The theme of these art rooms is “rooms floating through time”. The pieces in these rooms were created using both traditional and modern techniques. The two rooms are opposites of each other; room 503, which is painted black, represents the present time (2019), and the white room, 603, represents the future (3019). How were these rooms inspired, and how were they created? You can find hints to the answers to those questions in the videos playing in the room, and the art books placed by the pillows on the bed.
The artist who worked on these rooms, SHOWKO, got her start in ceramics art with Kyoto’s traditional tea bowl pottery. She would like you to spend your time with the beautiful ceramic tile piece she created, to come up close to it, gaze upon it, and touch it.
What did she have in mind when she designed this “present” and “future”? Let’s hear from the artist herself.
ーーPlease introduce yourself.
My name is SHOWKO, and I work in pottery. I’m a ceramic tile painter, and have my own brand called “SIONE”, where I work as the brand director. I mostly make art using ceramics.
ーーPlease tell us more about your work in pottery and ceramic tiles, as well as about your brand SIONE.
SIONE is a brand based on the concept of “bowls you can read”. I first write up my own story, and then let each bowl represent a paragraph. My ceramic tile paintings are like what you see here. I draw pictures on flat ceramics, then glaze them and bake them over and over again to make them into ceramic paintings. Generally speaking I make ceramics the same way, but when I paint them I do it a little differently. But what connects all my works are themes like “all God’s creatures, great and small” and “hymns of life”. You might think they all represent the same thing, but that is how I make my art..
ーーI think the theme of these two rooms is “experiencing time that contains both the past and present”. Please explain the titles of the two rooms and describe them.
Rooms 503 and 603 are connected, with 503 representing 2019 and 603 representing 3019. The themes are the year 2019, when the rooms were designed, and 1,000 years in the future. I grew up working with ceramics, so it’s a material I feel relatively close to, but in some way I sometimes wonder why I go to the trouble of using ceramics, too. At times I have felt jealous of people that make things that are transient.
ーーSo ceramics are things that stick around?
That’s right. In some ways, they produce a form of industrial waste, so I would think about the consequences of making them. But I suddenly realized that, just like the way we can look at Jomon pottery now, the things I am making in this moment might also be around for a long, long time. Maybe the things I’m making now will last for 10,000 years or 50,000 years before they weather down, so maybe they’re like letters to the future. When I realized that, I finally found some self-affirmation.
I thought that, since our way of thinking and our current culture are tied to ceramics, maybe we could convey to the people of the future that there were people in our time who had this kind of amazing, high-quality intellect. That we could share our culture through pottery.
So that’s why I thought it would be nice to create a room that simulates how these things will remain 1,000 years from 2019, and to create what I think 1,000 years from now would look like. I designed these rooms with these concepts in mind.
ーーPlease say something to the guests staying in these rooms.
Thank you very much for staying in these rooms. As the introduction says, I created these rooms as “pieces floating through time”. Please leave one memory here and take another home with you at the end of your stay. I hope you have a wonderful time, and really enjoy and appreciate every moment you have.