EN

Contemporary art fundamentally opposes war.
Thus, I oppose Japan’s new security legislation.

War creates separation between “we” and “enemies”.

Who are the “enemies” considered as a danger?
What are the profiles of these “enemies,” made into targets for unmanned aerial combat vehicles?
Where do the “enemies” in a state of war come from?
Who really are the “enemies,” positioned as evil to outside of the society?
The imagination of art goes to these “enemies”.

Time and time again, the history of art has praised war.
Not just as a result of unconditional obedience to orders.
A desire for war always lies in humans, which makes mankind’s extinction a superior aesthetic pleasure — “war is beautiful.”
An imperfect animal that senses “élan vital” in battles and killings, humans make war a spectacle.
On the monitor is a war taking place in a “far country”, giving no actual sense of violence and death.
Once distant from it, everyday life continues to go on, as if “the war did not take place”.

On the other hand, art has portrayed each person’s singular death that occurs in war.
It has conveyed how murderous actions thoroughly destroy the human mind.
It has expressed painful memories that afflict the future over many generations.
It has converted the emotion of violence and revenge, which would lead to war, into “lyrical terrorism”.

War creates separation between “we” and “enemies”.

In the midst of dichotomization between justice and evil, “barbarians”, who threaten the nation’s existence, are created.
Divisions, discrimination and dichotomies between different nationals, civilizations, cultures, races, economies and religions.
That is where a collective called “we” arises, automatizing the system of censorship and self-censorship.
The imagination of art goes to “we”.

Japan bears a future to be a neutral country that realizes high-level peace negotiations by thrusting into the thick of grudges, hatred and antagonism.
Proactive contribution to peace can be achieved by strategically taking advantage of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution.
This must be a historical necessity based on remorse over World War II.

There are unbreakable contracts with the past.
Contemporary art thus fundamentally opposes war.

Signed

Toru Koyamada
Masami Kondo
Ayako Osanai
Naoya Fujita
Ryo Fujii
Yaegashi Yoshihi
Kaori Homma
Manabu Takano
Tamaki Kawaguchi
Jun Miyagi
ON megumi Akiyoshi
Masaki Nakayama
Katsuhiro Saiki
Hajime Nariai
Yayoi Yoshizawa
NAKAJIMA Yuta
Migiwa Orimo
Fumio Inoue
Satoshi Uchiumi
Hiromi Takai
Koichi Tanibe
Vincent Vandaele
Yukiko Nagakura
Ken Sasaki
Satoshi Koganezawa
Hitoshi Mori
Michiko Tsuda
Satoshi Nakashima
Sachiyo Honda
Satoshi Otsuka
Kazuhiko Yoshizaki
Yohei Tomooka
Rika Aki
Yuka Tokuyama
meosai
Atsuko Nozaki
Hanae Utamura
Rumiko Hagiwara
Yoshio Shirakawa
Jun Fukae
Yuri Shirasaka
Hiroki Yamamoto
Satoshi Hashimoto
Jun Yang
Koki Tanaka
Kosuke Hatano
Natsuko Kurashige
Hikaru Fujii
Shiro Masuyama
Toichiro Tanaka
Kazuhito Tanaka
Megumi Shimizu
Jun Kawada
Yasuto Masumoto
Yusuke Mitsufuji
Yuki Okumura
Yuki Harada
Kokatsu Reiko
Keiko Goto
Kaz. Sakurada
Meiro Koizumi
Hiroshi Sugawara
Keiji Saito
Shiigi Shizune
Hiroshi Sunairi
Emi Endo
Aisuke Kondo
Shigeo Arikawa
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