Suddenly, the view spreads out before us.

◉What is the gap?
This exhibition consists of two exhibition rooms; one called FAL at MAU and the other at KU. These two rooms are located next close to each other but separated by over the fence. Students of each school cooperate to build a bridge that crosses over the fence and the complete bridge connects the two exhibition rooms. This bridge will be on the display only during this exhibition. The MAUxKU collaboration has produced numerous conversations as the construction progressed. The bridge crosses over a disparity and a gap and connects two places. At the same time, it raises a question, “what does it cross over? What is the gap?”We have a Japanese saying, speak without boundaries. However boundaries should not be ignored but realized when they clarify the positions between two and accentuate the difference rather than simply separate one field into two fields.
When one comes to think about both MAU and KU, the fence that creates the boundaries to separate school districts means differently even to each one of us. A fence that stimulates the curiosity about unseen scenery on the other side. A fence that encloses one’s daily life style. A fence that designates where you are supposed to be when you are even unaware of. RI-ae Chong one of the artists said “a ‘fence’ that closes off of the outer world could also become a ‘wall’ that protects me. Conversely, it reminds me to break out my comfort zone and expand it.” Listen carefully to others and think genuinely. This exhibition aims to provide you a dialogue to speak up with your opaque boundaries over the fence. Once a bridge is crossed, a view opens up, yet we do not know where it will lead us to. We are going to exhibit our previous and current works inspired by the project development as well as the archive collection that describes how this project progressed and created the dialogues among us since the project foundation.

Exposition development
◉Two adjacent schools separated by a fence
MAU and KU have stood next to each other for a long period but separated by a single layer of a fence. Despite this physical proximity, there had not been much interactions between these schools. In 2011, Chiaki Haibara, then MAU student, created a work that featured her relationships with KU students living in a dorm – “The bridge which may be able to be crossed.” Approached by the department of Art at KU, her work was a trigger to initiate a new interaction between MAU-art (supervised by Professor Hakamata) and KU-art.

◉Intermittent interaction (co-exposition with MAU and KU)
In 2012, we put together an art exhibit at MAU that featured as the theme, “what propels us to pursue arts and where does it come from?” This exhibit was planned, organized and presented by the students of MAU and KU. It is followed by two more exhibits planned by Kyotaro Hakamara at MAU in 2013 and 2014 featuring “What brings you here and where’d you go?” and “ Return to the studio alone”, respectively. The 2014 exhibit was also displayed at a KU art gallery.

Musashino Art University, MAU;
Originally founded as Japanese imperial art school in 1929. In 1935, the imperial school became separated into Tama Art school and Musashino Art school. In 1961, Musashino art school moved a campus to the current HQ location at Takanodai, Tokyo. In 1962, it became Musashino Art University as known today.

Korea University, KU: Founded in 1956. It is operated by North Korean government and the sole education institution in Japan that teaches Zainichi Koreans (ethnic Korean resident in Japan) their ethnic culture. It has eight departments; education (education, childcare, music and art), politics and economics, literature history, engineering, foreign language, management, physical education and two-year short program. It is a boarding school.