In this artwork titled “ D Construction Atlas ”,
I gave shape to personal research and mapping with regard to history of construction and destruction that have occurred in Kyoto, along multiple axes.
This piece of art begun with researching into the beginning of 20th century when classical architecture of Kyoto and Modernism art of the West were connected each other in a contextual way.
As the simply and linearly expressed architecture such as Kyoto Imperial Palace and Katsura Imperial Villa was regarded as the Japanese unique culture different from the continental culture, and as its similarities with Bauhaus and De Stijl resulted in connection with Modernism art, the historical and national identity of the Japanese architecture was intensified further. Its historical background is mainly attributed to the period when Japan entered the war. Strengthening national identity and excluding the other are two sides of the same coin, leading to war and destruction.
To show this, I attached material prepared by American military for simulating air raids and records of actual bombing against Kyoto, to the artwork. I set, as another axis to depict the historical axis of such construction and destruction, the change in visual culture mainly related to perspective in paintings.
I expressed what appeared through research, using the context from the vertical and horizontal, to oblique projection drawing without a vanishing point and realistic perspective. By crossing such several viewpoints, I depicted, as a form of structural body, how the vertical and horizontal tottered to be destroyed.