Akiko Sakamoto | Looking Down and Cutting Out from a Bird's Eye View—Shoji Toyama Exhibition: Birds in the Collection Storage
The Shoji Toyama exhibition at the Kumamoto City Museum of Contemporary Art is an installation recontextualizing his films and art projects from a "bird's eye view."Summary
The exhibition "Birds in the Collection Storage" at the Kumamoto City Museum of Contemporary Art features the work of filmmaker and art project director Shoji Toyama, presented as an installation that reconfigures his diverse activities through the lens of "birds." Toyama introduces the neologism "Bird-ming," which combines the act of trimming footage/images with viewing from a bird's perspective, using it to survey and present his works. His films are characterized by themes rooted in local communities, blending documentary and fiction, and featuring a unique human quality derived from casting both famous actors and local residents. The exhibition also recontextualizes art projects like "Akasaki Wednesday Post Office" and "Point Hope" through this bird's-eye view, with the venue design by Masaki Iwata using wire mesh to create a light, airy space. Inspired by bird motifs in the work of the late Shizuo Miyazaki, visitors participate by "unfolding" origami cranes, renewing their commitment to peace. The exhibition culminates in a large birdcage displaying over 100 taxidermied birds from the museum network, intentionally revealing the museum's storage space behind it, aiming to induce a new sensory experience in the viewer after they leave the museum.
(Source：artscape)