#conceptual_work

Epimenides was a Cretan who made one immortal statement: "All Cretans are liars."

The "DO NOT ART" tries to prohibit ART under the name of ART. The project reveals a problem with self-reference in logic, such as the Epimenides paradox.

"DO NOT ART", although we can speculate what the phrase meant to say, since Art is not a verb this English phrase is an incorrect sentence. While pretending as a public sign, this wrong English sentence prohibits ART or act of ART. However, even the message bans art, the action itself paradoxically casts a question to viewers, such as, where is the category of art, what exactly banned by the name of ART?

DO NOT ART © 2019 Jun'ichiro ISHII

Paradox / Inconsistency / Contradiction

アートの名の下に、すべてのアート行為を禁止します

Question : 「アート」の名において指示されたものに従うか？従う場合、本作品周辺におけるすべての「アート」行為を禁ずる。またこれに従わない場合、その理由とは何か？

Reference : ・韓非子 / 難一篇 /「矛盾」・・・楚の国の「どんな盾も突き通す矛」と「どんな矛も防ぐ盾」

・エピメニデス・パラドックス（Epimenides paradox）・・・「クレタ人はみなうそつきである」

・自己言及のパラドックス ex:1 ) 次の文は真である。前の文は偽である。 ex:2 ) 次の文は偽である。次の文は偽である。最初の文は偽である。

DO NOT ART © 2019 Jun'ichiro ISHII

Exhibition : 2024.04.12 - 05.12. "DO NOT ART" KIKA gallery, Kyoto, Japan 2021.10.13 - 11.26. "Limitless Limits - Larnaca Biennale 2021" Larnaca, Cyprus 2019.08.11 - 08.14. "TODAY IS YESTERDAY'S TOMORROW" HIGURE 17-15 cas, Tokyo, Japan 2019.07.05 - 07.18. "SPURT" Galerie Aube, Kyoto University of Art and Design, Kyoto, Japan

【>> Read in English】

2005年6月28日に、滞在しているスタジオで作品を公開する機会がありました。しかしスタジオに到着して間もなかったわたしには、まだ誰かに見せることができるような作品がありませんでした。

何の変哲も無い一日を、何かしら特別な一日にできないだろうか――わたしは「6月28日」そのものを、作品に出来ないかどうかと考えてみました。

わたしは虫ピンと糸を使用して、6月28日の一日をかけて、スタジオの壁に大きく「28.June」と描くことに決めました。

◉

6月28日に日付が変わったその瞬間から、わたしは作業に取り掛かりました。壁に打ち込んだ「June.28」の外郭を縁取ったピンに、黒い糸を張り、重ねてゆくことにより立体的な文字を作り出す。わたしは徹夜で作業を進め、28日の朝からスタジオを訪れ始めた人々にも参加を呼びかけ、この作業を24時間、6月28日が終わるまで続けました。

作品「28.June」は時間をかけると共に完成に近づきましたが、時間が過ぎると共に「6月28日」は終わり始めました。そして6月28日がついに終わるその瞬間、私のスタジオの壁には「6月28日」の労力の痕跡、つまり作品「28.June」が誕生しました。

28 of June © 2004 Jun'ichiro ISHII

◉

｢6｣という整数は自然数の中でもっとも小さな｢完全数｣です。数字6を綺麗に割り切れる数字は6自身を除くと、1と2と3です。そして、この1と2と3を足すと、合計は再び6になります。

このように約数の和が元の数字と同じである数字を｢完全数｣と呼びます。

「完全数」は「万物は数なり」と考えたピタゴラスが名付けた数の一つであるとされていますが、「6」の次に小さな完全数は、1+2+4+7+14の｢28｣です。

中世の『聖書』の研究者は、「6 は「神が世界を創造した（天地創造）6日間」、28 は「月の公転周期」で、これら2つの数は地上と天界における神の完全性を象徴している」と考えていたとも云われています。

古代ギリシアの数学者は「6」と「28」の他にも、あとふたつ「496」「8128」を知っていたと云われていますが、自然数の中に完全数がどれくらい存在するのかはわかっていません。19世紀末までに見つかっていた完全数はたったの10個、2004年現在でも41個しか見つかっていません。（2019年現在51個）

>> The List of Perfect Numbers

そういった訳で「6月28日」は、約数関数で『 σ (n) = 2n 』を満たす n であるところの完全数の、小さい方から順に二つを並べた、非常にロマンチックな数字の一日です。

さて。実際、わたしにはその公式の意味がよく判りませんが、何気ない一日も色々な角度から注意深く眺めてみると、あるいは何かしら特別な一日になるのかもしれません。

/ / / / / /

【>> 日本語で読む】

On June 28, 2005, I had the opportunity to show my work at the studio where I was staying. However, as I had just arrived at the studio, I did not yet have any work that I could show to the public.

I wondered if I could make an ordinary day into something special - I imagined if I could make "June 28" itself into an artwork.

I decided to draw a large "28. June" by pins and thread, while spending the whole day of June 28.

◉

From the moment the date changed to June 28, I set to work. I worked alone all night, and asked the audience who started to come to the studio from the morning to participate, I continued this process for 24 hours until the day of June 28 ended.

The work "28.June" drew nearer completion over time, but as time passed, the day of "June 28" began to end. And finally at the moment when June 28 finally ended, the traces of the labor of "June 28" were left on the wall, which means the work "28. June" was born.

28 of June © 2004 Jun'ichiro ISHII

◉

The integer "6" is the smallest "perfect number" among natural numbers. The only numbers that can be divided into the number 6 excluding 6 itself, are 1, 2, and 3. And if you add 1, 2, and 3 together, the sum becomes 6 again.

A number like this, where the sum of its divisors is the same as the original number, is called a "perfect number."

It is said that "perfect numbers" are one of the numbers named by Pythagoras, who believed that "everything is number." The next smallest perfect number after "6" is "28", which is 1+2+4+7+14.

It is said that medieval Bible scholars believed that 6 represented the six days in which God created the world (Creation) and 28 represented the orbital period of the moon, and that these two numbers symbolized God's perfection on earth and in heaven.

It is said that ancient Greek mathematicians knew two other perfect numbers besides "6" and "28", "496" and "8128", but it is not known how many perfect numbers exist among natural numbers. Only 10 perfect numbers had been discovered by the end of the 19th century, and as of 2004, only 41 have been discovered. (As of 2019, there are 51.)

>> The List of Perfect Numbers

Therefore, "June 28" is a very romantic number day, made up of two perfect numbers, n, that satisfy the divisor function σ(n) = 2n, arranged in ascending order.

Well, actually, I don't know well what that formula means, but if you look at an ordinary day carefully from various angles, it may turn out to be a special day in some way.

/ / / / / /

The "DO NOT ART" project is an art project which propagates the NO ART logo through various consumer goods from clothing and accessories to coffee mugs and wash basins.

In North East Asia "Art" is an imported concept. In its European spelling, in particular, ART it is not native. Therein in many ways ART is seen as part of the package of modernity that was imported to Asia through the forces of westernization and colonialism starting in the 19th Century. And there is still much discussion about how this concept is being graphed onto societies that while doubtless had their own arts, did not necessarily hold the same notion of ART as the European ones which were greatly informed by Western experiences of the Renaissance, as well as a whole list of art history developments that sit before and after.

The "DO NOT ART" project is a project that propagates this awkward English phrase "ART" by printing it on Pins, T-Shirts and other typical souvenir style goods that will be sold through various retail outlets. By inviting these words into locations of everyday contact through a consumer process - allowing consumers to buy and retailers to sell - Jun’ichiro is not only inspires a contemplation of people's stance towards ART and other concepts imported through the old forces westernization, but further urges people to consider the social-political content of exchange in the age of consumerism and globalization.

However, at the same time there is an inconsistency in the logo's very existence. While the phrase DO NOT ART attempts to ban the act or category of action that is referred to in the word ART, it's confusingly awkward English dooms it to missing its mark. So in a contradictory sense it causes people contemplate the place of ART in our current lexicon. How should art be categorized, is it a human act, is it the result of human action, is it something that just is, what is it? Do artists create to become art? Do they have a state of being that makes them and all they make art?...

≪Tyler RUSSEL (CA)≫

DO NOT ART © 2006 Jun'ichiro ISHII

DO NOT BUY IT

"DO NOT ART" this wrong English does not prohibit ART, but it does prohibit the practice of clinging to the name ART. The "DO NOT BUY IT" series was a limited edition product with the "NOT ART" logo and the phrase "DO NOT BUY IT".

"DO NOT ART" この間違った英語はARTを禁止しませんが、ART という名で凝り固まるすることを禁止します。「DO NOT BUY IT」シリーズは 「買わないで下さい」というメッセージと、「NO ART」ロゴの入った限定商品販売です。

Project : 2006.03.17 - 04.04. Ssamzie Space, Seoul, South Korea

Video work screened : 2007. "10th International ISTANBUL BIENNIAL : Nightcomers" Istanbul, Turkey 2007. Transformer Gallery, Washington DC, USA

"A man selling spears and shields was praising his shields as so hard that nothing could penetrate them. Immediately afterwards, he said in praise of his spears "My spears are so sharp they will penetrate anything." When someone asked "What if I penetrate your shield with your spear?" he was at a loss to answer"

≪Han Fei Zi (CN) / ca. 280–233 BC≫

DO NOT ART © 2006 Jun'ichiro ISHII

DO NOT ART, this wrong English sentence tries to prohibit ART or act of ART. While installing the DO NOT ART logo mark in the public space, the project paradoxically cast a question to viewers. Where is the category of art, what exactly banned by name of ART?

◉

Exhibition : 2024.04.12 - 05.12. "DO NOT ART - アート禁止" KIKA gallery, Kyoto, Japan 2009.07.11. "URBAN (R)EVOLUTIONS - Festival Miden" Kalamata, Greece 2008.10.21 - 10.27. "4th International Photo Biennale TashkentAle" Tashkent, Uzbekistan