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「情報サブウェイ　アート星からやってきた金髪娘」

• WIRED　1996年 2月号
• 同朋舎出版

"A blonde girl from PLANET ARTS"

• WIRED 1996 February
• Douhousha

WIRED, February 1996, DDP Digital Publishing

"A BLONDE GIRL FROM THE PLANET ARTS"
By Yasushi Yamashita

"Japanese kids are just about to be brainwashed by an evil empire called Hensearch." (A made-up word derived from an infamous 'hensa-chi,'-or a type of statistic similar to standardized test.　 Its use is rampant from K-9 though high school to determine a child's academic standing and, ultimately, his or her acceptance to an institution of higher education).　 "That's why benevolent warriors have been sent to earth from outer space, like the Planet Sports and the
Planet Anime.　 To help the kids take back happier days.　 The Planet Arts, where I'm from, has also been trying to free kids from the hardships with much less success.　 Tactics for the rescue mission are relayed from my mother planet to the antenna on my beret."

If a Japanese girl with blonde hair came up to you with a story such as the one mentioned above, you might find yourself a little alarmed. 　 But try to overcome this initial shock and continue listening to what she has to say.　 Soon you will realize that she is one of the few sane artists left in　 Japan.　 Yes, Rica Takashima is an artist, or an "Aozora Artist (Azure Sky Artist)," as she calls herself.

As a student at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music working part time for small theater companies to build stage settings, it was a natural extension for Ms. Rica Takashima, after her graduation from the prestigious art institution, to be involved with character and object development for corporate TV advertisements.　 Her work includes highly visible TV commercials for several popular rock bands. 　 She is quite content with working in a medium where her artistic intents are instantly communicated to mass audiences. 　She had always despised the pretentiousness of defining a creative process as being exclusive and esoteric, which was a prevailing view in theJapanese art scene at that time. 　 In the summer of 1994, however, a whole new world opened up for Ms. Rica Takashima when she started an art project, then thought as a basically innocent street event, in Harajuku Square, downtown Tokyo.

"Aozora (Azure Sky) Art" is a concept name for an art event brought about by way of audience participation. 　 Ten such events have been launched in the last two and half years. 　 One such event took place shortly after the recent legalization in Japan of pubic hair in a printed medium. 　 Inspired by the silliness of such obsession, Rica's group set up a show called "You Can Take Nude Pictures with Pubic Hair Too!" 　 The group devised boards that were cut out and painted like real-size nude humans of both sexes with pubic hair. 　 The faces were open holes so that, when participants stood behind the board of their choice, they could show their own faces through the openings. 　 Ms. Iijima and her troupe gladly took your "nude" pictures, including pubic hair, and presented it to you. 　 Ms Iijima calls the cut-out board with a hole for a face "Kaodashi-Kun (a peek-a-boo board)."

Another such Aozora event, called "Love Love Ceremony," was inspired by the Family Name Choice Bill that failed to materialize in the National Diet. 　 (By the way, most of Rica's work has had rather significant social origins, but somehow led to comic twist.) 　 At "Love Love Ceremony," a participant could become anyone, by way of "Kaodashi-Kun" or a peek-a-boo board, of either gender, of any ethnicity, or non-humans, and marry anyone or anything, and howeven many of them as they pleased. 　 After the "wedding," they could take any surname they wished to take, or create a new one.　 The "newly-wed" (or a group, possibly) would then be presented with a marriage certificate that was witnessed and co-signed by, yes you guessed it, Aozora Artists, with a memorial photo attached to it, and a live band proudly blasted a wedding march in the foreground.

One might raise the question whether such activities can be properly called art. 　 She is just playing around, is she not?　 But the arts are neither for snobs nor for those who have gained quick wealth in the recent overvalued stock market. 　The typical life of an art object begins in an art gallery where less than 100 people may visit everyday, and ends in a living room of a person who has bought it from the gallery. 　 Such an object has ceased to exist by the time it encounters a viewer, just like a stuffed animal. 　 For Aozora Art, it is most vital that artists and audiences gather together, converse, and laugh together.

When art is created, it is only a beginning for generating something new.

At "Love Love Ceremony," congratulatory E-mails arrived from all over the world since weddings and receptions were webcast live. 　 Seeing others enjoying something has a power to move others to join in and cerebrate together. 　 Aozora Art is a kind of art that replicates itself to infinity.

I wonder when the day will come when Aozora Art totally redefines the meaning of art. 　 "Trust me, it won't be too long.　 I'm pretty sure that Aozora Art is the next generation of the arts," Rica Takashima proclaims.