Minamishima: It is very kind of you to spare your valuable time for this occasion. Let me first please remind you that the preliminary ideas for this meeting can be traced back to a lecture that had been held as one of the pre-events for the opening of the ContemporaryArt Museum in Kumamoto. It was on one of Kumamoto’s hot and humid nights in June when Mr. Yokoo suddenly exclaimed “Kumamoto looks like Buenos Aires”, and the memory of this scene has remained vividly in my mind ever since.
It was my idea to title the exhibition “Yokoo Tadanori’s Buenos Airesization project for Kumamoto”-meaning, to turn Kumamoto into Buenos Aires.
It is hard to imagine how this vision came about, considering Mr. Yoko has never been to Buenos Aires, as well as how far apart, both geographically and culturally, the two cities are. These occurrences above have inspired me with the sense that they may symbolize the deep strength and power of man’s imagination.
Mr. Yokoo, how do you remember that night?

Yokoo: We came to this place located outside of the bustling downtown. It has fallen dark suddenly, and the spare lights brought about a melancholy feeling. A “place” at the end of the earth, deserted, and oblivious to the rest of the world― that was the sort of image that struck me. It seemed to be a dramatic place, a place where a man and woman in love had finally escaped the difficult circumstances in their long journey (Everybody laughs). Then I felt as if I was listening to a Tango. It was the perfect place, where the love between the two would flame up passionately. It is this image that I imagined would fit to the meaning behind the name, “Buenos Aires”.

Another thing might be due to the fact that Argentina and Kumamoto are located on opposite sides of the globe from each other. Day in one location means night in the other －it is perhaps this thought that also brought the two cities together in my mind. I’m not sure though whether my image is fitting or not, Mr. Ambassador? (Laugh)

Ambassador Polski:I was totally surprised when I first heard about this exhibition. The entire schedule been already settled, and I only learned about it when we were told that Mr. Yokoo was interested in receiving some material and information on Buenos Aires. As I had been in Japan only for six months at the time, I asked my staff whether such a unique exhibition was usual in this country, and of course the answer was: “No. It is completely unusual.”

Yokoo:Absolutely.

Ambassador:I believe the concept of this exhibition is extremely creative. I’m very curious and looking forward on attending the opening and having the chance to see Mr. Yokoo’s artwork. Although I have not yet been to Kumamoto, I’m convinced your image about Buenos Aires is right, regarding the richness of passion and an amiable atmosphere. It would be wonderful to find some similarities in Kumamoto. My visit will be in January, so obviously a bit colder than June when you first had your inspiration, but I still wait to find some of those similarities between our two cities.

( to be continued…..)

Lecture about Tadanori Yokoo 1
Kodama Kanazawa（Assistant Curator of CAMK）

Lecture about Tadanori Yokoo 2
Hiroshi Minamishima（Director of CAMk）