Studio Takehiro Iikawa - Make Space, Use Space

Make Space, Use Space

Carrying Very Heavy Bag is not just transport—it creates space. In Make Space, Use Space, the audience’s act blurs art and life, turning movement itself into a question of how space comes into being.

Decorator Crab – Make Space, Use Space《デコレータークラブ—新しい観客》, 2022
Collaboration between the group exhibition Range of the Senses: What It Means to “Experience” Today (The National Museum of Art, Osaka) and the solo exhibition Decorator Crab – Make Space, Use Space (Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art).
Dimensions variable. Sports bag, hand truck
Photo: © Takehiro Iikawa, courtesy of the artist

This project explores how artworks can emerge through viewers’ actions and imagination. The title comes from advice I received from my soccer coach in Kobe: “Make space! Use space!”—meaning to create space through movement and then use it. This principle aligns with my artistic approach: initiating opportunities for engagement beyond formal exhibitions.

In this work, viewers carry a heavy object, Very Heavy Bag, from one exhibition venue to another. In the gallery, it’s an artwork; outside, it becomes one only when someone senses something odd. By crossing the boundary of the museum, the piece merges with everyday scenery. It blurs the line between artwork and life, inviting both participants and passersby to engage differently.

The project has been realized in Tokyo, Osaka, Kagawa, Hyogo, and Taipei. By expanding across cities, it encourages not only physical action but also imagination— prompting viewers to reflect on space, movement, and awareness.

Decorator Crab – Make Space, Use Space《デコレータークラブ—新しい観客》, 2022
Collaboration between the group exhibition Range of the Senses: What It Means to “Experience” Today (The National Museum of Art, Osaka) and the solo exhibition Decorator Crab – Make Space, Use Space (Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art).
Dimensions variable. Sports bag, hand truck
Photo: © Takehiro Iikawa, courtesy of the artist

Make Space, Use Space

I wanted to be a better soccer player, so I attended a soccer school in Kobe. “Make space! Use space!” was what my coach, Mr. Nelson, told me. The play stops when there is nowhere to pass the ball or run. Before that happens, you need to move and free up space and use that space. That’s what the phrase means. This phrase also applies to the formation of my practice as an artist. There are many artists and there are already numerous interesting works and expressions. So whether I have the opportunity to present my work or not, I should always create my space at my time by “setting up” my work to the audience anytime and anywhere. I’m familiar with artworks that give away postcards or sweets to the viewers, but I wanted to make this particular work of mine give too much.

The viewers would carry out the “heavy bags” from an exhibition and deliver them to another exhibition by the agreed-upon date. When artworks are loaned to an exhibition, a museum or commercial gallery curator or manager accompanies or “couriers” the transportation of the artworks. My work is somewhat comparable to it. I had the two museums and the individual viewers sign the loan agreements. Even though they were on luggage carts, the bags weighed about 20 kilograms. I thought the scenery of the city between the exhibition venues or the movements of the audience carrying the bags to the museum would be an artwork.

Surprisingly, there were many people carrying their luggage on carts, especially in the underground areas around Osaka Station. All of them looked like they were carrying my artwork, which gave me a strange feeling. This work was realized through my 2022 solo exhibition at the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art and a group exhibition held simultaneously at the National Museum of Art in Osaka. 45 people carried the bags.

Decorator Crab – Make Space, Use Space《デコレータークラブ—新しい観客》, 2022
Installation view: “Decorator Crab – Make Space, Use Space"
Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan
Dimensions variable. Sports bag, hand truck
Photo: © Takehiro Iikawa, courtesy of the artist

Decorator Crab – Make Space, Use Space《デコレータークラブ—新しい観客》, 2024
Installation view: Imagining the Unseen Everyday Tokyo Shibuya Koen-dori Gallery, Tokyo, Japan Dimensions variable. Sports bag, hand truck Photo: © Takehiro Iikawa, courtesy of the artist Realized in collaboration with projects at Takamatsu Art Museum (Kagawa), CAPSULE (Tokyo), Tottori Prefectural Museum (Tottori), and LIVE ART GALLERY (Tokyo).
This photo shows the work on its way to Takamatsu Art Museum.

Decorator Crab – Make Space, Use Space《デコレータークラブ—新しい観客》, 2024
Installation view: Imagining the Unseen Everyday Tokyo Shibuya Koen-dori Gallery, Tokyo, Japan Dimensions variable. Sports bag, hand truck Photo: © Takehiro Iikawa, courtesy of the artist Realized in collaboration with projects at Takamatsu Art Museum (Kagawa), CAPSULE (Tokyo), Tottori Prefectural Museum (Tottori), and LIVE ART GALLERY (Tokyo).
This photo shows the installation at Takamatsu Art Museum.

Decorator Crab – Make Space, Use Space《デコレータークラブ—新しい観客》, 2022
Collaboration between the group exhibition Range of the Senses: What It Means to “Experience” Today (The National Museum of Art, Osaka) and the solo exhibition Decorator Crab – Make Space, Use Space (Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art).
Dimensions variable. Sports bag, hand truck
Photo: © Takehiro Iikawa, courtesy of the artist