photo: SAIKI Taku
Something that Floats / Something that Sinks
| Artist | SHIMABUKU |
|---|---|
| Year | 2008 |
| Material/ Technique | vegetable, fruit, water, water tank, stand of iron, stream system |
| Size/ Duration | dimensions variable（water tank:H60 × W90 × D45cm, 2 pieces; stand of iron:H100 × W90 × D45cm, 2 pieces) |
| Copyright Notice | © SHIMABUKU |
| Year of acquisition/ donation | 2009（作品購入年月日：2009/07/15） |
| Description | Born in Hyogo, Japan in 1969. Lives and works in Okinawa. While traveling extensively around the world from the early 1990s, Shimabuku has performed and made installations concerning a human way of life and new ways of communication. He participated in group exhibitions at Pompidou Centre in Paris, Hayward Gallery in London, and a number of international exhibitions such as Venice Biennale 2003 and São Paulo Biennale 2006. His solo exhibition was held at 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa in 2013. Before exhibiting "Something that Floats / Something that Sinks", Shimabuku first visited neighboring vegetable stores one after another, and talking with many people, he chose his ‘exhibits.’ Vegetables he selected are carefully put into a water tank, and floating in the water, they are regenerated as ‘exhibits’ and meet visitors. They repeat floating up and sinking in the water, and before they go bad, they are replaced with fresh vegetables by the museum staff, who was told to eat them. In other words, the vegetables provide a motive for the artist, dealers, viewers and staff to communicate with each other ceaselessly during the exhibition period. "Born as a Box" is a work in which a corrugated box itself speaks in the Kobe dialect of the artist’s hometown, talking about communication with people as a box and its identity. The box says that it can accept life positively because there is communication with people. Thus, his work is not only beautiful and humorous at first sight, but also it is filled with tolerance to receive everything as it is, continuously generating the pleasure and preciousness of communication with people and the environment to produce them. |
NOTES
This Collection Data page contains the works and materials in the collection of 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, as of April 1, 2018.
Artists are listed alphabetically by artist’s surname.
Works and materials by the same artists are listed according to the date of the work in principle.
Works whose dates are unidentified are listed at the end of each item. Some works are not listed according to the date of work due to their relations.
The data of works and materials are listed in order of title, production year, material/technique/form, dimensions, donor’s name, copyright holder and credit for photograph.
Dimensions are given by height (H) x width (W) in centimeters for plane work, and height (H) x width (W) x depth (D) in cm for 3-D work. Diameter (Ø) is used for circular work.
For the name of country or city, the name currently used in English is listed in principle.