Look

Location: Street in Kyoto, Japan

Duration: 1 Hour

IIn a quiet corner of Kyoto, where the urban fabric meets nature’s persistence, Alex Conway’s performance unfolds. Standing in the narrow gap between two buildings, surrounded by wild grasses and flowers reclaiming the space, Conway holds a pair of imaginary binoculars, gazing across at a solitary tree. For an hour, Conway remains still, embodying a quiet dialogue between human presence and nature’s resilience.

The work draws on the philosophical reflections of writers such as Mary Oliver and Louise McNeill, whose writings attend to the tensions and intimacies between the urban and the natural world. It functions as a meditative exploration of how humanity and nature coexist—sometimes in friction, yet always intertwined. Through sustained stillness and attentive observation, the performance invites viewers to reflect on the beauty, endurance, and quiet insistence of nature within the city’s confines.