Drawing on Space” is an attempt to open up the future of visual art through the fusion of art and XR, in collaboration with artist Koji Shiroshita and XR creator Mifuku.
Koji Shiroshita is an artist who consistently explores the “essence of painting” through series such as “Completely Untitled” (2005–), which constructs images with delicate lines using the classic mediums of pen and ink; the “PICTURE” series (2020–), which questions the boundary between painting and photography; and the “FOCUS” series (2020–), based on blurred images found in SNS, such as photos not yet fully loaded, and scenes from movies or videos with out-of-focus backgrounds.
Since 2021, the “Drawing on Space” series has employed VR equipment as a medium, treating space itself as the support. This approach brings new physicality and dimensionality to the act of drawing, traditionally confined to flat surfaces, and paradoxically deepens the connection with the real world.
Mifuku is a creator who focuses on connecting the context of existing art with XR expressions, as seen in works like “Given: Marcel Duchamp” (2022), which reinterprets Marcel Duchamp from a VR perspective.
Drawings by Koji Shiroshita are reconstructed by Mifuku, transforming into various formats including VR, AR, and flat representations.
This project also invites viewers into the creative process through workshops.
The “Drawing on Space,” where each participant’s unique movements and poses manifest as individual drawings, serves as an experimental venue for exploring the physicality of painting in the contemporary era.

Organized by Kyoto Art Center (Kyoto Arts and Culture Foundation)

We will be holding an exhibition showcasing the outcomes of the workshops conducted in three sessions from October 2023 at Nara Historical and Cultural Art Village. In these workshops, participants ranging from 9 to 53 years old engaged in creating drawings using their entire bodies in VR space. These drawings were materialized and photographed in various locations throughout the village to complete the artworks. On January 21st (Sunday) and 28th (Sunday), visitors will also be able to view the VR exhibitions at the exhibition venue. Mifuku-san and I will be present throughout these two days. We warmly invite you to join us.

In cooperation with: STYLY / Social Welfare Corporation Wataboushi Association

Drawing on Space

‘Drawing on Space’ is an attempt to explore future realms of expression through the fusion of art and XR, a collaboration between the artist Koji Shiroshita and the XR/Web creator Mifuku. Koji Shiroshita, known for his ‘Completely Untitled‘ series (2005~) and ‘PICTURE‘ series (2020~), consistently explores the essence of painting through the use of traditional mediums like pen and ink to create intricate line works. Recently, he has focused on ‘VR Drawing,’ using VR equipment to draw in space itself, bringing new physicality and dimensionality to the act of drawing, paradoxically deepening the connection with the real world. Mifuku, on the other hand, is a creator who focuses on connecting existing art contexts with XR expressions, as seen in works like ‘Given: Marcel Duchamp‘ (2022), reinterpreted from a VR perspective.

The VR drawings created by Shiroshita are reinterpreted and transformed into AR by Mifuku, allowing them to be ‘transferred’ onto the real world through digital device screens, transforming mundane scenes into sites of installation. This project incorporates a workshop format, inviting spectators to partake in this entire creative process. Through the act of drawing in VR space, spectators can re-acknowledge the meaning of ‘drawing’ for us and, by contemplating where to place their drawings, can discover new perspectives in familiar everyday landscapes. This is an endeavor to think and create new forms of art for the future.

XR creator Mifuku and I will hold workshops to give you an experience of the production process of ‘Drawing on Space‘.
Fieldwork, VR drawing production wearing VR goggles and AR photography will be conducted to complete the work, which will be exhibited in January next year.

(*1)The VR experience with a VR headset is for ages 13 and over, with a maximum capacity of 8 people and reservations required. Book here

(*2)Photography is not permitted in some parts of the Kyoto Art Centre.
To install the app, approximately 500 MB of free space is required for both the iOS and Android versions.

About PICTURE

When do we start calling it “a picture”
or stop calling it “a picture” —
I think this is still a picture.

Where is the “essence” of a picture?
This is a question that I have been asking myself for several years now, as opportunities to see pictures on digital device displays have become more and more common through social networking sites.
Does it only exist in a physical work of art? What is the difference between an image on a display and a “painting”?
“Picture” is an attempt to capture with a photograph the moment when the paint is still fluid and liquid before it is fixed on the support, and present the printed image as a “painting”. This act also asks the question posed at the beginning of this text through the process of photographing, printing, and exhibiting.
Given that the “essence” of a picture is something applied to a medium, or a support, with paint, Picture releases their “essence” from that.

About FOCUS

The Boundaries of Our Sense of Distance, the world that has completely changed in appearance

The idea of “focus” came from what is called “blurred image”, such as a blurry picture on social media when my smartphone takes time to load due to limited communication speed, or an out-of-focus background image in a video.
I catch the moments until the smartphone completely loads it or at the moment the camera pans in the video, draw based on those images, have a photographer take multiple out-of-focus pictures of each of those, and choose one from them, print it, frame it in a painting frame, and then the work is completed.
The layers of brush strokes become flattened with the accumulated information being integrated through the process of shooting and printing, and the essence of the image, which focuses on nothing, is left.
In those images, I see the world that looks totally different since the watershed moment that was the appearance of the new coronavirus or the uncertainty about the feelings of distance with people or things that I started to feel because of the pandemic.

Book “PICTURE – FOCUS”

Limited sales at the gallery and online store.
set of 3 books with a case, limited to 200
PICTURE : 182mm×257mm, 20 pages, softcover, 8-page gate
FOCUS : 174×261mm, 40pages, hardcover
Reflections on Picture-Focus by Masashi Mihotani : 182mm×257mm, 16 pages, softcover, written in English and Japanese

Normal edition : ¥6,490 including tax
Special edition with a drawing : ¥13,200 including tax

Online Exhibition

During the exhibition period, the exhibition will be available online.
Online Exhibition＞

Kyoto Art Center Artists‐in‐Studios program

“Picture” was held from April to June, 2020 during the growing COVID-19 pandemic. The initial concept of which was to exhibit Koji Shiroshita’s artworks at a gallery, each of the painted works was shot and printed, referring to them as “pictures”.

Through the process of shooting, printing and exhibiting what he painted, the artist hoped to raise the following questions:“Where is the ‘essence’ of a picture?Does it only exist in a physical work of art?

However, upon the Japanese government’s declaration of a “state of emergency,” he had to shift the venue of the show from the gallery to online. By unintentionally forcing the viewers to view the through screens, he ended up asking his audience about the place where the essence of pictures exists.

Given that the “essence” of a picture is something applied to a medium, or a support, with paint, the “Picture” exhibit releases their “essence” from that.
That essence is printed and exhibited in a gallery and at the same time, publicized in an online exhibition.

The Boundaries of Our Sense of Distance

This year, how we relate with the people and things around us has changed dramatically,
and a world where we don’t know the answers appeared.

Photo : Masashi Mihotani

Exhibition Views

When do we start calling it “a picture”
or stop calling it “a picture” —
I think this is still a picture.

It’s undeniable that now we see pictures more often on PC’s or smartphones through platforms such as social media, and I’ve had a question for these few years: What actually is a “picture”?

This exhibition embodies that question
and the best answer that I can come up with for it.

I had no idea that I would have no choice but to have this exhibition online, therefore seen exclusively via PC or smartphone due to the expanding infections of the virus.

I can’t help but feeling that it’s oddly fortuitous.

Photo : Masashi Mihotani

The gallery’s website

Event: Gallery Talk Koji Shiroshita and Masashi Mihotani

I will have a talk show with Masashi Mihotani who took pictures of the artworks on June 20.
it will be digital distribution online.

Exhibition Views

“Act” will have an exhibition at Toyonaka Public Gallery, which are offered by the culture and art promotion division in Toyonaka city.

I’m going to participate in a fair of My First Art, Giclee prints created by Dmo Arts, from 14:00 to 19:00 on Jan. 14.

A gallery talk by Yuma Yamashiro, Art To Go, and me will be held from 18:00.

I’m going to have an exhibition as Act at Sangmi Otemachi, a cafe in Sumitomo Mitsui Bank East Tower, Otemachi, Tokyo. We got the opportunity to show our works at the exhibition “Layer” we had held at Itohen in July. You can see my works and works that Taco and I had painted together.

More（Act’s Website）

I’m going to participate in “Hills Zine Market Produced by ENLIGHTENMENT” as Act. You can get “act_On”, the latest Zine.

Exhibition View (Act Web site)

We will have an exhibition at Itohen that we had “Act-Stand”, the first exhibition as Act in 2014. Various events will be held during the period.

Exhibition View (Act Web site)

“Here is Zine Tokyo” started as one of exhibitions at Tambourine gallery in August 2010. This time, we have created a new Zine and will participate in “Here is Zine Osaka” that will be held in Kansai for the first time.

On July 7, that will be held as an event of “Kotatsu Kaigi” at Knowledge Plaza. On July 8, that will move to Active Studio in The Lab. on the second floor and be displayed and sold until July 19.

Here is ZINE Tokyo Web site

Grand Front Osaka “Kotatsu Kaigi” Web site

Exhibition View (Act Web site)

Act is going to have an exhibition “act_Tomo ni Egaku: Painting Together” at at Open MUJI, Grand Front Osaka. We are going to display artworks that Koji Shiroshita and Taco painted together, and each ones.

Live Painting

April 29

Booking: NO required

More

Gallery Talk

15:00 -16:00 on April 30

Capacity: 30

Booking: required

More

Exhibition View (Act Web site)

Act is going to participate in a group exhibition. I will display my latest works.

Closing Party and Gallery Talk

March 24 17:00 – 23:00

I am to talk around 19:00.

Exhibition View (Act Web site)

I will have my exhibition at O’keeffe in Tokyo. My latest works will be displayed there.

I am going to be there November 3 and 4: 10:00-18:00, December 2: 15:00-18:00, December 3: 10:00-18:00.

Exhibition View

Draw alone, and draw together.

The two brushes are led as if they create a new artist.

Don’t miss their evolving artworks.

The solo and collaborative art works of Koji Shiroshita and TACO have a power that resonates with and gathers creators, such as a designer, translator and photographer in support.

With those supporters, “act” was born with the two artists at its center.

Starting with a series of exhibitions in 2014 held at three venues in Osaka, “act” has expanded their audience with exhibitions in Fukuoka and various art fairs.

And now we will take on a new world at “DMO ARTS” in Osaka.

DMOARTS Website

Exhibition View (Act Web site)

I will participate in “The Presentation Show of Guli Guli”, a group exhibition April 12-May 7, which Tomoki Hayashi, a director of “Act” produces. My artworks will be displayed at Room Gallery II.

The venue is “Guli Guli” which has a gallery, a café, some community spaces, and large gardens. “Guli Guli” means “Green and green” because a landscape gardening company runs it.

I highly recommend you to come visit us.