The artist Takaya Fujii lives and works in Kyoto, the former capital of Japan, whose roots reach deep into Japanese traditions and culture.

Takaya Fujii studied at the Kyoto City Fine Art University as well as at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. With his works, he builds a bridge between traditional and contemporary art with Western influences. His use of salt in his work highlights the importance of the material as an ingredient in cleaning and conservation, and thus as key to longevity. The books shown in our exhibition have been extensively salted and thus preserved as a treasured piece of cultural heritage for the future of human history. The artist fuses two time-honoured traditional components – the mineral salt and the printed word – to create a gesamtkunstwerk that is as striking as it is poignant.

Books have reached a turning point for the first time since the Renaissance.
That is why I want to seal them with salt as cultural symbols, thereby making them immortal.

Takaya Fujii