Shouta Kanehira
ACAO FOREST 
A Tale of Two Worlds
This work attempts to unite two opposite worlds by simultaneously projecting the landscape created by the magnificent nature of Atami and the bustling landscape created by human society. In this work, the exact same objects are installed in Kabukicho and next to TOHO cinema complex in Shinjuku, Tokyo, and by sharing each other’s views in real time, the viewers are made aware that although they show completely different worlds, they are in fact two sides of the same coin, connected as one. It is an attempt to connect the world as one by making us aware of the relationship between two worlds that are estranged but actually close to each other, and between two worlds that are scarce but actually close to each other.
Shouta Kanehira is an artist and urban designer of URBAN KNIT. He brings cross-disciplinary experience in art, architecture, urban design and product design to urban projects of all scales. After working for several architectural firms in Japan and the US as an urban designer, he established URBAN KNIT after he got back from New York to Tokyo in 2021 with an aim of empowering the local community by design.
He holds a Master’s in Architecture and Urban Design from Columbia University, where he was awarded with the Lucille Smyser Lowenfish Memorial Prize, the GSAPP Prize for Excellence in the Urban Design program.
