Raising TIMES SQUARE once again at the Ginza 4-chome intersection / 銀座4丁目交差点にもう一度TIMES SQUAREを掲げる

Raising TIMES SQUARE once again at the Ginza 4-chome intersection
Single channel video, photograph, painting on board
ON LIMITS / Shinyurakucho #Sonoaida, Tokyo, 2023

After discovering a photograph of an American soldier holding up a sign reading “TIMES SQUARE” in Ginza during the American occupation, the artist decided to recreate the same performance.

Through a complex application process and conversations with government agencies to obtain permission to display the sign, the artist attempts to reveal the violence of the dominant side winning the war and freely changing the rules of public space for the oppressed side. The project has not yet been realized and will continue until the board is raised.

進駐軍占領時代、アメリカ兵士が「TIMES SQUARE」と書かれた看板を銀座で掲げた写真を発見し、同じパフォーマンスを再現することにした。看板を掲げる許可を得るために行政との複雑なやり取りを通じて、戦争に勝った支配側が、被支配側の公共空間で自由にルールを変更することの暴力性をあらわにする試み。このプロジェクトは未だ実現しておらず、ボードを掲げることができるまで続けられる。