iimawashi: Contemporary Art from Japan

Merz Gallery

Edinburgh International Festival Fringe 2005

Artists Name: Ken Kageyama Title: Here Upon - Time Place Material: Photograph with incense Size: 35cm x 28cm 2002

Ken Kageyama has a multi faceted career, seen through his installation works using disposable chopsticks and through his public performance/landscape works whereby his desire to use art as a catalyst for social change is explored. Ultimately, these divergent practices are concern with the state of being, known in Japan, as Ma. This state was once understood by many Japanese, but is being lost with the breakdown of traditional society, as the accelerated passage of time and the urban environment drains cultural heritage. Ma can be seen as essential for understanding the true nature of what it is to be human. Ma is connected to time and space in the same way that a river is connected to water