PRESS RELEASE

March 6, 2024

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo

Where My Words Belong
April 18 – July 7, 2024

Where My Words Belong, a group exhibition about “words” that looks at the diversity of linguistic practices inJapan and language rights, is coming to the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo.

There are many different languages in the world, and each one contains a wealth of variations, such asdifferent accents, or varieties in vocabulary and grammar according to one’s generation and experiences.
Some people switch between different forms of language depending on the situation and whom they are
speaking to: they might use vocabulary specific to a family or group of friends, or different languages
altogether. Some thoughts can be conveyed without any words at all. These are all examples of personal useof language—what we mean by “My Words”— which are forever forming as part of communication. Just as we
get a feel for the culture and history of a people by studying the language they have created, knowing
someone surely begins by trying to accept their My Words as they are, without converting them into otherwords.

This exhibition presents the works of five artists: Yuni Hong Charpe, Mayunkiki, Mai Nagumo, Hideo ARAI andKIM Insook. Their works bring into sharp focus the differences that exist within a single language, as well as
the practice of different languages, within a society that apparently speaks one and the same language. Theidea behind this exhibition is to give each visitor the opportunity to embrace their own My Words, and those ofothers, whether through a work that portrays the difficulty of pronouncing words that don’t belong to one’s
first language; or one that speaks of what it’s like when a person hasn’t had the opportunity to learn theirheritage language; or one that involves gazing into the eyes of people on the other side of a language barrier;or through the experience of listening closely so as not to miss anything when another is speaking quietly.

Contact

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo｜ Public Relations (Kudo / Inaba / Uchibori)
E-MAIL: mot-pr@mot-art.jp

TEL: +81-3-5245-1134

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

1Artists and exhibited works
ユニ・ホン・シャープ｜Yuni Hong Charpe
The exhibition features a video work by Yuni Hong Charpe in which the artist’s pronunciation of the Frenchsentence “Je crée une œuvre” (which means “I create an artwork”) is corrected by their daughter, who speaks
French as her first language. It’s hard to accurately distinguish and pronounce sounds that don’t exist in thelanguage you grew up speaking, and many people may have struggled with the accent of a foreign language orof the standard form of their own language. In the end, the artist learns to say “Je crée une œuvre” with the“correct” pronunciation. But even without the “correct” pronunciation, these are still words that the artist uses
as My Words.
Yuni Hong Charpe was born in Tokyo Prefecture and moved to France in 2005, graduating from the École Nationale Supérieure d'Arts deParis-Cergy in 2015. They currently split their time between France and Japan. Starting from archives and personal memories, the artist
explores new narratives around the instability and multiplicity of constructed identities and the durability of memories, and seeks to givethem concrete form through the body, language, the voice and/or choreography.

１．Yuni Hong Charpe, RÉPÈTE, 2019

2．Yuni Hong Charpe, Still on our tongues, 2022

マユンキキ｜Mayunkiki
Mayunkiki, who belongs to the Ainu people indigenous to northern Japan, confronts the denial of the Ainu’s
very existence, and the assertion of stereotypes and ideals. Aware that she is sometimes taken to be a
representative of an entire people or expected to embody some typically Ainu quality, she weaves words as anindividual, respectfully presenting the things, people and words that have formed her. The artist’s work in thisexhibition consists of two filmed conversations: one in which she and photographer Kim Sajik talk about theprocess of relearning a language that might have been one’s mother tongue, and one in which she and art
translator Kanoko Tamura discuss what it means to decide for oneself what language one speaks. Within thissafe space are presented the various elements that have made Mayunkiki who she is.
Mayunkiki was born in Hokkaido. From a personal perspective, she searches for what it means to be Ainu today, and gives thisexpression through filmed works, installations, performances, etc. She is a member of the musical groups Marewrew and Apetunpe, whichsing traditional Ainu songs, and since 2021 has also pursued a solo career. She has performed and exhibited her work at many art
festivals in Japan and abroad.

3．Mayunkiki, Siknure – Let me live, 2022, Installation view at Ikon Gallery,

４．Mayunkiki Photo by Hiroshi Ikeda

Birmingham Photographer Stuart Whipps, courtesy of Ikon Gallery.

Contact

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo｜ Public Relations (Kudo / Inaba / Uchibori)
E-MAIL: mot-pr@mot-art.jp

TEL: +81-3-5245-1134

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

2南雲麻衣｜Mai Nagumo
Having lost her hearing at the age of three and a half, Mai Nagumo underwent cochlear implant surgery when
she was seven and grew up with spoken Japanese as her mother tongue. As a university student she
encountered sign language, and she now identifies as a Deaf person whose first language is Japanese Sign
Language. “When you can communicate in multiple languages,” says Nagumo, “I feel you’re always being asked
which one you really belong to.” To not view spoken and visual language in binary terms but rather oscillate
between them, always making a choice as to which to use, is in its own small way an act of resistance against
monolingualism. In this exhibition, we present her video installation Bogo no soto de tabi o suru (A journeyleaving my mother tongue; shot and edited by Mika Imai), which depicts her language acquisition and the way
she relates to words.
Mai Nagumo is a dancer and performer born in Kanagawa Prefecture. Having studied modern dance from a young age, she is now active
across the performing arts in general, including performances and plays that involve sign language. Her credits include Company
Derashinera’s Spectator (2013) and Aya Momose’s Social Dance (2019). Nagumo collaborates with artists across various fields, creatingworks around the theme of “oscillation” between multiple languages, both spoken and visual, mediated through the physical senses of theactual people involved. She also runs workshops in which participants share feelings that transcend language.

5. Mai Nagumo Photo: Harumichi Saito

6. Mai Nagumo Photo: k.kawamura

新井英夫｜Hideo ARAI
Hideo ARAI has been highly praised for his physical expression workshops in which people who find it difficult
expressing themselves in words or moving their body as they wish—such as the disabled or the elderly—listen
out for their inner “body’s voice” in an environment of mutual respect. To communicate, one must not only becapable of expression but also able to listen. In this exhibition, visitors are shown the work involved in noticing
slight movements in the body and listening to subtle sounds played in the venue, so as to draw their attention
to the “body’s voice” that precedes words and thus help them hear other people’s My Words. ARAI himself faces
a chronic disease that causes a gradual loss of movement in his muscles throughout his body, and his diary-like
improvisatory dance videos provide an opportunity to think about the connection between body and language.
Hideo ARAI is a physical performer and dance artist born in Saitama Prefecture. He led the performing arts group Denkikyokubadan,
which staged open-air plays, dance-based street performances and the like; he also trained in Noguchi Taiso, a physical method whereby
one relaxes the body and follows nature, studying under its creator Michizo Noguchi. Moving to solo work, he has put on dance
performances in Japan and abroad, while holding workshops in schools, public halls and welfare centers across Japan. Even after adefinitive diagnosis of ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) in the summer of 2022, he has continued to throw himself into his work,transcending the relationship between caring and being cared for.

7. Hideo ARAI, improvisational dance session withchildren and their family, ©Aqua Metropolis Osaka 2009

Contact

8. Hideo ARAI, ODORU KOKOROMI, Improvisation Dance with ALS,
2022- Location: Mogamigawa Museum Shooting: Kiyoko Itasaka

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo｜ Public Relations (Kudo / Inaba / Uchibori)
E-MAIL: mot-pr@mot-art.jp

TEL: +81-3-5245-1134

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

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金仁淑｜KIM Insook
KIM Insook’s contribution to this exhibition is the video installation Eye to Eye (won the 2023 Commission
Project Special Prize at the Yebisu lnternational Festival for Art & Alternative Visions), which shows thechildren of Colégio Sant’ana, a Brazilian school in Shiga Prefecture, on a life-size screen, together with a newwork that captures her subsequent encounters with the children of Colégio Sant’ana. Foreign residents who
don’t use the Japanese language form their own community, and rarely have the chance to interact with theJapanese-speaking local community. But even if they lack a common language, meeting gives them thechance to become friends and look each other in the eyes. This work, which the artist carefully built up
through a series of exchanges, is just that: a platform for meeting them one by one.
KIM is an artist born in Osaka Prefecture. She lived in Seoul for 15 years after moving there to study, and now splits her time between
Seoul and Tokyo. Her projects are based on communication around subjects such as the individual's everyday life, memory, history,tradition, community and family, and she creates installations consisting primarily of photography and video. At the root of her work lies
the idea that “diversity is universal.

9.
10.
KIM Insook, Eye to Eye, 2023, Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions
2023 Commission Project ©KIM Insook

Information
Where My Words Belong
Exhibition Period
Opening Hours
ClosedVenue
Admission

Organized byThursday, April 18 – Sunday, July 7, 2024
10 AM – 6 PM (Tickets available until 30 minutes before closing)Mondays (except 29 Apr, 6 May), 30 Apr, 7 May
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Exhibition Gallery 1F
Adults – 1,400 Yen / University & College Students, Over 65 – 1,000 Yen /High-school & Junior High-school Students – 600 Yen /Elementary School Students & younger – freeMuseum of Contemporary Art Tokyo operated by Tokyo Metropolitan
Foundation for History and Culture

Also on view
March 30 – July 7
Saeborg “I WAS MADE FOR LOVING YOU” / TSUDA Michiko “Life is Delaying”
Tokyo Contemporary Art Award 2022-2024 Exhibition
April 6 – July 7
Ho Tzu Nyen: A for Agents
MOT Collection: Walking, Traveling, Moving―From the Great Kanto Earthquake to the Present / Eye to EyeContact

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo｜ Public Relations (Kudo / Inaba / Uchibori)
E-MAIL: mot-pr@mot-art.jp

TEL: +81-3-5245-1134

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

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Publicity Images

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

MOT provides 10 publicity images to the press. Use of the images for any purpose requires prior permission of
the museum. To request any image/s, please send an email to mot-pr@mot-art.jp with the caption number ofthe desired image. You shall be deemed to have consented to our terms and conditions by submitting therequest.
Terms and Conditions
1. Each of the publicity images must be accompanied by its credit lines which are provided below.
2. Publicity images must be reproduced in their entirety and may not be cropped, detailed, overprinted, oraltered.
3. You should send a proof copy to the museum before the final printing, broadcasting, and/or release forthe fact check and confirmation of the use of image/s and credit/s. You also should provide the museumwith a copy of the respective magazine, newspaper, DVD, video file, website link, etc. after publication.
4. Secondary use of the image/s is strictly prohibited. The data of the image/s must be deleted once usedfor reproduction.

1

Yuni Hong Charpe, RÉPÈTE, 20192Yuni Hong Charpe, Still on our tongues, 2022

3

Mayunkiki, Siknure – Let me live, 2022, Installation view at Ikon Gallery, Birmingham
Photographer Stuart Whipps, courtesy of Ikon Gallery.

4Mayunkiki Photo by Hiroshi Ikeda

5

Mai Nagumo Photo: Harumichi Saito

6

Mai Nagumo Photo: k.kawamura

7

Hideo ARAI, improvisational dance session with children and their family,©Aqua Metropolis Osaka 20098

Hideo ARAI, ODORU KOKOROMI, Improvisation Dance with ALS, 2022Location: Mogamigawa Museum Shooting: Kiyoko Itasaka

9KIM Insook, Eye to Eye, 2023, Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions
Commission Project ©KIM Insook

2023

10KIM Insook, Eye to Eye, 2023, Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions
Commission Project ©KIM Insook

2023

Contact

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo｜ Public Relations (Kudo / Inaba / Uchibori)
E-MAIL: mot-pr@mot-art.jp

TEL: +81-3-5245-1134

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

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