Kôichi Kurita
"Terres de Loire"
The chosen material for his work is soil, which he collects, identifies, dries, cleans of organic residues, grinds, sometimes sieves, but never spreads out. A wide variety of multifaceted colours arise from this diversity.
The artist was born in Yamanashi, at the centre of Honshu Island. This is where his Bibliothèque de terres (Soil Library) project began, at the dawn of the 1990s. He had been backpacking across Asia, just for the pleasure of walking, making new discoveries and observing his surroundings. When he came back to Japan, the young man realised he had learnt a lot about other cultures, but he did not know a great deal about his own country. This observation drove him to take action. From then on, he decided to examine his environment closely, and took a specific interest in soil. He started his collection and used a special labelling system to link the soil specimens to their place of origin.
After collecting tens of thousands of soil samples in Japan, Kôichi Kurita began to explore French soil from 2004. An obsessional explorer, this artist full of wisdom aims to change the perspective of our Earth and of the living beings that populate it. His approach consists in taking samples every day wherever he finds them, thereby portraying the diversity of our planet. It is an organic and nourishing element which contains fine particles of rock, fragments of animals, plants, humans, etc. This soil conserves within it the traces and profound changes linked to our evolution. Each sample is considered as evidence of ancient history, from the earliest periods to our contemporary era. “A brief moment spent in front of an artwork is enough to see, at a glance, the whole passage of time since the world was created,” asserts the Japanese artist, whose residencies each add to his Bibliothèque de terres, a tangible utopia that today carries a message of crucial importance on a global scale.
Kôichi Kurita is a guest artist for the domain’s new Art Season, and his work will be exhibited in Diane’s Tower, in the basement. The installation of hundreds of glass vials filled with soil marks a new chapter in his exploration. “Any form of life is part of the same whole. Each handful of soil reminds me that I am just a small part of something much bigger, called nature, and this teaches me humility.”
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
Kôichi Kurita is a Japanese artist and was born in 1962. Since 2004, he has been working on a curious collection in France, his Bibliothèque de terre (Soil Library). In contemplating art as a way to position mankind in its natural environment, he provides viewers a chance to really experience a place, to embrace its diversity and its history. This self-educated artist aims to create art that everyone can apprehend. This goal makes his work an excellent tool for raising awareness about culture and landscapes. The humble and sensitive nature of Kôichi Kurita’s work makes it accessible and capable of encouraging avenues for reflection for everyone. This work is a call for action, not only for the local population from where the samples were taken, but for the general public, to consider the cultural aspect of nature and the urgent need for its protection. Kôichi Kurita is a renowned artist across the globe and has featured in many exhibitions in prestigious venues. His work has been exhibited at the Grand Palais in Paris and at the Château de Chambord.
