The “Echigo-Tsumari MonET Special Exhibitions,” which have been running since July 2023, feature guest curators who organize Special Exhibitions showcasing artists who are breaking new ground in the art world. We spoke with members of the artist collective “Kishibe no Catharsis” and guest curator Noi Sawaragi, who are headlining the first phase of this new initiative.

First, could you tell us how you came to recommend “The Shore of Catharsis” this time, Mr. Sawaragi?

――Mr. Sawaragi
In light of Director Kitagawa’s new initiative (the Echigo-Tsumari MonET Series of Special Exhibitions), I thought it would be a great way to breathe new life into the Echigo-Tsumari Art Field.
Since the duration of the Special Exhibition coincided with the Obon holiday and the anniversary of the end of the war, I felt there was a connection with the artwork *“Dormant Data”*¹ and reached out to him.
Last year, I served as a judge for the “Dormant Data GP 2022–2023”*² organized by The Shores of Catharsis (hereinafter “Kata-Kishi”), but even though the Grand Prix was supposed to conclude in 2022, it didn’t. Did the final round end up starting somewhat hastily?

――Mr. Arawato (Kata-Kishi)
It felt like we wanted to wrap it up by the end of the year, but we just couldn’t.

—Mr. Sawaragi
Another reason I reached out was that it felt like the end was just the beginning—I had a hunch there might be an extension.

—Mr. Mizushima (Kata-Kishi)
When we were thinking about how to conclude the final showdown of the “Dormant Data GP 2022–2023,” we decided to have everyone join in a Bon dance.Is it like paying respects to the dead? Something like that.

――Mr. Arawato (Katagishi)
We had that image (of paying respects to the dormant data) from the very beginning. Even though the final showdown took place in winter, we had a song called “Katagishi Ondo” composed and played it.

――Mr. Sawaragi
At first, there was also talk of releasing the collected dormant data into the ocean at the end, right? Like the lanterns at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial.

Is it like a memorial service for the shelved data?

――Mr. Arawato (Katagishi)
Rather than a memorial service, I’d say it’s more like purification. After all, “catharsis” originally means “purification.”

――Mr. Sawaragi
“Shore” isn’t exactly the River of Three Crossings, but it is a boundary, isn’t it? Like the world over there and this world here. There’s also a New Year’s Eve-like feeling to it—like “The Year That Passes, the Year That Comes” and “The Bells of New Year’s Eve.”

Videos documenting the judging process for the “Dormant Data GP 2022–2023”—from the preliminary rounds through the finals—are currently available on YouTube. As part of the Special Exhibition, you can view an archived display of the “Dormant Data GP 2022–2023” judging process in the museum’s special exhibition room.

As part of the Echigo-Tsumari MonET Special Exhibition Series, Vol. 1, in addition to the “‘Dormant Data Grand Prix 2022–2023’ Archive Exhibition” in the special exhibition room, an installation modeled after a food stall—titled “Material Shop Catharsis: Tokamachi Branch”—will open in front of the museum entrance.

Now that the Special Exhibition has started, what do you think?

――Mr. Unno (Katagishi)
This is the first time we’ve tried not only selling but also buying data, and it’s actually quite interesting. Usually, you don’t get paid just for going to an art museum, right? The moment you think, “If I can get paid, maybe I’ll put in a little effort to submit my data,” your attention naturally turns to that dormant data.

――Mr. Sawaragi
You mentioned you hadn’t been buying data until now—how did you acquire it previously?

――Mr. Arawato (Katagishi)
Basically, we’d take works on consignment and split the sales revenue 50-50. After the finals of the “Dormant Data GP 2022-2023,” we were finally able to automate the appraisal process.

I imagine everyone in Kata-gishi usually works in different professions, but does it feel different when you’re working as shop clerks as part of Kata-gishi?

――Mr. Arawato (Kata-Kishi)
I don’t know how other artist collectives*³ operate, but for us, it’s totally fine if our opinions differ. We value our loose connections. We hardly have any set roles either.

――Mr. Sawaragi
Do you have any titles other than “store manager”?

――Mr. Arawata (Kata-gishi)
No, there aren’t. I thought it would be nice to have a “store manager” as a point of contact for the outside world, so I’m currently calling myself the store manager, but I’m actually thinking we could do away with that title altogether.

――Mr. Umino (Kata-gishi)
Mr. Arawata is the store manager in the true sense—not in the sense of making decisions or setting policies, but as the person in charge of accounting and administrative communications (laughs).

――Mr. Awatari (Katagishi)
Oh, and cleaning, too (laughs)

――Mr. Mizushima (Katagishi)
He used to cook our staff meals, too.

――Mr. Awatari (Katagishi)
Personally, I’d say it feels more like a band than a group of artists. It’s like we each play different instruments. That analogy feels more accurate.

――Mr. Oyama (Katagishi)
Normally, we’re all active as artists, and we each have our own way of presenting art, but as shop clerks, it’s different. It’s interesting how my brain kind of switches gears—the feeling that even in my daily life, I have to research how to present the shop.

――Mr. Sawaragi
Like buy-back shops?

――Mr. Oyama (Katagishi)
Yeah, places like Hard Off.

――Mr. Unno (Katagishi)
The new Zoom-based remote sales management system we introduced for the Special Exhibition is modeled after the concept of unmanned retail stores. I found the vintage clothing unmanned store “Secret Sakura-chan,” which had a test location in Musashimurayama, particularly interesting.  It opened in January 2020, and even during the state of emergency, it remained open 24 hours a day, with staff monitoring the store remotely via Zoom. When someone enters, a purchase announcement plays, and the process involves buying something like a meal ticket from a machine called “AI Butta,” then showing it to the staff member on Zoom to exchange it for clothes.

――Mr. Sawaragi
It’s less about a surveillance camera and more about the feeling that someone is watching, isn’t it?

――Mr. Unno (Katagishi)
That’s right. It’s not just a contactless store born out of the COVID-19 pandemic; the system was also designed with ideas like allowing people to work while staying close to their children, or enabling those with disabilities to run the business from home. When I saw this, I felt both moved and a bit frustrated. I thought it was much more cutting-edge than Katagishi, both as a shop and as a form of expression.

That’s totally the mindset of a store clerk (laughs). Was this the idea behind the unmanned retail shop in *Gamu-jin Dot Komu**⁴*, which was exhibited in 2020?

――Mr. Arawato (Katagishi)
There was another exhibition where we had to operate unmanned, and this current format emerged as a result of our research. At that time, I went around visiting various unmanned sales locations, such as farmers’ markets.

――Mr. Sawaragi
Vegetables are sold unmanned too, aren’t they? But those aren’t monitored, are they?

――Mr. Unno (Katagishi)
Some of them were monitored.

――Mr. Sawaragi
Like someone peeking out from the grass?

――Mr. Unno (Katagishi)
Some places even have surveillance cameras installed.

――Mr. Arawata (Katagishi)
Or places where they’ve posted lots of photos of people who stole vegetables (laughs)

――Mr. Unno (Katagishi)
Also, there were some where the money slot was carved out of wood to look like the “Mouth of Truth.”It was carved out of wood.

――Mr. Arawata (Katagishi)
There were also some that used a sort of “torii effect”—psychological cues designed to make you feel like, “You have to be honest in front of this.”

――Mr. Sawaragi
So it’s like an offering box system.

――Mr. Arawata (Katagishi)
It really gives the impression that they’re constantly thinking about their shops like this.

――Mr. Unno(Katagishi)
Concept-wise, “Secret Sakura-chan” was by far the most interesting.

――Mr. Oyama (Katagishi)
What’s great about “Secret Sakura-chan” is that it feels human. Urban unmanned kiosks are completely systematized, so efficiency tends to take precedence.

――Mr. Arawata (Katagishi)
Features like appraisals and remote connectivity are new attempts this time around.The food stall itself is new, too.

――Mr. Sawaragi
Is this also the first time the shop has double doors?

――Mr. Unno (Katagishi)
That’s right—it’s also the first time it’s been movable.

――Mr. Oyama (Katagishi)
It’s actually the first time we’ve built a proper food stall, isn’t it?

――Mr. Sawaragi
Folding doors are like a sacred unveiling, right? When you open them, hidden treasures appear (laughs).

――Mr. Unno (Katagishi)
I hadn’t really thought about it that way, but you’re definitely right.

――Mr. Oyama (Katagishi)
We’d already decided on the folding-door design as a system to efficiently store the cards we’re selling. At first, we wanted to create an awning, so we considered a design that opened upward, but that would have left us with too little space to display the cards.

――Mr. Sawaragi
In that sense, the flyers are artworks too, aren’t they? Isn’t that unprecedented even for the Echigo-Tsumari Art Field?

That’s right. Art festivals don’t usually produce flyers like this.

For this Special Exhibition, we’re recruiting shop staff specifically for the Kohebi-tai*⁵, but this is the first time we’ve had staff who aren’t members of Katagishi, isn’t it?

――Mr. Arawato (Katagishi)
The Kohebi-tai members were really eager to learn more, and during setup, they kept coming up with suggestions to improve the exhibition. I’m grateful for this connection. Until now, we’ve been doing this in Tokyo, so we could only reach art fans and people close to us, but I hope that through the local Kohebi-tai members, our message will gradually spread throughout the community.

――Mr. Mizushima (Katagishi)
I think it’ll be interesting to collect data that’s unique to Tokamachi.

――Mr. Oyama (Katagishi)
When a new store opens, you just have to go check it out, right? I’d like people to drop by casually like that—with the same feeling as when you walk into a supermarket.

――Mr. Sawaragi
When we first came up with the idea, wasn’t the shop’s name supposed to be “Tokamachi Honmachi Store”?

――Mr. Unno (Katagishi)
That’s right—it’s the address of this place (the art museum). But locals told us they don’t really use the term “Honmachi,” so we changed it to “Tokamachi Store.”

――Mr. Sawaragi
Those kinds of fine-tuning adjustments were fun, too. It’s about understanding the local perspective—just like when we were coming up with the name for the summer event, “Dormant Data GP: Hokushin’etsu Tournament 2023.”

――Mr. Unno (Katagishi)
When we were brainstorming a name for the “Dormant Data GP” to be held here this summer, I felt “Niigata Tournament” just didn’t fit. Since this region is known as “Hokushin’etsu” in soccer and baseball leagues, that’s what we went with.

――Mr. Arawata (Katagishi)
The deciding factor was the presence of soccer players from FC Echigo-Tsumari.

The “Hokushin’etsu Women’s Soccer League” season is in full swing right now.

――Mr. Sawaragi
It feels a bit like the regional qualifying rounds for a national tournament.

――Mr. Sawaragi
I think the shop at Katagishi has a bit of a “hojo” feel to it. There’s a special exhibition room inside, but since it’s Katagishi, I figured we could probably do it outside, too. When I approached them about it, I thought the store would be a good place. There was an exhibition themed around the “hojo” at the Echigo-Tsumari Art Field, wasn’t there?

At the 2018 art festival, we held a Special Exhibition*⁶ featuring multiple artists, based on a 4.5-tatami-mat space.

――Mr. Sawaragi
Will there be shops set up around the MonET pond this summer as well?

We’ll be selling TSUMARI BURGER*⁷ in the corridor.

――Mr. Sawaragi
It has a nice festival vibe.

――Mr. Unno (Katagishi)
It’ll feel like a summer festival.

――Mr. Sawaragi
A new concept called “dormant data” has emerged—and while it may have originated in the art world, it’s something everyone can relate to. Everyone has their own “dormant data,” and the accumulation of that data is, in a sense, their life story. I think that once people realize this, they might uncover some truly fascinating discoveries. If we can convey this perspective to our customers and share it with them, I believe our world will continue to expand.

――Mr. Arawato (Katakishi)
We’ve set aside a generous budget for purchases this time, so please come sell your items! Face your “dormant data” head-on and have a great time.

Text and Editing: Hana Maruo (NPO Echigo-Tsumari Satoyama Collaborative Organization)

Museum on Echigo-Tsumari, MonET

■ Echigo-Tsumari MonET Special Exhibition Vol. 1: “Material Shop Catharsis Shoreline, Tokamachi Branch × ‘Dormant Data Grand Prix 2022–2023’ Documentary Exhibition”

[Guest Curator] Noi Sawaragi (Art Critic)
[Duration] July 1 (Sat) – August 27 (Sun); Closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays; 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM (Last admission at 4:30 PM)
[Admission] Indivisual ticket (Adults: 1,200 yen / Elementary and Junior High School Students: 600 yen) or the “Echigo-Tsumari 2023” Common Ticket *Visiting the Material Shop Catharsis Kishibe Tokamachi Branch is free

■Related Event: “Dormant Data GP: Hokushinetsu Tournament 2023”

To coincide with the Special Exhibition, a special pop-up edition of the “Dormant Data GP”—where data that only you know exists, such as photos buried in your smartphone, compete against one another—will be held on August 12 during the ETAT. Please come to the Kishibe Tokamachi branch of Material Shop Catharsis to enter your dormant data.

[Date & Time] August 12 (Sat), 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
[Venue] Museum on Echigo-Tsumari, MonET Corridor
[Admission] Free
[How to Participate]
■ If you wish to participate in the “Dormant Data GP Hokushinetsu Tournament”
① Please have your dormant data purchased at the Kishibe Tokamachi branch of Material Shop Catharsis.(*Details available in-store. Data buybacks are available on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.)
② When submitting the data for buyback, there will be a field asking whether you wish to participate in the “Unused Data GP Hokushinetsu Tournament.” Please select “Participate.” You will be automatically entered upon completion of the buyback.
■ If you wish to observe the “Unused Data GP Hokushinetsu Tournament”:
Please come directly to the event venue on the day of the event.