As the first exhibition in the  “ku-kan(space)” , we are pleased to present a solo exhibition by Sapporo based artist Soma Sato.

Soma Sato has been producing works including a film work representing 3D scanned data of his home in London, a  sculptural work derived from researches and field works in which he repeatedly visited a fallen shrine tree worshiped for centuries, and a photographic work objectively capturing arrangements of houses in Megumino, the city where he was born and raised. These works are themed on culture,  surrounding environment, people’s memories and customs, and the subjects of the works are deeply related to places and identities of individuals and society. In-between the scientific and cultural worlds of the present, Sato explores the relationship to the peripheral areas surrounding our bodies and minds.

The artist’s residence in Kikusui and the exhibition space happen to be located within walking distance of each other, and the Ichijo-Ohashi Bridge connecting them was the starting point of his approaches. In this exhibition, Sato presents an installation made up of works that are based on spaces and surrounding areas that have been inhabited as ‘home’, as well as works that have emerged from the artist’s current engagement with the most intimate realm of the present – the place. 

Start of  “ku-kan (space)”

When I decided to close nicojica (the café/gallery space on the second floor of the Museum of Modern Art, Hokkaido), I thought I might take a break from art-related projects and concentrate on my legal practice (Kawakami is also a lawyer). Around the time I was introduced to this space.

The space used to be nagaya, multiple residential spaces under the same roof, on the second floor of a factory. The walls have now been torn down and the space is now a warehouse with the steel frames and tin walls exposed.

There is simply nothing. There is no running water, no white walls, and my first impression is that it is a place where “there is no end to what there is not”.

But there was something that stuck with me, and as I carried away the equipment that had overflowed from nicojica’s departure, I thought vaguely, “Maybe we can do something… maybe there is something…”.

At that time, I remembered Ohashi, who always looks at things critically, talking about this ‘space’ with an unusual twinkle in his eye. I also decided to face this occasion in a positive way, trusting my intuition that “there might be something”.

The project we started believing in ‘something that might exist’ is this space.

Finding “something that might be there”

For the first exhibition at “ku-kan(space)”, we decided to invite Soma Sato.
We thought that he would find “something that might be there” through his works.
Even now, Sato is carefully engaging  with the space and place and scooping up the various traces that have been left behind over time before this space became “ku-kan(space)”.
The traces that have been scooped up are gradually emerging, and it is as if this inorganic “ku-kan(space)” has started to breathe in after a while. 

There is “ku-kan(space)” that begins as “something that might be there”.
We hope you will be able to enjoy the beginning of our new space. 

October 2, 2023 “ku-kan”   Tetsuro Ohashi , Taiga Kawakami