Measure for My Future Cat

A pink tube 30 centimeters across and 400 meters long, kept inflated with air, ran from the entrance of the Kirishima Open-Air Museum's parking lot, past the museum building, and into the forest. It is a tool for a project still to come: a Mr. Kobayashi the Pink Cat 400 meters wide, 270 meters high, and 50 meters deep. Nothing can begin without tools and a place to work, and nothing this large can be made unless the people around the artist can picture it first. Measure for My Future Cat is where that starts.

When I was 20 years old, I interned at a contemporary art gallery in Osaka. The gallery was joining an art fair in New York as an exhibitor, so I followed them. Since I didn’t speak English and didn’t know how to set up the booth, I was told not to go to the fair because I would interfere with their business, so instead I went museum and gallery hopping in New York City all by myself. 

One day, the gallery owner said, “I’ll show you around the places we should see.” So, we spent the whole day touring art spaces and galleries together. “This gallery doesn’t show any Asian artists.” “The owner of this gallery is dating a certain artist and he is really good-looking.” “This gallery has a great Jewish connection.” These were the kinds of information (or half-gossip?) that I learned. 

However, in short, I think he was saying that the art world is a difficult place to be in if you are alone. At that time, I didn’t have any desire to make my art. I was simply fascinated by the flamboyant spaces for art.

Measure for My Future Cat is a tool that I will one day use to create Mr. Kobayashi the Pink Cat, which is 400 meters wide, 270 meters high, and 50 meters thick. Anyone who saw the plan drawings said that 400 meters is too large and would be impossible to make, but I thought that thinking and imagining how gigantic it actually is would be the shortest way to realize it. 

I’ve seen 400-meter running tracks, but I’ve never paid attention to a 400-meter straight line, and I know I can’t create a work of this scale by myself. I don’t have enough money and I haven’t found a location for the work—there are so many unknowns. 

However, it is better to have a plan for the scenery and works I want to see with my eyes. Someone might say, “Let’s make it,” or I might find someone nearby who is willing to plan it with me. Next time, I want to create a work that is 270 meters tall. 

Sculptor Keiji Uematsu said in an interview, “First and foremost I must create the scenery and things I want to see.” I got the idea of making Mr. Kobayashi 400 meters in width when a man, who designs and builds 600-meter tankers in Ehime, told me at a drinking party, “I can make it.”

The cat it is measuring for has appeared since 2016. It is made anew for every site, and its size changes each time, wedged between buildings or into corridors.

Mr. Kobayashi the Pink Cat →