PRESS RELEASE

19 April 2023

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo

How I feel is not your problem, period.
Sat. 15 July – Sun. 5 November, 2023
The Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo presents the exhibition, “How I feel is not your problem, period.”which serves to cast an eye on the difficulties of life that children in their teens may feel, and proposes tocontinue thinking about various unanswerable questions through engaging with contemporary art. “Empathy” isthe ability to understand the feelings and experiences of others. Kindness and consideration to see things fromanother person’s point of view is a skill necessary to promote the facilitation of society, and its importance has
also been emphasized in recent years both in the fields of education and business. However, for everyone there
are indeed times when one does not wish to empathize or be empathized with. Some people might feel that
their feelings have been taken lightly if someone says to them “I understand how you feel” with a know-it-all
look on their face, while others may feel uncomfortable when coerced to empathize under peer pressure throughphrases such as, “You know how I feel, right?” This is especially true for teens, who often struggle withrelationships between family and friends, as well as during the process of establishing their own identity.
Nevertheless, when empathy is considered as equating to kindness, there are moments when one may actually
feel burdened to reject empathy. This exhibition hands over the words "How I feel is not your problem, period."
to teenage children, with the message that it is okay not to empathize.
This exhibition introduces the works of five artists: Shigeo Arikawa, Makiko Yamamoto, Atsushi Watanabe (I'mhere project), Riki Takeda, and Kayako Nakashima. Their works attempt to think about and understand people
they don’t know, or those who are not there in front of them. While some express doubts towards facile orContact

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superficial forms of empathy, others arrive at a state of empathy through developing a deep understanding.
Through viewing their work, we too may find ourselves raising questions such as, “What is this person doing?”and “What is this person thinking?” There is no pre-prepared answer to these queries, and all we can do is tokeep contemplating. We believe that not empathizing is by no means an act of rejection, but instead is thatwhich opens up new possibilities for dialogue and thinking.
Through this exhibition, we hope that not only children in their teens but also adults may experience the fun ofengaging in on-going contemplation without having the need to jump to conclusions.

Artists and exhibited works
有川滋男｜Shigeo Arikawa
Shigeo Arikawa will present four works from his video series "(Re)interpretation", which depicts fictional
occupations, and one new work created especially for this exhibition. Through the installation that looks like a
job fair or a trade show, viewers are invited to imagine the job descriptions and recruitment requirements ofthe people in the videos.
Born 1982 in Tokyo, graduated from the Department of Musical Creativity and the Environment at Tokyo University of theArts in 2006. Produces films, video installations and photographic works. His works aim to question the meaning of 'seeing'by deliberately interrupting and agitating the human act of trying to understand and give meaning to what we see. His films
have been screened at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Hong Kong International Film Festival and theVancouver International Film Festival, among others. His works have been shown at the Hiroshima City Museum ofContemporary Art's '30th Anniversary Exhibition: The Seven Lamps of The Art Museum' (2019) and 'Koganecho Bazaar 2017',
as well as in residencies at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in the Netherlands and the Aomori Contemporary Art
Centre (ACAC). Lives and works in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
(Left)
1. Shigeo Arikawa, Large Island, 2018
(Right)
2. Shigeo Arikawa, Gold Town, 2017

山本麻紀子｜Makiko Yamamoto
Makiko Yamamoto has been researching legends of giants since 2013, visiting various regions where somelegends of giants remains, and making a video work of a giant' back tooth that have fallen out when hesneezed, flowing down rivers. The exhibition will feature a house-like installation centred on Giant's Tooth(2018) and the Cuttage Seedling Project she has been working on in recent years.
Born 1979 in Kyoto, completed postgraduate studies at Kyoto City University of Arts, Concept and Media Planning, 2005.
Through researches on the location, she continues to observe and communicate with the people involved in that place.
She produces works by developing this process into various forms such as painting, photography, video, dyeing andembroidery. Major exhibitions include 'Criterium 84 Mending Mito' at Art Tower Mito (2012), 'Decoration never dies,anyway' at the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum (2017) and the project 'Sujin Sukusuku Centre (Cuttage SeedlingProject)' in Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto (from 2020). Lives and works in Shiga Prefecture.

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3. Makiko Yamamoto, Giant’s Tooth, 2018

4. Makiko Yamamoto, Sleeping at Sujin Elementary School, 2020 Photo: Tatshuki

Photo: Yoshiyuki Uchibori

Katayama, Photo courtesy of HAPS,“Foundation-Building Project for An Inclusive Society
Realized Through the Arts and Culture, Kyoto City”

渡辺篤(アイムヒア プロジェクト)｜Atsushi Watanabe(I’m here project)
His exhibits will be centred on Monument of Recovery “The Door” (2016), which is based on his own pain as aformer social withdrawal, and works from the project The Day We Saw the Same Moon from “I'm hereproject”, of which Watanabe is a representative. The project collects photographs of the moon taken bypeople who feel isolated due to COVID-19 pandemic, and presents an opportunity to think about others whoare not here. Atsushi Watanabe will also exhibit at NACT View at the National Art Center, Tokyo from
September 2023.
Born 1978 in Kanagawa, completed his postgraduate studies at Tokyo University of the Arts in 2009. In recent years, hehas conducted a number of projects in collaboration with traumatised people such as ‘social withdrawl', which is aninvisible social issue and of which he himself is a survivor . The projects cover social, cultural, welfare and psychologicalthemes, such as otherness, the possibility and impossibility of empathy, and social inclusion. Lives and works inKanagawa.
(Left)
5. Atsushi Watanabe (I'm here project), The Moon Will

Rise Again, 2021, Installation view: 'The Day We Saw
the Same Moon', R16 studio, Photo: Keisuke Inoue(Right)
6. Atsushi Watanabe, Monument of Recovery Door",
2016/2019 Photo: Keisuke Inoue

武田力｜Riki Takeda
Takeda will exhibit a document introducing his activities as a folk performing arts archivist who inherits
movements out of a life rooted in the local area that have been passed down from generation to generation. In
addition, for the first time in Tokyo, a dialogue space called Textbook Cafe will be shown, where visitors canbrowse used primary school textbooks and recall their own educational experiences, leading them to question
themselves about learning or education.

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.

3

Stage director and folk arts archivist. After studying elementary education at Rikkyo University and working in akindergarten, he joined the theatre company chelfitsch as an actor. He acted mainly in Europe and the USA, but became astage director after the Great East Japan Earthquake. He has also been involved in the revival and transmission of folk
performing arts in depopulated villages. He has also been active in Asia, participating in the international theatre festival
Karnabal in the Philippines (2017), the residency program at the Ming Contemporary Art Museum in Shanghai, China.
Lives and works in Tokyo/Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan.

7. Riki Takeda, Textbook Cafe, 2022
Installation view at HUB-IBARAKI

8. Riki Takeda, The octopus is an octopus, but it is ______,
2017 Filming: Samantha Lee ©CNN Philippines

ART PROJECT 2022

中島伽耶子｜Kayako Nakashima
Kayako Nakashima is known for her site-specific works in old houses at the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial andthe Setouchi International Art Festival, where her work is always inseparably linked to the space. As a newwork for this exhibition, the artist will create a wall that divides the white cube gallery and penetrates to theatrium. Viewers are invited to explore the presence of the other side of the wall and attempt to communicate
with the person behind it.
Born 1990 in Kyoto, she completed her PhD in Fine Arts at Tokyo University of the Arts in 2020. She attempts to perceive
the other side of the boundaries that separate things, and expresses the asymmetry of communication and the inability tounderstand each other through dialogue. Major exhibitions include Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial Echigo-Tsumari Art
Triennale (2012, 2015), Setouchi International Art Festival (2013, 2016), Shiseido art egg ‘Hedgehogs’ (2021), Akita Public
Art University Gallery BIYONG POINT, 'What to talk about when we talk about us' (2022). Lives and works in Akita.

9. Kayako Nakashima, drawing for a new

10. Kayako Nakashima, What to talk about when weproject, 2023

talk about us, 2022 In collaboration with Umi
Iwase and Rina Sakurai Photo: Ecchuya StudioContact

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.

4

Related programs
We plan to host a variety of programs including storytelling by drag queens foryoung children (Drag Queen Story Hour), café philosophique (P4C) and reading
clubs, and many other opportunities for children to respect the opinions and ideasof themselves and others.
＊Please check the MOT’s website for up-to-date information related to theexhibition.
Drag Queen Story Hour
*This photograph is for reference only.

InformationExhibition Period

Saturday 15 July – Sunday 5 November, 2023

ClosedMondays (except 17 Jul, 18 Sep, 9 Oct) 18 Jul, 19 Sep, and 10 Oct

Opening Hours

10 AM－6 PM (Tickets available until 30 minutes before closing.)

Admission

Adults – 1,300 Yen / University & College Students, Over 65 – 900 Yen / High-school &Junior High-school Students – 500 Yen / Elementary School Students & younger – freeVenue

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Exhibition Gallery B2F

Organized by

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo operated by Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation forHistory and Culture

Support byEmbassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

Cooperated bySangetsu Corporation / Tokyo Expanding Decoration Co., Ltd. / Futoko Shimbun /Hikikomori UX Kaigi / Framer Framed

Curated by

Kasumi Yamaki (Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo)

Concurrent Exhibitions“DAVID HOCKNEY” “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*All Programs are subject to change.

5IMAGE REQUEST FORM

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 ofthe museum. To request any image/s, please fill out the form below and submit it to the museum via email(mot-pr@mot-art.jp). You shall be deemed to have consented to our terms and conditions by submitting theform.
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 for thefact check and confirmation of the use of image/s and credit/s. You also should provide the museum with acopy 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.

Name of the publication：
Publication genre： TV

On-sale date / Airdate：RadioNewspaper

Magazine

Name：Website

OtherTEL：

E-mail ：Please check the box for any image/s you would like to request.
1

Shigeo Arikawa, Large Island, 20182

Shigeo Arikawa, Gold Town, 20173

Makiko Yamamoto, Giant’s Tooth, 2018 Photo: Yoshiyuki Uchibori

4

Makiko Yamamoto, Sleeping at Sujin Elementary School, 2020
Photo: Tatshuki Katayama, Photo courtesy of HAPS, “Foundation-Building Project for An Inclusive Society
Realized Through the Arts and Culture, Kyoto City”

5

Atsushi Watanabe (I'm here project), The Moon Will Rise Again, 2021, Installation view: 'The Day We Saw
the Same Moon', R16 studio, Photo: Keisuke Inoue

6

Atsushi Watanabe, Monument of Recovery "Door", 2016/2019 Photo: Keisuke Inoue

7

Riki Takeda, Textbook Cafe, 2022 Installation view at HUB-IBARAKI ART PROJECT 2022

8

Riki Takeda, The octopus is an octopus, but it is ______, 2017 Filming: Samantha Lee ©CNN Philippines*This artwork will not be shown in the exhibition.

9Kayako Nakashima, drawing for a new project, 2023

10

Kayako Nakashima, What to talk about when we talk about us, 2022 Photo: Ecchuya Studio*This artwork will not be shown in the exhibition.

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.

6