丸山常生 MARUYAMA Tokio Website : アートワークに対するコメント(2003)

　現在、人類の文明が人工的につくり出してきたものと、自然とは必ずしも対立しなくなってきているようにみえる。例えば、ゲノム解析による生命操作や、CO2排出による気候変動などを振り返っても、両者の境がはっきりしなくなってきている。人間と自然がつながっているという、かつて本能的に察知していた原初的な感覚は、今や位相を変えて新しい時代の感覚として生まれかわりつつある。人工としての自然、あるいは、自然としての人工のハイブリッド感覚が、次々と亢進される時代に我々はいる。私にとって埋立て地も、人類がつくり出してきた文明全体が、生産物と廃棄物による汚染と破壊を通して自然との混成体になった象徴的な姿なのだ。

　いまや地球全体に人間の手が及び、莫大なモノや情報が世界中を流通し始めた。地球全体があたかも「一つの都市」のようになっていく。その時、それまでの個々の都市は、自然に対する抵抗体としてこれまで打ち立てられてきたような空間ではなく、様々な局面で「もう一つの自然空間」のようになるかもしれない。私がこれまで自分のアートワークのテーマの一つとしてきた「都市」には、このような両義的イメージが直感的にまつわりついてきた。だから、街をフィールドワークする時も、自然の中をフィールドワークする時も、似たようなスリリングさを感じるし、埋立地はその最たる場所なのだ。
　これはインターネットのウェブに見られるように、地球そのものが「一つの脳」になったようにネットワーク化されてきたことにもいえる。自然の典型ともいえる地球と、人工物の生成拠点である脳が重なってきたのだ。脳が身体の一部であり身体が自然の一部であり、都市が「もう一つの自然空間」となると、脳ー都市ー地球の間のアナロジー化は必然の成りゆきでもある。ここを結ぶ身体、つまり自然発生的な拠点としての身体と、人工的な認識が成される拠点としての身体の双方にまたがる関係を探ることは、すなわち私たち人間自身を知ろうとすることに他ならなくなる。

　私にとって人間を知ること、つまり人間が人間として生きるとはどういうことかを知ることが表現の根底にあるとすれば、なんらかの場所（都市や埋立地）や、モノ（様々な廃棄物や土、時にパフォーマンスでよく用いる頭蓋骨、小さなスケールに変換された椅子や家型のオブジェなどの象徴物）と関わり、そして身体を通した行為（フィールドワークやパフォーマンスなど）を継続しつづけることが、表現することそのものなのだ。

　様々な自然現象と複雑にリンクし、我々人類が生み出してきた様々な文明…。その成りゆきに想いが巡る。私は壊れやすいものを好む。積んでゆくそばから崩れてゆくような脆い存在。存在することと崩壊することの危険なポイントに同時にまたがり、かつ、儚げに平気で立ち上がっているような姿を美しいと感じる。そう、まさしくそれが人類の文明の姿であり、埋立地からのインスピレーションでもあるのだ。

I am fond of Tokyo Bay, which is a vast artificial island, a landfill, created out of an enormous amount of disposed garbage. The image of this island can be consistently seen at the foundation of my artworks. On this man-made island, trees and grass have thickly grown over the layer of earth and sand that was covered over the waste materials. Therefore, this site, which appears to have a natural view untouched by human hands, is inherently full of contradictions and paradoxes. When I stand on this island, various inspirations and questions arise within me, such as "To what extent is nature considered ‘natural’? ” or "To what extent should nature be considered ‘natural’? ”

In my view, the man-made objects of today, produced by the civilization of humankind and nature are not necessarily seen as being in opposing positions. For example, if we were to look at the boundary between a real life and a manipulated life (such as one that is being operated on by genome analysis), or the boundary between the climate and the changes in climate (due to carbon dioxide emissions), it would be apparent that both boundaries have become ambiguous. The primitive sense that people used to have, which could instinctively detect that human beings and nature coexist within a continuum, now seems to be undergoing a change of phase and is being recreated into the sensibilities of the new age. In other words, we are living in an age when a hybrid sense is being manifested: “nature based on artificiality” and “artificiality based on nature.” Therefore, the entire civilization that has been created by humankind and nature has become a hybrid via the products and waste materials we have produced, as well as via the processes, which have brought about pollution and destruction.

Nowadays, human hands have extended around the entire globe, resulting in a tremendous amount of objects and information that are being circulated throughout the world. In time, the globe itself will become one big city. In the meantime, the existing cities (including New York, Tokyo, Athens and Baghdad ...) will have become “another form of nature” that can link with natural phenomena in a myriad of ways, instead of being the kind of spaces that humans once built that were in stark contrast to nature. This is the image I have of a “city,” which I have utilized as one of the themes in my artworks for many years.
The same situation can be found in web sites on the Internet. That is, the Internet has created a network that seems as if the globe in its entirety has become a single “brain.” The relationship between the globe (which can be considered a model of nature) and the brain (which is the origin behind the making of artificial products) has in actuality become solidified and indivisible. Therefore, as long as the brain is a part of the body, the body is a part of nature, and the city is “another form of nature,” it is a matter of course for the relationship between the three (the brain, the city and the earth) to become so analogized.

I aim to clarify the relationship between the body seen as the basis of spontaneous actions, and the body seen as being interwoven with artificial recognition; I then aim to explore the relationship between the body and nature. In clarifying these relationships, my intention is precisely aimed at knowing human beings. Therefore, in order for me to get to know human beings (that is, to know what it means for humans to live as humans), it is inevitable that I get myself involved with sites and objects. The sites in which I place myself are those such as a city or a landfill; the objects I utilize in my works are waste materials, soil, scaled-down chairs and house-shaped objects, as well as skulls, which I have often used in my performances. I also aim to continuously conduct my artistic activities (including my fieldwork projects, productions and performances) by utilizing my own body.

The civilization of humankind has been created by becoming intricately linked with natural phenomena at all levels. I prefer things that easily break, such as fragile existences that begin to collapse as they are being piled on top of each other. I feel beauty in a figure that can simultaneously possess the critical point between existence and collapse, while supporting itself with a sense of nonchalant transience. This precisely represents the figure of civilization as created by humankind, and is also the inspiration I perceive when I am at a landfill.