NAGATA KOSUKE

The Google Street View car began recording Shibuya since 2009. Google Street View has a “time machine” feature that lets users go back and see how an area has changed over time. By dragging the slider between 2009 and the present, users can experience the city again via the archived imagery tied in place and time. However, physical experiences and memories tend not to be as chronological as the function and instead continue to rearrange themselves via an assemblage and mixture of fragments.

For this occasion, Nagata focused on Miyashita Park in the Shibuya ward of Tokyo as the symbol for the gentrification of the city. Miyashita Park has closed down twice after the year 2000. First was due to the park renovation funded by Nike Japan between 2010 and 2011. Second is due to the New Miyashita Park Project initiated in 2017 and scheduled to be completed in 2020.

These works are digital collages of the scenery recorded within the “time machine” feature and photographs captured by the artist of the same area in May 2019. Utilizing the spot healing brush tool, which allows for an automatic retouching of the target area based upon the data in the surrounding areas of an image, Nagata blends the composition of numerous windows he arranges on the display. Layers of windows occurring against the grey backdrop propose an image of the city where personal experiences and memories from different times intermingle with one another.