Sculptor TAKAGI KAORU will be holding an exhibition to celebrate the publication of his first book, "Plates and Blood," from January 15th to 28th at MINA-TO/Spiral in Minami-Aoyama.


TAKAGI creates sculptures and vessels using clay, a material that will accompany him for the rest of his life. By focusing on the idea that vessels are important tools for "receiving," "giving," and "transforming," he has expressed the idea that people themselves are vessels that fulfill these conditions, and that there are countless things in the world that can become vessels, not just physical objects. The creation of this debut book began with creating plates for his esteemed guests: sound artist mamoru, artist Koichiro Takagi, designers matohu (Hiroyuki Horihata and Makiko Sekiguchi), creative director Jun Okazaki, and graphic artist Kahori Maki. The guests spent two years working with the plates, photographing the "scenery" they discovered from the "plate after eating." TAKAGI himself repeated this process, and the words he wrote alongside the scenery became the source of inspiration for his guests to create new stories. The intense communication between the artist and his guests, which continues to flow back and forth without pause, can be likened to a secret correspondence. This exhibition will delve deeper into how this book was created, what TAKAGI thinks a "plate" is, and how this book, written from the artist's own perspective, relates to the reader's daily life.


Participatory live events titled "If There's Tableware There," in 2013, "Do You Have Your Own Tableware?" in 2015, and "Making the Time to Make the Most of It," in 2017, have garnered a great response. To commemorate the publication of this book, an opening live performance titled "First, Create a Port Scene. Then, Set Out to Sea" will be held on January 15th from 7pm to 9pm. Participants in the live performance and TAKAGI will create a "Port for Departure" using new tableware created by the event. Please note that participation in the live event is limited to the first 40 people. It is also possible to just observe.