Hara Museum ARC

An related event to the exhibition Lee Kit ‘We used to be more sensitive.’

The event Meet the Artist: Lee Kit was held at The Hall at the Hara Museum from 2:00 pm on September 16, 2018, the first day of Lee Kit’s exhibition Lee Kit ‘We used to be more sensitive.’ The packed venue was an indication of the audience’s enthusiasm for the show.


As is his custom when creating on-site work, Lee spent consecutive days at the venue, in this case six or seven hours each day for ten days, walking through the space, shooting and editing imagery and composing his show as if it were a painting. The present exhibition is a result of iterations of this almost entirely solitary process.

An exhibition that features installations normally involves collaboration between the staff and the artist. It was therefore quite unique for the museum’s curatorial staff to quietly watch Lee engaged in his solitary process from a distance, popping into the galleries every now and then for a chat.

A few minutes after the start of the event, the audience was treated to the amusing sight of a glass of white wine being delivered to the artist from the café, at his request. Perhaps it was an expression of the artist’s great relief of having completed the show, or perhaps a reflection of his easy-going lack of pretension.

Visitors may have noticed that almost all the illumination in the show consists of projected light or natural light from windows. What this means is that the view of the show is constantly changing according to changes in the weather or time of day.

Lee does not like spotlights. The idea of using projected light came to him accidently, he said. He discovered he liked the fact that projected light cannot illuminate everything. He says he tries to avoid conditions that are managed or controlled, preferring a more natural, humanistic condition in both art and life.

One reason the Hara Museum is Lee’s favorite museum is the way the light is always changing with the time of day. This is because of all the natural light coming in from the windows. Another is the museum’s lonely, unassuming character, which is the same feeling he has of the city of Tokyo.

The artist was asked about his use of language in his video work and the way it enables the expansion of meaning through the layering of narrative over visual beauty. It is not possible to say what the language actually means, but, the artist said, it is possible to give it double and triple meanings.

The artist calls his work a “trigger” in the sense that it causes people to notice things. This may be considered the point of this exhibition. We invite visitors to keep that point in mind as they experience the show–the space that encompasses it, the artworks, the light from the windows, the shadow that they cast, the sounds that they hear, the casually placed everyday items, and by doing so, perhaps come to understand what the artist wanted to express.

Installation view at the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art
photo: Shigeo Muto ⓒ Lee Kit, courtesy the artist and ShugoArts

• Meet the Artist: Lee Kit
  September 16 (Sunday), 2018 2:00 – 3:00 pm
  Curator: Atsuo Yasuda Interpreter: Yumi Matsushita

• Lee Kit ‘We used to be more sensitive.’
  September 16 (Sunday) – December 24, 2018 (Monday/national holiday), 2018