Acknowledging and accepting their existence is the first step to building a relationship.

The Mori Art Museum is currently hosting "Lee Mingwei and His Relationships," an exhibition by Lee Mingwei, known for his participatory art.

Why do people approach and connect?

Allan Kaprow's video work "Activity," exhibited as a reference work, shows a man and a woman sitting in chairs, gradually closing the distance between them. As the distance between them grows closer, tension and discomfort arise.

The relationship between the two people in the video is unclear. What is it that allows a relationship to accept distance reaching zero?

Lee's art, inspired by his own personal experiences, reminds us that our everyday lives are made up of many exchanges of time.

In "Project: Eating Together," a meal is prepared for one guest selected by lottery, and they dine together in a corner of the exhibition room. Here, in order to dine with their guests, the host prepares the setting, imagines their guests, and uses their own experience and knowledge to select, cook, plate, and serve the ingredients. The two then sit around the table and eat the same food "together." In "Project: Sleeping Together," participants selected by lottery bring the item they normally use to sleep and spend the night one-on-one with Lee or a museum staff member at the museum.

These are examples of art in which strangers participate one-on-one in each other's lives.

From information about the selected guest or from deeply personal objects brought out of their bedrooms, we gaze upon and imagine the time that shaped them, and from the lessons we ourselves have learned over time, we understand and accept the other person, and spend that time "together." In this way, we gaze upon and exchange the time that has shaped each other's selves up to this very moment.


【Event Information】
Lee Mingwei and His Relations
Venue: Mori Art Museum
Address: 53F, Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, 6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Dates: September 20th to January 4th, 2015
Hours: 10:00 to 22:00 (until 17:00 on Tuesdays; until 22:00 on September 23rd and December 23rd. Last admission 30 minutes before closing)
Admission: Adults 1,500 yen, Students 1,000 yen, Children aged 4 to junior high school students 500 yen
Open every day during the exhibition period