The Japanese are sometimes said to be vague. Communicating subtleties of mood is customary among Japanese people, and you can observe its characteristics in Japanese usage, conversations, literature and art.

The attitude that accepts the ambiguity and its status is associated with animism and Zen Buddhism. Japanese people have believed God is present in everything including words since ancient times, and accept the existence of all things. This is exactly Japanese animism. Also Zen Buddhism is to accept things as they are and to observe them with humility. Things are either devolving toward, or evolving from, nothingness, and everything gets worn down. Flowers bloom and scatter; it is simply a natural process and it is a fate that we all share. Iron rusts under sunlight and rain. It is the state from degradation and weathering with chemical transformation and it is a natural phenomenon.

Japan is a place where there are many earthquakes, and every summer typhoons hit. Those natural disasters can be theoretically clarified by their conditions and the processes that occur, but it is impossible to predict and control them precisely.

The attitude that allows Japanese people to be vague is not a denial of clarity. It is a manifestation of a worldview of accepting the inevitable, elicited from both the Japanese environment and the view of nature of Zen Buddhism. Slow way down, be patient, look very closely at small inconspicuous things. This attitude is needed to avoid many problems from human arrogance; environmental problems, hunger, the exhaustion of capitalism, the limits of material society and its values and excessive desires for recognition with social networks.

In this exhibition, we will show various artworks by emerging Japanese artists. We would like you to feel the "vagueness" that underlies them.