'Scholar of folklore and architecture Wajiro Kon, along with Kenkichi Yoshida and others, founded ‘modernology [kōgen-gaku]’, or the study of the current state of lifestyles and customs of the people from a variety of different angles, with a particular focus on the city of Tokyo and its people. This new approach can be described as the acquisition of a new point of view that shifts attention to the creativity of the masses, which had yet to be considered in the context of art, by reexamining the lifestyles and creations of the people.
The Changing Times and the View of the City: The Masters of Observation and the Unknown Masters’ Masterpieces on the Streets

'From the mid-1960s to the 1970s, groups formed by young architecture students—such as “Conpeito”, named after a type of Japanese sugar candy, and “Iryuhin Kenkyujo”, literally “Research Institute for Things Left Behind”—took part in activities based on fieldwork done in the city. In 1986, Genpei Akasegawa, Terunobu Fujimori and others formed the “ROJO Society”, or the Roadway Observation Society, and discovered unique objects in urban spaces. These groups are further succeeded, for example, by Kyoichi Tsuzuki, who introduces the lifestyles of everyday people and creativity that lies hidden in everyday life through photographs, film, and text, and Atelier Bow-Wow, who have performed studies on architecture by unnamed designers/users. These successors have turned observing objects on the streets and documenting them into forms of expression in a variety of different fields.

'This exhibition re-introduces the creations that these observers have discovered on the streets, from the postwar era to the present, and examines how the act of observing/discovering becomes a form of expression in itself from different approaches. By interpreting both the observers and the observed as those that pose the important question of what artistic expression is, the exhibition ultimately presents a reconsideration of the definition of art.' (from website of Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art)

Exhibiting artists/groups:

Wajiro Kon, Kenkichi Yoshida, Taro Okamoto, Conpeito, Iryuhin Kenkyujo, Thomasson Observation Center, ROJO Society, Shinro Ohtake, Kyoichi Tsuzuki, Atelier Bow-Wow, Rogues’ Gallery, Motoyuki Shitamichi and other

民家の研究者・建築家であった今和次郎（1888〜1973）は1920年代なかば、後に舞台美術家として活躍する吉田謙吉（1897〜1982）らとともに、東京の街と人々の風俗に注目し、路上における人々の生活、風俗の現状を様々な角度から調査考察する研究を始め、「考現学」と名付けました。それは、1923年の関東大震災をきっかけに人々の生活、創造を見つめ直し、作品として特別視されることのなかった、市井の創造力に注目する新たな視点の獲得と捉えることができます。その後、1986年に結成された赤瀬川原平（1937〜）、藤森照信（1946〜）らによる路上観察学会をはじめ、美術や建築など様々な分野で路上の事物を観察し、記録する多彩な活動が展開されてきました。

本展覧会は、戦前から現代にかけて観察者たちが路上に見出した創作物をあらためて紹介するとともに、様々なアプローチを通して観察／発見という行為が表現として成立する様子に注目します。観察する者と観察される物（者）の双方が、ともに表現とは何か、という重大な問いかけを投げかける、芸術の在り方について考察する展覧会です。