaku
Wataridori Keikaku is the name of a project in which painters Tomoko Aso and Akiko Takeuchi travel
around the country in search of subjects and exhibition spaces, and eventually create and present works
inspired by, and in accordance with, the respective locations and exhibition venues. From their firstexhibition in 2009, up to 2021, Wataridori Keikaku realized exhibitions and workshops at about thirty
locations across Japan. In addition to their participation in group exhibitions and solo shows, both artists
are actively engaging also in their own individual creative work, making picture books (Aso) and original
textile drawings (Takeuchi).
Tomoko Aso
Painter, born 1982 in Saitama. Graduated in Painting from Tokyo Zokei University’s Department of Fine
Arts. Captures ordinary yet somehow special, memorable scenes of daily life, in uniquely composed andtextured paintings that make the viewer feel as if being part of the respective painted scenery.
Akiko Takeuchi
Painter, born 1983 in Kumamoto. Graduated in Painting from Tokyo Zokei University’s Department ofFine Arts. Creates pictures characterized by a poetic mood and freewheeling compositions of shapes andcolors, for which processing all things through her own filter, and facing the canvas with a neutral
mindset without thinking, are essential aspects of her artistic approach.

Takuya Takahashi + Shinya Matsuyama
Previous works include ”MOMENTum” (exhibited as a work by the creative collective “KAPPES” in 2014 atSalone del Mobile.Milano), and the installation “Expose” (2015) made as a meditation space for residents
of a rental apartment building. Takahashi and Matsuyama also collaborated on the sound directionfor ”JOMON: 10,000 Years of Prehistoric Art in Japan” (2018, Tokyo National Museum).
Takuya Takahashi
Composer, music producer, born 1975 in Saitama. Head of Oyster Inc. Has been creating works beyond
the boundaries of existing formats, based on the idea of music as a circuit for communicating andtranslating between nature and the human heart and mind, comparable to dreams and magic.
Shinya Matsuyama
Designer, engineer, born 1978 in Toyama. Head of siro Inc. Initially studied engineering, and graduatedfrom Tama Art University’s Graduate School of Art and Design. Has realized numerous works incollaboration with creators from other fields, while exploring ways of bidirectional artistic expression
through analogue textures created using digital technologies.

Contact

Museum: Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
Public Relations Mihoko Nakajima / Chiako Kudo
TEL: +81-3-5245-1134

E-MAIL: mot-pr@mot-art.jp

URL: https://www.mot-art-museum.jp/en* All Programs are subject to change.

4InformationWed. 13
Sat. 9 January – Sun. 14 February 2021
Mondays (except 11 January), 12 January
10:00－18:00
Free
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo Foyer 1F, Information corner B1F
Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo / Arts Council Tokyo(Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture)
With the special cooperation of Fukagawa Shiryokan Avenue Shopping Street Cooperative Society
Curated by
Uta Nakano (Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo)
Exhibition Period
ClosedOpening Hours
Admission
Venue
Organized by

Concurrent Exhibitions“Eiko Ishioka: Blood, Sweat, and Tears—A Life of Design”“MOT Annual 2020

Invisible Powers”“MOT Collection: Rewinding the Collection”

Contact

Museum: Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
Public Relations Mihoko Nakajima / Chiako Kudo
TEL: +81-3-5245-1134

E-MAIL: mot-pr@mot-art.jp

URL: https://www.mot-art-museum.jp/en* All Programs are subject to change.

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IMAGE REQUEST FORM

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1 Tomoko Aso, Autumn rain on the Sumida River, 2020
2

Akiko Takeuchi, Cloudy sky above the drainage pump station, 2020

3

Wataridori Keikaku, Visit to the shrine, 2020

4

Wataridori Keikaku, Boat, 2020

5

Wataridori Keikaku, Hand-colored Fukagawa Journey Karuta: to, 2020

6

Wataridori Keikaku, Hand-colored Fukagawa Journey Karuta: mo, 2020

7Takuya Takahashi + Shinya Matsuyama, When the lightning dreams of the boat and the catfish,2020 work in progress

8ContactTakuya Takahashi + Shinya Matsuyama, Subtracting Narrative, 2017

[Reference Image]Museum: Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
Public Relations Mihoko Nakajima / Chiako Kudo
TEL: +81-3-5245-1134

E-MAIL: mot-pr@mot-art.jp

URL: https://www.mot-art-museum.jp/en* All Programs are subject to change.

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