About Walls: Limit, Space, and Landscape in Enokura’s Work

This lecture considers works involving walls, created since the 1970s by Enokura Kōji (榎倉康二 ; Tokyo, 1942-1995). Walls define the contours of space and establish a limit, creating a firm separation between inside and outside. Relying on pre-existing walls, which he stained, or building new ones in unexpected sites, Enokura effected a cut in landscape, forcing the viewer to consider both the problematic existence of that obstacle before them and what lay beyond. Through his ambivalent use of space as a medium of expression and site of encounter, Enokura queried where art can exist today.