Hikikomori (2018)
Artist Statement
Hikikomori is a social phenomenon that originated in Japan, referring to a form of extreme isolation in which individuals withdraw from society and confine themselves within a room. Once read as a pathology of specific individuals, this phenomenon demands to be reconsidered in light of today’s shifting digital landscape. Networks have expanded and connection has grown easier—yet it is precisely in this age of hyper-connectivity that the possibility of voluntary withdrawal has become available to everyone. In an environment where anyone can exist anonymously and anyone can disappear without a trace, hikikomori is no longer the story of an exceptional few.
The installation Hikikomori was presented in 2018 at Apotheke, an exhibition space in Mainz, Germany. Apotheke is a fully glazed space with an interior entirely visible from the outside, allowing visitors to naturally enter directly from the street through transparent glass walls. At the center of the space, however, stands a sealed structure that never opens. Visitors enter the space and face a cylindrical column from which cables extend in all directions to monitors—each transmitting only fragmented data.
Visitors attempt to communicate with the interior through a keyboard mounted on the outside of the structure. Yet, whether someone truly exists beyond the solid walls or whether only an automated system operates within cannot be known. The origin of the responses appearing on the monitors remains permanently unclear, suspended in a state of unresolved uncertainty and anonymity. In reality, a single performer is sealed inside, responding in real time—but that truth belongs to a realm the audience can never reach. The subject reveals itself only as a trace of text, poised on the boundary between presence and absence.
This anonymous structure is not unique to this work. Within digital networks, we encounter countless anonymous presences every day. Who is on the other side, whether a living human or an automated algorithm—we remain within the form of communication without ever knowing. Hikikomori-like isolation is no longer the story of someone confined to a particular room; it has become an existential condition already experienced by us all in a digital environment where anonymity has become ordinary.
Who are we connected to right now—and who, truly, is on the other side of that connection?
Exhibition Text
Dr. Justus Jonas
Translated from the original German
The apotheke is the inner-city showcase of the Kunsthochschule Mainz: a 90-square-meter display window, visible only from the street — a challenge for artists, an attraction for passersby; an artistic stage on which faculty members, students, or guests of the Kunsthochschule Mainz can present their work. The exhibitions are conceived to function without physical entry and to remain perceptible to those passing by at any time. Occasional openings — as is customary for vernissages, or as with the current exhibition, at announced performance dates or by appointment — are nevertheless possible.
The current installation by the two Korean artists Eunu Lee and Naehoon Huh bears the title Hikikomori, which in Japanese means something along the lines of people who “shut themselves away.” According to psychomedical definition, the term refers to individuals who refuse to leave their parents’ home and withdraw from family and society for at least six months. This phenomenon of voluntary isolation and social alienation was first identified in Japan, but subsequently spread rapidly to South Korea and other Asian countries. Typically beginning in adolescence in combination with school refusal, increasing numbers of young professionals now also feel overwhelmed by societal expectations, their fear of failure driving them toward inner withdrawal and avoidance of social contact. Current estimates range between 50,000 and 1,600,000 affected individuals.
At the center of the exhibition Hikikomori stands a room mounted on wheels — a kind of sealed, mobile living cabin scaled to the floor plan of the apotheke. It houses an invisible person who occasionally shifts the structure’s position but never leaves it. Cables descend from the ceiling and connect to several monitors attached to a column. These reveal what the hidden person is occupied with, or how they respond when addressed. The screens display, for example, internet programs and social networks the person is currently browsing, or computer games with which they pass the time. Occasionally, they also place actual food orders.
Through a keyboard connected via the former medication hatch beside the entrance, visitors are able to communicate and interact with the person inside. Passersby may receive responses in various languages, yet cannot be certain whether these originate from the room before them or from somewhere else entirely. Can passersby establish contact with the person and free them from their isolation? Is it possible to form an image of someone without their immediate physical presence? In what spaces do the participants move, encounter one another, and interact?
Read Original German Text (Dr. Justus Jonas, 2018)
Die aktuell gezeigte Installation der beiden koreanischen Künstler Eunhyung M. Lee und Naehoon Huh trägt den Titel Hikikomori, was im Japanischen so viel bedeutet wie Menschen, die „sich wegschließen”. Nach psychomedizinischer Definition werden so Personen bezeichnet, die sich weigern, das elterliche Haus zu verlassen und sich für mindestens sechs Monate von Familie und Gesellschaft zurückziehen. Dieses Phänomen freiwilliger Isolation und sozialer Entfremdung wurde zuerst in Japan festgestellt, breitete sich dann jedoch rasch auch in Südkorea und anderen asiatischen Ländern aus. Beginnend üblicherweise im Teenager-Alter in Kombination mit Schulverweigerung, fühlen sich mittlerweile auch junge Berufstätige zunehmend von gesellschaftlichen Erwartungen überfordert, so dass ihre Versagensängste sie in inneren Rückzug und Kontaktscheu drängen. Die Schätzung schwankt mittlerweile zwischen 50.000 und 1.600.000 Betroffenen.
Im Zentrum der Ausstellung Hikikomori steht eine auf Rollen gesetzter Raum, eine Art verschlossene mobile Wohnkabine, die dem maßstabsverkleinerten Grundriss der apotheke entspricht. Diese beherbergt eine unsichtbare Person, die den Raum gelegentlich verrückt, ihn aber nicht verlässt. Aus der Decke führen Kabel, die mit mehreren an der Säule befestigten Monitoren verbunden sind. Diese bringen zum Vorschein, womit sich die verborgene Person beschäftigt oder wie sie bei Ansprache reagiert. So zeigen die Bildschirme beispielsweise Internetprogramme und soziale Netzwerke, in denen die Person gerade unterwegs ist oder Computerspiele, mit denen sie sich die Zeit vertreibt. Gelegentlich gibt sie auch tatsächliche Essensbestellungen auf.
Über eine angeschlossene Tastatur durch die ehemalige Medikamentenklappe neben dem Eingang ist es den Besuchern/Betrachtern möglich, mit der Person zu kommunizieren und zu interagieren. Die Passanten können dabei Antworten in unterschiedlichen Sprachen erhalten, ohne sich dabei jedoch sicher zu sein, ob diese aus dem Raum vor ihnen oder von ganz woanders her stammen. Gelingt es den Passanten, zur Person Kontakt herzustellen und sie aus ihrer Isolierung zu befreien? Ist es möglich, sich ein Bild von ihr zu machen auch ohne ihre unmittelbare Präsenz? In welchen Räumen bewegen und begegnen sich die Beteiligten?
Dr. Justus Jonas (2018)