WHITEWALL: How did you get involved in Design Miami?
TAKASHI MURAKAMI: This June when I went to Basel, I visited the Design Miami launch. And when I saw this fair it really touched me, because I was almost bored with the art world. It was very fresh, and I bought many chairs and desks. I really enjoyed the Design Miami booth, so I asked if I could get booth here.
WW: What are you excited to see when you come to Miami?
TM: We have another event, GEISAI [young artists’ fair] at Pulse. I haven’t met with GEISAI artists yet, but I am really excited to speak with them.
WW: In your writings you talk a lot about trying to rehabilitate Japan's postwar malaise. Do you think that your art has helped achieve this?
TM: My standing in Japan is very small. They are already obsessed with so many things, the fine art world and fine artists cannot fit with Japanese culture. That’s why my job is something like that philosophy, but it is not rehabilitation. I am an exporter, just a translator for the Japanese people.
WW: Do you see any parallels between Japanese bubble economy of the 90s and the economic crisis we are in now?
TM: I think so. When I debuted exactly, it was the same moment after the crash of the economy and the art market. I really remember it so that’s why I produced the GEISAI event, so young artists can learn to stand alone without galleries. That’s why I tell young artists, you have to learn how to survive by yourself..
WW: Do you take the economy into consideration when you make art?
TM: Maybe the mood of the art world will change for the Minimalist style or Conceptual style. Twenty years ago Jeff Koons and Richard Prince came at the same moment. Simulationism came from the economy. That’s why Jeff Koons used just the Nike poster on the wall, so there were no production costs. Conceptual art came from that moment. Maybe many good artist are coming soon. Maybe the are already coming, but their way will be very new.
WW: I hear you opened an animation studio in L.A.
TM: When I was making animation in Japan, I thought we can create the stuff in Japan but if I want to release it here in the U.S., I have to communicate with movie studio people. That’s why I opened a studio in L.A.. My L.A. studio will not make films, but will be used to communicate.
WW: Do you consider yourself a Japanese artist, a worldwide artist, or both? Are these terms even relevant anymore?
TM: I am basically Japanese artist, but last year when I met with Yoko Ono, she had a very interesting conversation with me. She said “I am fighting with a new issue, ageism, I am 72 years old, and last week I was dancing at 3 a.m. and I was really enjoying it. But people were asking me if I was ok. I hate it.” This is kind of like discrimination. I was fighting with feminism and racism, and now I am fighting ageism. My age is 46, and my mother and father are over 70 years old. I think international or Japanese issues are not important, how we age and how we survive is now an important issue from me.
