Shota Torii

MW :  Can you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do ?

ST : I am based in Tokyo. My primary style is installation art.

MW : How did your interest in art begin?

ST : My first inspiration was Matthew Barney. The decisive moment was encountering the works of Félix González-Torres.

MW : Can you talk a bit about your assemblage-based practice?

ST : I believe my practice differs from assemblage. As you might gather from the text accompanying my exhibition at Ritsuki Fujisaki Gallery, it is more about rearranging interiors in ways that almost entirely disregard practicality or extracting specific parts from them. If I elaborate further on my approach to spatial composition, I would say it involves a process of deliberately misinterpreting Le Corbusier's Modulor (a system of proportions based on human height).

MW : What does transformation mean to you in your practice—are objects becoming something else, or are they revealing what was always there?

ST : Both. I often contemplate how to stabilize or destabilize the ambiguity of meaning that oscillates between those two states and at what level and quality this mediation should be fixed. Now that I think about it, this process of adjusting meaning might be quite a spiritual act in itself.

MW : What draws you to the various materials in your work, and how do you select the objects you incorporate?

ST : I am drawn to signs scattered throughout consumer society, particularly those with a fetishistic nature. I like things that are foolish and vulgar, yet simultaneously local and universal—objects stripped from their original contexts, rendering their meanings dysfunctional, yet still omnipresent in everyday life. Among such perverted motifs, I am especially fond of those that fail to fully integrate into revival culture or subcultures—those that remain somewhat incomplete.However, I dislike compositions dominated by signs and motifs that have been endlessly repeated in contemporary culture. I see such elements as gentrified signs. Cartoonish imagery, neon lights, or CGI images can be particularly risky—though, of course, it depends on how they are used.Currently, I am interested in the faded consumerist signs found in the daily lives of people from former Axis and Soviet countries.

MW : Your work brings together altered found objects, photographs, and spatial interventions—how do these different elements interact in your installations?

ST : Rather than premeditating which media to use, I focus on the degree of material intensity—its visual weight, scale, and thickness—when deciding their placement. I structure compositions much like a fragrance, considering top notes, middle notes, and base notes. For example, I might decide to reduce the middle notes significantly or increase the number of small objects. After establishing this framework, I consider which motifs to incorporate. Just as rhyme schemes in poetry can yield unexpected words, I allow chance interactions in the creative process to shape the final outcome.

MW : Do you think of your work as creating new myths, or are you revealing myths already embedded in the everyday?

ST : Since I am influenced by Roland Barthes, I am somewhat averse to the term "myth." If anything, rather than myths, I aim to capture local anecdotes, odd yet endearing stories, or intriguing phenomena. The key is how skillfully and cleverly I can sustain and utilize locality. As for whether I am creating or uncovering, the two processes are intertwined. They merge within the act of making.

MW : How does time function in your work—do you see objects as existing in multiple temporalities, as something ancient yet still forming?

ST : Hmm, I am not sure.

MW : Your statement for Guitar 2023 at Ritsuki Fujusaki Gallery in Tokyo poetically suggests that objects hold a latent presence—how do you reveal or activate that presence in your process of making?

ST : When an object is left in a half-destroyed state, its eroticism emerges.

MW : What role does the idea of "summoning" play in your practice? Do you see your work as a ritual or invocation?

ST : Actually, I do not see it that way. I approach my work more functionally.

MW : Your statement suggests a poetic view of objects, like chairs aspiring to become human. Do you believe objects hold desires or histories of their own?

ST : I would like to say that they do. But to be more precise, objects can exist without humans. Rather than objects inherently possessing desires or histories, I believe viewers project their own socio-historical contexts onto them. In art, taking advantage of such perceptual fallacies is key to creating compelling works.

MW : Do you aim for a specific emotional or conceptual resonance in your work, or do you allow meaning to emerge through process and viewer interpretation of your installations?

ST : Yes, I aim for specific emotional and conceptual resonance! While I leave room for chance in my creative process, most elements are carefully controlled. I do not place much emphasis on meaning emerging through viewer interpretation.

MW : Your project Whole Thing 2023, at Gallery TOH in Tokyo, puts the viewer in the middle of two opposing works. Can you elaborate on the tension and forces these works create together in the installation setting?

ST : This exhibition was closer to a monument. The text on the wall referred to what was visible in the photographs. Aside from that, only natural light from the windows illuminated the space—a simple piece. For this work, I wanted to explore the theme of boastfulness. I aimed to magnify something that, to others, might seem trivial, exaggerating it to the point of sanctity.

MW : Your writing evokes nostalgia and fleeting moments—do you see your installations as preserving something ephemeral or as letting it go?

ST : Preservation is also an act of letting go. Even Socrates said something similar. He did not leave behind any writings because he believed that recording thoughts would cause them to lose their vitality. I feel the same way.

MW : Do you have any upcoming projects or shows? Or is there anything you would like to tell us about?

ST : I will be participating in a photography group exhibition in Tokyo this April. Also, I am open to exhibition invitations.