#2 Mineki Murata(Japan)

Even as times change, most of the world's population seems to hate freedom. They are afraid to behave freely, contrary to their own daily claims of rights to and hopes for freedom.

To put it plainly, Mineki Murata's performance is an attempt to examine whether or not the primitive and fundamental desire of human beings to be free can be expressed in art works.

photo by Shinya kigure

The Japanese artist’s drawings are traces of his art performance. His honesty, majesty and delicacy are imprinted in these works.

He has showed us how to cut a thick dictionary into pieces with a ballpoint pen. He says this was “because I have feelings of inferiority towards words.” But in all honesty, I don’t believe his claim. I suppose that he has hated words. His weapons against them are his well-built body and a cheap ballpoint pen.

Thick dictionaries aren't the only things Murata destroys. He preys on a variety of things, such as a switched-on TV receiver, and a thick veneer board used in fashion displays that trap our consciousness within “civilized” society.

The reason this young man hates words is simple. He intuitively knows that anyone who uses words as a weapon will always be a loser.

Radicalism is not expressed in his actions but hidden in his consciousness.

Murata knows that it's a reckless challenge. He's trying to be a transcendent; he recognizes that his attempt will not be fulfilled, though. He wants to showcase the process of his attempts. Murata is seen by some Japanese gallerists as a kind of successor to the Butoh artists of modern Japan. Butoh developed in the 1960s and has since influenced the world's avant-garde art.

However, he shapes an unparalleled world with the variety of materials used in his performances and the rhythm emanating from his own heartbeat. His work seems to be political, but each art piece generated from his performance is also like a poem that springs from cyberspace—albeit extremely biological.

The audience feels restless whilst they watch him overworking his own body. That restless feeling is similar to remorse, to conscience. But over time, it turns out differently. The crowd eventually realize the slavery they themselves embody, while witnessing Mineki Murata’s sacrificial acts.

Mineki Murata 村田峰紀

Born in Gunma, Japan in 1979. Graduated from the Sculpture department of Tama Art University in 2015. Murata’ s drawings and performances are guided by his spontaneous, primitive actions and the etymological interpretation of the Japanese word kaku, which brings together of four different meanings: writing (kaku: 書く ) his consciousness, drawing (kaku: 描く ) results, scratching (kaku: 掻 く ) actions, and lacking (kaku: 欠く ) hidden potentials.