Künstlerstatement
Koku-Ikkoku (刻一刻)
Hideki Iinuma
For 23 years, Hideki Iinuma's sculptures and Vigilius Mountain Resort have resonated with one another.
The sculptures remain at Vigilius, while the act of making continues elsewhere. Between East and West, time unfolds in parallel.
Since its opening in 2003, Vigilius has existed in continuous dialogue with time and nature. Over the same span, Iinuma's artistic concept has remained unchanged, while continuously deepening.
This duration is not simply something that has passed. It is something that has been carved — moment by moment.
Koku-ikkoku (刻一刻) is a Japanese expression describing the way time moves forward continuously, moment by moment. The character koku (刻) also means "to carve" and "to mark time."
Each incision in the wood marks a moment in time. Each gesture defines the next, forming a sequence of decisions that cannot be predetermined.
The figure does not emerge toward a fixed completion, but through the accumulation of these moments — each one carved, each one irreversible.
Each moment is both an instant and an eternity.
In this sense, the act of carving and the passage of time are not separate. They are the same movement.
And this movement continues — as time is carved, and sculpture is formed, endlessly.