Fujii Hikaru "WHOSE LIGHT?" (Artizon Museum) Opening Report: Questioning War Paintings and the "Peaceful Use" of Nuclear Power
Fujii Hikaru's exhibition "WHOSE LIGHT?" opens at Artizon Museum, combining Ishibashi Foundation collection works with new pieces to question war and the "peaceful use" of nuclear power.Summary
The exhibition "Jam Session: Ishibashi Foundation Collection × Fujii Hikaru WHOSE LIGHT? — Whose Light Is It?" by contemporary artist Fujii Hikaru is on view at the Artizon Museum in Kyobashi, Tokyo, from October 24, 2025 to January 31, 2027. The show combines 22 works from the Ishibashi Foundation Collection with Fujii's works, including new pieces, tracing history from ancient Greece through the medieval, modern, and postwar periods while addressing colonialism, war, and nuclear issues, and questioning the very structures that produce "truth."
Inspired by Plato's allegory of the cave in Book VII of The Republic, Fujii shifts the focus from what light illuminates to who is illuminating it. The exhibition space is structured as a narrative of human history, beginning with ancient Greek democracy and including the video installation "The First Fact" (2018) about the Cylonian affair, the new work "Forgive Those Who Submit, Strike Down Those Who Are Arrogant" (2026) examining the relationship between the Pax Romana and military force through vessels from the borderlands of the Roman and Iranian empires, and prints by Dürer and Aldegrever from the Reformation era. The exhibition considers artworks not only as representations of history but also examines the social structures behind them and the artist's own position within them.
(Source：美術手帖)