“The Old Exists in the Present: ‘Decaying Minimalism’”

Written by: Takeharu Hirakawa

First Draft: June 3, 2025

https://note.com/taqueharu236236/n/n4cee85c8456d

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In the first quarter of the 21st century—2025, Tokyo—what once dominated global culture for two centuries as the legitimate bearer of cultural sophistication, “Western Modernity,” has begun to decay.

Since the start of the 21st century, restructured by white supremacist-driven globalism, even “liberal democracy” has changed form and started collapsing. This breakdown stems fundamentally from human arrogance and greed.

Specifically, the nature and scale of warfare—passed down even into “modernity”—have transformed. War has become a game not of nations and their citizens, but a detached engagement far removed from national will.

In Europe, elites have become increasingly subservient to the U.S., entrusting their wealth and desires to multinational corporations—international finance, the military-industrial complex—without any intention of returning to true liberal democracy.

Another issue is the dysfunction of “capitalism,” an economic structure rooted in capital power. The result is the emergence of hyper-individualism and a fractured, class-based society—leading to the collapse of both liberal democracy and capitalism. I observe that “Western Modernity” itself is decaying.

The term I found to describe this intervention was “decay.” Just a ten-minute walk from Shibuya Station, a postwar building remains in ruins—where postwar Japanese dreams and pretensions were discarded, leaving behind a skeletal, decayed structure. This was the “magnetic field” sought by the art intervention Hanshan Shide.

The artists Jay Chung and Q Takeki Maeda embraced this “decayed” space—no longer able to serve any purpose due to human greed—and reimagined it as a “minimal” space. Their sensuous irony and laughter formed the core of this intervention: Hanshan Shide.

As creators, they demonstrated intelligence and maturity, and their sincerity, humor, irony, and pathos permeated this project. My initial concept was “borrowed scenery”: how to creatively appropriate an object or space with a sense of freedom—and arrogance.

They asked: how might their artwork interact with this “decayed” Showa-era space to restore and revive its overpainted layers? Could their creative desires and concepts shine with persuasive power or thick emotion?

The decayed space, the artists, and their created work—through the theme of “Minimalism”—are intellectually entangled and transgress one another, forming a modern minimalism.

To my generation, minimalism was a world that rendered me expressionless and precocious. It recalled Robert Morris, a 1960s–70s New York minimalist, and his felt-based works—crafted by folding and twisting industrial materials into three-dimensional forms.

The nostalgic melancholia of his work was echoed in the 8-tatami room on the second floor of this building—a space of “modern Japan’s” dampness and sensuality, soaked into the tatami even as modernity decays.

White, pure sculptural forms rest softly in this nostalgic setting. Felt, gently curved, is pinned to the wall in three places, full of vitality—not merely industrial material, but a metamorphosis of “modernity” itself. Standing before this work, I imagine “decaying minimalism.”

Hanshan Shide is, in modern terms, a “duo,” always implying binary opposition. Is the other member someone who gave up on this crumbling building? Or a bystander who locked the back door and escaped, broom turned upside down?

Here, one recalls Einstein’s quote: “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” His smiling face feels imagined in this context.

Jay Chung and Q Takeki Maeda seem to have embraced the minimalist spirit of returning to the essence of art—with joy and laughter—entrusting their work with communal humor and escape.

I looked back and found a quote by Robert Morris:

“Art contains absurdity, deep emotion, awe, irony, grief, mockery, anger, and compassion. These remain as testimonies to this dark century.”

Since “modernity” is already beginning to decay, minimalism—which arose from the most idealistic, democratic phase of modernity—gave birth to conceptual art and paved the way for installation art.

Now, perhaps this is the era in which even minimalism must decay. Such an imagination—no, delusion—transforms into laughter, threatens me, and becomes curiosity.

“Thank you, Q-kun, Mr. Chung, and Tenko-chan❣

It’s so Cool & Hippy‼”

And perhaps this too is a sign of the times:

The “Robert Morris: Seeing and Space” exhibition is now on view at Castelli Gallery in New York (April 3 – June 27, 2025).

castelligallery.com

Exhibition Info:

“Hanshan Shide” – Jay Chung & Q Takeki Maeda

Presented by Galerie Tenko

Contact: [email protected]