Oizumi Kazufumi’s monumental Movable Bridge/BH 5.0 (2022) has been installed in the striking white marble lobby of the Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art. This minimalist, inorganic drawbridge, composed of a 0.7-meter-high stage and a 4-meter-long bridge girder, descends six times per hour. Only those who happen to be present at these times and decide to step onto the bridge, without hesitating due to its height, are able to cross it. These visitors are naturally transformed from spectators into performers.

Oizumi’s Movable Bridge series has been ongoing since 2018, and this fifth work is his largest ever. While the dynamism of the movements, the complexity of the mechanisms, and the grand scale of the works have increased, the chaos and crises of the world that the work reflects have also become more complex. The artist witnessed the end of the Cold War when he was in his mid-twenties, and while a considerable amount of time passed since then, aspects of our world that the bridge metaphorically addresses, such as boundaries, divisions, distances, disparities, and conflicts, remain unresolved. Oizumi continues to create conceptual bridges that connect what is divided, seeing this as the role of art, and endeavors to spark our imaginations with regard to the meaning of living alongside others.

After taking a class at the University of Tsukuba’s School of Art and Design taught by Kohmura Masao, a founding member of the Computer Technique Group (CTG, active 1966-1969), Oizumi discovered the potential of expression through “pictures not painted by oneself, but delegated to a computer.” Since 1991 he has been creating automatic drawing machines and large-scale interactive installations, as well as producing three-dimensional computer-graphic renderings of unbuilt architecture. While applying his artistic sensibilities to design, he also personally handles the machining of materials. His solo exhibitions include Standing Pine (Nagoya, Japan), and he has participated in events including the well-known media art festival Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria, 2019). As a researcher of CTG, he is also the author of a published monograph.

Selected Works & Awards

2020

Solo exhibition, Standing Pine, Aichi, Japan

2019

Ars Electronica Festival 2019, Linz, Austria

Solo exhibition, N-Mark 5G, Aichi, Japan

2018

Solo exhibition, N-Mark 5G, Aichi, Japan

2007

Kobe Biennale 2007, Hyogo, Japan

Exhibition

• Installation view at Aichi Triennale 2022
• Movable Bridge/BH 5.0, 2022
• Photo: ToLoLo studio