Morimura Yasumasa is a renowned artist known for his maverick self-portraits. When asked whether he could become Putin, he starts recounting his thoughts on the role of art in relation to war.
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0m 00s
I'm an extreme introvert.
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I've always liked to play alone.
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0m 09s
"Morimura Yasumasa
Artist
Born in 1951" -
0m 12s
As a child,
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I came up with the idea of
playing with invisible people. -
0m 20s
That allowed me to be alone.
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Self-portraits of others,
that's my artistic expression. -
0m 32s
I become that person,
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0m 37s
or play a role
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0m 42s
in stories that I come up with
based on famous artworks. -
0m 48s
I'm still playing by myself.
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0m 50s
I've done so for
thirty-seven years now. -
1m 09s
"Morimura turns himself into characters from
famous artworks, actors, politicians and
so on for his self-portraits." -
1m 16s
"His 35-year oeuvre anticipates"
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1m 20s
"today's fascination with cosplay, avatars
and multiple personas." -
1m 28s
I barged into a filled lecture hall,
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1m 31s
cosplaying as Marilyn Monroe,
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1m 34s
thanks to a certain professor.
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It was quite the intrusion.
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Then I started posing,
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to everyone's consternation,
as you can see. -
1m 51s
"February 24, 2022
Russian invasion of Ukraine" -
1m 58s
"What Japanese artists think"
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2m 12s
I've been wondering
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2m 15s
how to portray Russia
in my self-portraits... -
2m 24s
"What about a self-portrait of Putin?"
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2m 30s
Impossible.
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I couldn't do
a self-portrait of Putin. -
2m 40s
I did Adolf Hitler via
"The Great Dictator," -
2m 47s
the Charles Chaplin movie.
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2m 51s
That kind of indirect approach
might be possible, though. -
3m 02s
It's easy to denounce Putin.
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3m 05s
It's also easy to advocate
for Ukraine. -
3m 11s
The problem is -
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3m 15s
your opinion could easily
be "Americanized." -
3m 25s
If I criticize Putin,
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some other camp might
take over my message. -
3m 44s
Anything that doesn't sit well
with their beliefs gets rejected. -
3m 56s
There's no real engagement.
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4m 05s
I want to find my own
standpoint as an artist. -
4m 30s
On June 21, 1941,
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4m 35s
Hitler invaded
the former Soviet Union, -
4m 39s
breaking the non-aggression treaty.
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Two, three months later,
in September, -
4m 46s
Nazi forces laid siege to Leningrad.
No one was able to escape. -
4m 52s
Joseph Orbeli, director of
the Hermitage Museum, -
4m 57s
learned about the situation
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and immediately took action.
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He evacuated more than
a million artworks -
5m 10s
out of Leningrad by freight train.
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5m 25s
"Nazi forces besieged Leningrad during WWⅡ."
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5m 32s
"More than a million artworks were
evacuated from the Hermitage Museum." -
5m 39s
"Morimura exhibits a series
made at the Hermitage Museum." -
5m 46s
"He recreates a gallery with empty
picture frames." -
5m 53s
In 2014,
I visited the Hermitage Museum, -
5m 58s
where they allowed me to
create a series of works. -
6m 02s
Here is their Rembrandt room
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without any Rembrandts.
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Only the frames are on display.
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This is me, playing the role of
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6m 28s
Vera Milutina, a painter
in Leningrad at the time. -
6m 37s
The Hermitage was badly
damaged by the bombings, -
6m 41s
and all the art was gone.
Vera wanted to record that scene. -
6m 48s
Based on her painting,
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I tried to recreate the gallery
with this photograph. -
6m 58s
"In Morimura's gallery of empty frames,"
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"the past and the present collide."
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7m 07s
How do we read this picture
today, in 2022? -
7m 14s
That depends on the viewer.
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For instance,
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a Russian loyalist might recall
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the heroic resistance
against the Nazis. -
7m 40s
But you could also say,
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"This is what's happening in Ukraine."
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I think that this work,
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7m 53s
that art, in general, is a sort of platform.
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8m 08s
It's a neutral platform that
doesn't have an opinion. -
8m 14s
Anyone can say anything
at and about it. -
8m 19s
That's what we need now.
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8m 23s
It's crucial for artists to have
a space for exchanges of opinions, -
8m 32s
for expression, in short.
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8m 35s
If there isn't such a space,
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I'd definitely make one.
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8m 42s
I'm exhibiting this piece,
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in the hope that art can be
a platform for expression. -
9m 03s
Can you hear it?
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9m 08s
It's a train.
We're under the railway. -
9m 16s
My family traded in tea.
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9m 20s
This was their storehouse.
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9m 23s
No one was ever here,
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so I came here to play as a child.
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9m 31s
It felt like a secret hideout,
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and now it's my atelier.
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9m 39s
I do most of my work here.
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9m 54s
Hair is very important when
recreating someone's look, -
9m 59s
so now I have a ton of wigs.
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10m 04s
All kinds of makeup tools too.
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I do my own makeup
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and take photos with
this camera equipment. -
10m 40s
I wonder how Russian artists
are now. -
10m 46s
I know they can't express
themselves freely. -
10m 56s
All those silenced voices,
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11m 03s
is there any way for us
to hear them? -
11m 13s
It's... Hmm...
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11m 19s
It's impossible for me, I guess.
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11m 29s
Under Stalinism,
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11m 33s
this period of extreme fascism
in the Soviet Union, -
11m 37s
there was a poet called
Anna Akhmatova. -
11m 44s
People around her were
arrested or killed. -
11m 49s
She wanted to write that
in her poetry. -
11m 54s
But they muzzled her, and
forced her to stop writing. -
12m 00s
Maybe she can show us
how artists can survive -
12m 08s
this kind of hardship.
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12m 14s
Here -
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12m 18s
I once wrote a children's book.
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12m 23s
I mentioned her in that book.
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12m 28s
"There was a poet named
Anna Akhmatova in Russia." -
12m 34s
"At that time, you couldn't write books
that differed from government views." -
12m 42s
"Disobedient ones were arrested or killed.
Anna couldn't remain silent." -
12m 49s
"She wanted to dedicate a poem to the victims,
even if that was forbidden." -
12m 55s
"So what did she do?"
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12m 57s
"She memorized her poem."
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"Yes, she memorized all of it."
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Here in Japan, at this time,
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we are in a position to say, well,
most things that we want to say. -
13m 24s
That's why we must look at
the things we might forget, -
13m 31s
that are being forgotten.
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You might disagree,
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but I think
things would be very dull -
13m 49s
if seen as good or bad only
through the lens of humanism. -
14m 07s
I believe that art casts light
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on the things in oblivion.
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Art sees the things
that no one notices and -
14m 29s
makes us see their greatness.
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That's how art expands.
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It presents a new worldview,
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and that's the most important thing.