Chaos*Lounge (カオス*ラウンジ) is a highly controversial group of three artist proclaiming themselves as a Self-Styled "Modern Art" group. The group is currently led by Youhei Kurosawa.
Overview
Chaos*Longue was first formed by Uso Fujishiro in an art & live exhibition event in 2008. Two years later, Fujishiro and Youhei Kurosawa held another exhibiton at Takahashi Collection Hibiya, Tokyo on April 2010. It was during this exhibition that the group started proclaiming that their works are to be known as the "Art of the 2010s".
The current members Chaos*Lounge are Uso Fujishiro, Youhei Kurosawa, and Kazuki Umezawa. Starting from 2009 onwards, the group has been producing artworks that are mainly collage works.
Chaos*Longue 2010 Proclamation
According to the official site, the Chaos*Longue 2010 Proclamation (カオス*ラウンジ宣言2010, Kaousu*Raunji Sengen 2010) describes the group's establishment along with its motives and vision. The proclamation also describes the creation of their art by combining genres of postmodern art and the digital information era of Japanese society which is the internet.
Controversy
In 2010, Chaos*Longue began attracting a massive amount of criticizing from social forums and websites such as Twitter and 2ch when it was revealed that their artworks were collages using various pictures from on the internet. The pictures in their artworks were simply mashed up together, forming a postmodern collage work which was then exhibited at Chaos*Lounge's personal exhibition events. All the pictures that were used are existing commercial pictures, logos and derivative works created by various artists pixiv's.
While Chaos*Longue has acknowledged this, they have stated clearly that they will not seize their activity despite having to apologize for their actions.
Moetron Incident
Between 2010/2011, Umezawa created a postmodern artwork which directly used Moetron (キメこな, Kimekona). Unlike his previous works, the inclusion of Moetron in his artwork was controversial as the picture had very little modifications, hence an almost direct copy and paste.
This artwork was shown in exhibition and received many praises from various art critiques in Japan. However, users from Twitter, 2ch, and especially Futaba Channel, the site in which Moetron originated from, began criticizing Chaos*Longue for the usage of their works without permission. What made the situation worse was that the artwork was sold through an auction and the money was donated as charity for the recent Tohoku Earthquake.
This incident remains unsolved due the copyright validity of Moetron due the image being a collage of various existing anime characters. Chaos*Longue has issued an apology, but many have never forgive their actions.
pixiv
Takanori Katagiri, pixiv’s CEO, had in a joint interview with the Chaos*Lounge members in the June issue of Bijutsu Techou. Various twitter messages between Kurosawa and Katagiri were discovered by internet users regarding Chaos*Lounge decorating rooms for Hotel Sunline Kamata. Labelled as Hotel Chaos*Sunline, the rooms were decorated with various artworks and pictures which were taken without permission. Katagiri however denied his involvement in he only introduced the hotel’s architect to the Chaos*Lounge members.
pixiv X 7th Hakurei Jinja Reitaisai Art Contest Incident
In 2011, pixiv received many complaints about pixiv artworks being used by Chaos*Longue in their collage works. All of the artworks that were used were mainly taken from pixiv's ranking board including those that were to be published in the “Gashuu ‘Shunen Ryouran Chou’" art book during the Reitaisai Festival.
Although the complaints were sent, pixiv was unable to take action immediately due to their managing policy. A week after, all Chaos*Lounge user accounts were suspended for their actions.
Other Activities
The list below contains the activities Chaos*Lounge has done which are considered offensive and controversial by many:
- Held exhibitions in which visitors are encouraged to slowly trample upon the artworks placed on the floor. The artworks that were trampled contain images and other artworks.
- Conducted counterfeiting activities by printing fake 1,000 yen notes and selling them to visitors in their events.
- Sold customized iPhone4 cases which uses collage works. Sales have halted 2 months after receiving a cease and decease letters from the related companies.
- Exhibited works containing various Disney characters. Any Disney related characters and products for derivative works are illegal in Japan.
- Used various Touhou fan artworks to create room wallpapers.
- Distributed various corporate logo stickers without obtaining permission from their respective companies
- Used characters from Memories Off, Hetalia and other anime works for their collage works and exhibition.
Related Effects
Modern Art Flood Incident
Due to pixiv’s late response regarding Chaos*Longue, internet users responded their dissatisfaction by submitting artworks with the tag "Modern Art (現代アート, Gendai Aato)" on pixiv. The tag quickly gained popularity and many users who were unaware of the incident considered it a shameless act. Initially, the submitted artworks contained picture captions with minor modifications criticizing pixiv's management practice, but soon turned into hand drawn artworks after a massive clean-up along with the suspension and deletion of users. These artworks however were deleted depending how offensive it is.
pixiv
On July 27 2011, pixiv issued a statement stating that Chaos*Lounge was indeed invited in pixiv related events and have artworks appearing in art books. However, pixiv stated that they have no relations to any of Chaos*Lounge’s activities and did not solicit artworks to the group. Pixiv has also promised to improve their management practices.
After pixiv’s official statement, some of the suspended accounts have been restored and artworks with the “Moden Art” tag made itself into the ranking board. Despite this, there are many users who are still dissatisfied or confused over the issue, causing many users to leave pixiv to join other sites such as Timani. There are also users who submit doodles or offensive artwork in official contests to make fun of the contest itself.
Related Tags
Message to Artists Who Submits Artwork For Comiket 80 Related Artbooks
