SOTOROJI #0

“SOTOROJI #0” is part of the SOTOROJI series of spatial devices that lead from the ordinary to the extraordinary, utilizing the modern social affordance of “seeing a QR code and scanning it with a camera,” just as soto-roji (the outer garden) in the chanoyu (the Japanese tea ceremony) serves as a space leading to a world of profound subtlety.

This work presents an overwhelming number of QR codes - over 120,000 - more than one could see in a lifetime, ironically reflecting on shopping-obsessed tourists while prompting a shift from material desires to spirituality. The subtle variations in QR code sizes create an optical illusion, and when viewed from a certain distance, fusuma-e (the sliding screen paintings) traditionally used to entertain guests emerge. It expresses the vast and profound spiritual world that lies beneath structures and surfaces that only appear when viewing the whole from a distance, invisible when viewed up close. Treating the entire airport as one large tea room and interpreting the international arrivals concourse as the outer garden, it creates a process for international visitors to brush off worldly dust and immerse themselves in Japanese spirituality.

Created with the cooperation of Nagoya City, using image data from the Important Cultural Property fusuma-e “Leopard Tiger Bamboo Grove,” “Pine Maple Camellia,” and “Musk Cat” displayed at Nagoya Castle Honmaru Palace. Twelve panels painted with QR codes using these Important Cultural Property fusuma-e images were installed at equal intervals along the over 36-meter international arrivals concourse at Chubu Centrair International Airport and exhibited for one year.