死無
「渡すもの」としての「橋」と「箸」、「隔てるもの」としての「川」と「皮」。日本語における音の重なりは、単なる偶然ではなく、世界の構造を照らし出すものとして作用してきた。私はこの言霊的な作法を手がかりに、通信の根幹を担う「SIM（シム）」を「死無」という概念へと接続する。
本作では、役割を終えたSIMカード（死無カード）を、不可視の情報を宿す現代の護符として収集し、キトラ古墳の天文図を参照しつつ再配置した。古代において星図は、単なる天文学的知識の投影ではなく、死者が迷うことなく他界へ至るための指標であり、現世と来世を接続する装置であった。かつて金箔で描かれた星々は、ICチップの光学的反射へと置き換えられ、無数の断片は、かつての存在を証す痕跡として星座を形づくる。それは、情報の海を漂う私たちの意識を導く、現代における「祈りの星図」である。
The Japanese language contains many homophones—words that share the same sound but carry different meanings. For example, hashi can mean both “bridge” (a thing that connects and allows passage) and “chopsticks” (a tool for transferring objects), while kawa can mean both “river” (which separates) and “skin” (a boundary that divides inside from outside). These overlaps are not merely coincidental; they have long functioned as a way of revealing hidden structures of the world.
Taking this word-based, almost animistic logic as a point of departure, I connect the term “SIM” (Subscriber Identity Module), a core component of contemporary communication, to the concept of “shi-mu”—a phonetic reinterpretation meaning “without death” or “deathlessness.”
In this work, I collect decommissioned SIM cards—here reimagined as “shi-mu cards”—and treat them as contemporary talismans that carry invisible information. They are then rearranged with reference to the astronomical chart of the Kitora Tumulus. In ancient times, star maps were not merely representations of astronomical knowledge; they functioned as guides to ensure that the souls of the dead would not lose their way in the afterlife, serving as devices that connected this world to the next.
The stars once depicted in gold leaf are here replaced by the optical reflections of IC chips. Countless fragments, bearing traces of former existence, come together to form constellations. In this way, the work becomes a “constellation of prayer” for the present—one that guides our consciousness as it drifts through the vast sea of information.
死無カード（キトラ古墳天文図）
SIM cards, 786 × 786 mm
2026
Arranged SIM cards
29.7 × 42 (cm)
2018