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A Message from the 41st Century

 

Approximately 2000 years ago, the ancient Italian city of Pompeii suddenly vanished due to a volcanic eruption. Today, the society in which we live is also threatened by a similar crisis. The problems we face today are not just limited to natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods, but man-made disasters such as warfare and terrorist attacks, as well as the continuing problems associated with nuclear development. Our current living conditions that at a glance appear to be peaceful might be in a more serious crisis than in the period of ancient Pompeii. If our present-day society were to be excavated as a ‘fossil’ in the 41st century, what kind of state would it be found in? In recent years, I have conducted my artistic activity under the theme of “contemporary society as seen from 2000 years in the future.” 

My initial motive to create works under this theme was due to my encounter with the ruins of Kusadosengen in Fukuyama, Hiroshima Prefecture. This seemingly illusory village that is said to have sank to the bottom of a river approximately three-hundred years ago due to a torrential flood (＊) prospered from the Kamakura period (c.1185-1333) to the Muromachi period (1336-1573).

History has taken the passage from the past to the present and will continue into the future. To give thought to 2000 years from now means to think about the present. With my 41st-century fossilized works acting as a motivation, viewers are led to reconsider their present positions and to realize the meaning of living in the present. And when we consider the myriad problems we have in contemporary society, such as those involving the environment, education and world peace, unexpected inspirations and ideas might come into our minds through gazing at the world from “the perspective of 2000 years in the future.”

 

＊In recent studies, the dominant view is that it happened due to natural declination.