Programs

31

Tokyo Midtown

Masahide Matsuda, “The Big Flat Now”

The Laughing Man (2022), 3D Illustration by Kai Yoshizawa

[Date]
9/17(Sat) - 9/19(Mon/Holiday) 10:00 - 22:00
* On 9/19 (Mon/Holiday) open until 18:00 only
[Place]
Tokyo Midtown Galleria
[Participation fee]
Free
Born in the flat era of now, “THE LAUGHING MAN CLUB” is a series of work that mashes together the “Laughing Man,” known from “Ghost in the Shell”, and the “crying laughter” symbol used in countless forms of online communication. Without differentiating between physical space and imaginary time, the work will fuse abstract support with direct participation and community, unfolding like the chapters of a Netflix production through a fused slime of so-called “contents” such as visual art, newsletters, and commercial goods.

ARTISTS

Masahide Matsuda

Born 1986. Active in Tokyo and Berlin. Matsuda has gained popularity by collaborating with people through his online personality with events, tutorials, and performances. His activities re-examine issues of subjectivity and authorship in the current social media-induced landscape, receiving notable acclaim as a practice that creates new communalities by directly intervening in urban places and society. He changed his alias to his real name in 2019, and has been experimenting with trying to update people’s awareness through a conceptual and poetic practice looking at celebrity, economy, and scenery in the age of the internet.