About the artwork

Based upon a story of a new picture book, Kiss & Goodbye set in JR Iiyama line, the artist presented artworks inspired by a kamaboko-shaped warehouse adjacent to Doichi and Echigo-Mizusawa stations. Installations, original drawings, footage and music in the warehouses communicating a message of the picture book story of a little boy who lost his parents gains courage to live life as he travels with his dog on the train to visit his grandfather.

【2024 New Projects】
”Kiss & Goodbye | Precious Old Memories”

Around the Kamaboko warehouse-shaped artworks at JR Doichi and Echigo-Mizusawa Stations, 10 wooden boxes were placed, one each in the shape of the station buildings of the two stations. The wooden boxes were filled with precious memories and related items entrusted to the artist by local residents, and the artist composed the space inside the boxes according to each memory. Viewers first entered the 2015 Kamaboko warehouse-shaped work and immersed themselves in the fantastical and imaginative world of the story from the picture book “Kiss & Goodbye,” and then strolled around to see a small theater filled with memories of the community. The work may provide an opportunity for the viewer to reflect on his or her own precious memories and irreplaceable characters. During the production, the artist, who came to Japan for the first time in nine years, and the local community engaged in lively exchanges, with children from a nursery school coming to visit and many concerned parties gathering for the completion of the work.