PRESS RELEASEMay 8, 2024

Yoshiaki Kaihatsu: ART IS LIVE
―Welcome to One Person Democracy
August 3 – November 10, 2024

１． ART IS LIVE, 2024. Photo: Yasunori Tanioka

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo is pleased to present Yoshiaki Kaihatsu: ART IS
LIVE―Welcome to One Person Democracy, the first major exhibition dedicated to Yoshiaki Kaihatsu(1966–) held at a museum in Tokyo. Since the beginning of his career in the 1990s, the artist has
devoted himself to artistic activities that involve and provoke communication, with underlying interestin familiar events, such as everyday life and social occurrences.
The forms of expression he employs are diverse, ranging from the production of drawings, photographs,performances, and installations to everyday tasks, workshops at schools and in communities, andproposing and advocating Thank You Art Day, which designates March 9 (the pronunciation of “3 9”resembles “thank you” in Japanese) as the day to celebrate art. Among them, the ongoing projects
offer us a glimpse into the philosophy behind his endeavors. Future Post Office, in which a letter you
write to yourself or to your friend arrives after a year, 100 Teachers, in which classes are conductedunder the slogan, “Everyone is a teacher, everyone is a student,” and Mole TV, which invites diverse
guests to the underground studio, all mimic the existing formats—the postal service, education, andmass media—while suggesting an equal relationship between the message’s sender and receiver.
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Dragon Chair, a workshop that started at school in Fuchu, invited children to express themselves—
without worrying about what others think—through chairs, which are linked together to form a dozensmeter-long dragon. In 2011, the artist began a charity exhibition, Daylily Art Circus (2011, 2012, 2013,2014), with his artist and personal friends. The project collected donations, traveling from WesternJapan, the region struck by the Great Hanshin and Awaji Earthquake, to the areas affected by theGreat East Japan Earthquake and Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant accident. His interaction withpeople in the disaster-stricken regions and experiences at the sites led to other projects in Fukushima,such as The House of Politicians (2012–) and Cotoba Library (Library of Words), which collects
vanishing dialects. These projects, in which Kaihatsu hears individuals’ faint voices and calmly
continues to do what he can do, can be described as “side-by-side activism.”

2. Future Post Office, Installation view at Shin Minatomura:
A Small City for the Future, Yokohama Triennale 2011
Special Tie-Up Program (BankART Life III), 2011

3. Yoshiaki Kaihatsu Open Studio Program in Fuchu Art
Museum, Collaborative Project Dragon Chair, 2008

Kaihatsu’s gestures of personally intervening in social structures, systems, communities, and events
have come to characterize his practice: the late Osamu Ikeda (former director of BankART1929) called
it “One Person Democracy*.” “Democracy,” a term premised on everyone’s participation, may seem tocontradict “one person.” However, precisely because these movements are not united, individuals canreact to each other, and the reaction successively involves people and results in an action. This iswhere we find the core of Kaihatsu’s artistic expression.
Many of his extensive and diverse artistic activities are not intended to be in a collection or exhibitedat museums, and this has limited opportunities to overview his career of over thirty years. Yoshiaki
Kaihatsu: ART IS LIVE―Welcome to One Person Democracy presents about fifty pieces of works
and projects by the artist, who has confronted everyday events and social changes firsthand. We
welcome viewers to the world of One Person Democracy.
*Osamu Ikeda, “One Person Democracy,” KAIHATSU Yoshiaki, BankART1929, 2014

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

4. Happo-en in Winterthur, Winterthur City/Switzerland,2007

5. The House of Politicians , Minami Soma/FUKUSHIMA, 2012

Yoshiaki Kaihatsu
Born in Yamanashi Prefecture in 1966. In 1993, Kaihatsu
completed a Master’s degree in Arts at Tama Art University. He
received a grant from the Asian Cultural Council and stayed inNew York and Berlin, creating and presenting works. He received
the 4th Taro Okamoto Award for Contemporary Art, Outstanding
performance award in 2001 and participated in the 9thInternational Architecture Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia in
2004. He started Thank You Art Day, which designates March 9
as the day to celebrate art, and organizes Daylily Art Circus, adisaster relief activity. His recent solo exhibitions include 8thGrade Syndrome (2016, Ichihara Lakeside Museum), AREKORE
KAIHATSU FACTORY (2019, The Hakone Open-Air Museum),
6. Portrait of the artist

and Kaihatsu Rediscovering, Vol. 1, 2, 3 (2019, 2022, ANOMALY),
and group exhibitions include Echigo Tsumari Art Triennial(2006–), ICHIHARA ART x MIX (2014–), and Now, it’s time to play(2019, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo).

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Exhibition Highlights
Materials from Kaihatsu’s early career not shown anywhere else
The exhibition introduces a number of photographs, videos,
and actual materials of Kaihatsu’s ambitious early-career
activities, including those presented publicly for the first time,such as his guerrilla performance at Documenta 9 and 365

PROJECT, which traveled through Japan between 1995 and1996.
7. Performance at Documenta 9, 1992.
Photo: Kazushiro Namai

A little strange Kaihatsu Town
A part of the exhibition gallery called Kaihatsu Town
showcases a collection of unique facilities, such as a post
office that delivers letters a year later, a bank that does notdeal money, and a classroom that offers unusual classes. If
you get tired, you can take a break in a faux fur park.

8. An Oasis for City‐Dwellers, ZOOM ZEXELART SPACE/Tokyo, 2020.
Photo: Yasunori Tanioka

Live art experience
The artist is in the exhibition room every day, doing
something (he can be absent occasionally). Something
happens daily, and visitors can witness or participate in theevents. Various activities, including 100 Teachers, which
invites a hundred unique and interesting teachers to give ahundred unique classes during the exhibition, as well as talkevents with collaborators from projects in Tohoku and Thank

You Art Day, live performances, and workshops, are given in
the exhibition room and the museum’s premise every day,

9. Useless Panda in Kiba

creating a place for movement, transformation, meeting, andconversation.

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

Information
Exhibition Period

Saturday, August 3 – Sunday, November 10Opening Hours

10 a.m.－6 p.m. (tickets available until 30 minutes before closing)

ClosedMondays (except Aug. 12, Sep. 16 and 23, Oct. 14, Nov. 4), Aug. 13, Sep. 17
and 24, Oct. 15, Nov. 5

Venue

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Exhibition Gallery 3F

Admission

Adults - 1,500 yen / University & College Students, Over 65 - 1,100 yenHigh school & Junior High School Students - 600 yen
Elementary School Students & Younger - free

Organized by

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo operated by Tokyo Metropolitan
Foundation for History and Culture

Curated byHikari Odaka (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo)

WEB

https://www.mot-art-museum.jp/en/exhibitions/art-is-live/

Also on View
A Personal View of Japanese Contemporary Art: Takahashi Ryutaro Collection
MOT Collection

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Publicity Images

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

MOT provides 9 publicity images to the press. Use of the images for any purpose requires priorpermission of the museum. To request any image/s, please send an email to mot-pr@mot-art.jp withthe caption number of the desired image. You shall be deemed to have consented to our terms andconditions by submitting the request.
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1.

ART IS LIVE, 2024. Photo: Yasunori Tanioka

2.

Future Post Office, Installation view at Shin Minatomura: A Small City for the Future, Yokohama
Triennale 2011 Special Tie-Up Program (BankART Life III), 20113.

Yoshiaki Kaihatsu Open Studio Program in Fuchu Art Museum, Collaborative Project Dragon

Chair, 2008
4.

Happo-en in Winterthur, Winterthur City/Switzerland, 2007

5.

The House of Politicians, Minami Soma/FUKUSHIMA, 2012

6.

Portrait of the artist

7.

Performance at Documenta 9, 1992. Photo: Kazushiro Namai

8.

An Oasis for City-Dwellers, ZOOM ZEXEL ART SPACE/Tokyo, 2020. Photo: Yasunori Tanioka

9.

Useless Panda in Kiba

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