Following the work “/home” I created last year in which I made the toy-airplanes fly in the home I grew up in, ‘pilgrim’ is the new work in which I had airplanes flying in an Art Deco building that used to belong to the Japanese Royal Family. The fruit of the culture was brought back from Europe by the young Japanese Prince and Princess Asaka no miya (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asaka-no-miya ) on their Grand Tour 100 years ago. Through the image of airplanes cruising through 100 years of time, I was thinking about the idea of journey and imagination when creating the film.

People, when embarking upon a ‘journey,’ perhaps come to experience the faintness and ephemerality of the world they live in, as well as the delightful lightness and casualness of their very own existence –which would usually be seemingly unparalleled– in a compelling yet agreeable way. What is more, it doesn’t simply end there, as I believe that after returning, a new journey once again begins in the midst of one’s ordinary everyday life.

Airplanes* go throughout the outside and inside of the building visibly in this film like a pilgrim. I hope that after experiencing this film, people will be able to feel the airplanes as a real presence in the space and time of their daily lives. I see no significant difference between the invisible and the visible, and I hope to blur the boundaries between them more.

*The propeller airplane on the film is part of their museum collection. Asaka no miya had it in his home as a decorative ornament.