Tomorrow is today I see for the first time.

A major part of art that was created until today is born out of a doubt concerning “common sense”, something that is shared and believed as obvious by our societies, and is derived from a feeling of “strangeness”. However, after March 11th 2011 most of the people living in Japan started to feel uncertain about what to think regarding housing, sustenance and every little thing belonging to our daily life. Unconsciously, they started to doubt those fundamental doctrines that were society and its common sense, holding a feeling of discomfort toward everyday life. On the contrary, some people also wonder about the rightfulness of those doubts shared by so many people. The Earthquake of the Tohoku Pacific Coast has had an uprooting impact on our lives, physically and mentally. We are now seeing the society we belong through a different lens. And for all those people who are trying to restrain their various fears while simultaneously looking for a new perspective of the heart, the effect of art is timely and guaranteed.

For this exhibition, SNOW Contemporary takes the opportunity to proudly introduce its 9 member artists. Artist and Khoomei singer, Fuyuki Yamakawa; painters Korehiko Hino and Jumbo Suzuki; ALIMO who weaves stories through video animation; wood sculptor Hideki Iinuma; Atsuhiro Ito who creates installations and performances using fluorescent lights called “OPTRON”; SWOON whose worldwide activities are much more than just street art; offZNibroll, performing group exploring the relationship between body and video; and finally, Kota Takeuchi, who uses various public media as a medium for his art. Each artist’s generation, career, media and concept are individual, but they have common features that point to a vivid representation of this feeling of otherworldliness underlying our everyday lives.

“Tomorrow is today, I see for the first time” questions the imagination of the viewer. With the omnipresent threat of earthquake, radiation, our livelihood and food which are now at issue, the existence of anxiety and fear towards tomorrow has become extremely concrete. Perhaps only our imagination has the capacity to counteract those fears that suddenly become reality. The message of the artists we introduce has the power to turn our daily lives into an asZyetZunknown world of adventures. Interpreting the work via his/her own imagination, the viewer will certainly be able to not only consider the present but to contemplate the future and the past, which itself opens the path to tomorrow. Through this exhibition the viewer, at his own initiative, will experience and share the artists’ message and reflect on himself. We hope that this will lead to the construction of a “tomorrow” that is “a today we see for the first time” for all.