[Title] Cosmic Dance
[Artist] Kengo Kito
[Date] November 22, 2007 – January 15, 2008
This window, which brings to a dazzling finale the “Dance” theme of 2007, is the brainchild of artist Kengo Kito. The colors portrayed are vivid, the materials glistening and the mirror image dynamic. A glittering dance floor truly in step with the essence of this finale, along with overlapping, straying and mingling of the characters played out on that floor, combine to project images reaching beyond the window line into our own everyday lives.
Real people have vanished in the midst of a soft golden glow, with all that remains of their afterimages are hazy contours, continuing to frolic in flickering sequence. Movement is born from the interaction between the individual lines, with a separate manner of life, organic in appearance but unfixed in form, slowly manifesting itself on the scene. The lines mix, tangle and meld, with several different bodies having left their afterimages behind. Conjured up are sensations of playfully romping with others, while forging ties with the world at large.
The creation can be classified as a dance of indefinite form, played out by fluid and gliding lines. Embedded in the background is a mirror, which functions to both reflect back the gaze of viewers and spawn their likeness on the window surface. In this way, passersby are visually drawn into a playful interface with the lines inside.
Diamond shapes, angling away from their normal dimensions as squares, sustain a symmetric balance while generating a feeling of drifting distortion. On the walls and floors formed from these diamond figures, weight is evenly dispersed to convey a sensation of infinite expansion. Also suggested here is a delicate and perilous structure, in which even the loss of one of the parts shown could cause the entire world to come tumbling down. Against this backdrop, bathed in tension and suspended in space, the human afterimages prance about to their heart’s delight.
With this window creation, viewers beyond the glass divide are also coaxed into the fold, bringing forth a dimension in which the entwining of lines and people arouse a dance of truly undefined form. This likewise serves to blur the borders between the window and outside world, spreading the images of dance onto the sidewalk. The ultimate design is a primitive form of communication that also dissolves the boundaries between others and us.
Kengo Kito
Born in Nagoya in 1977. Studied at Nagoya University of Arts, went on to major in oil painting at the Kyoto City University of Arts Graduate School. Also active in photography, installation and other media, and continues to expand his artistic endeavors to a broad range of fields.