Tokyo based Belgian artist Eric Van Hove is about to launch Off the Record, a punctual underground underway art show that will take place at various venues and subway stations in Tokyo, starting in the basement of a game center in Shibuya.
The recently installed X-CUBE© locker system will be hijacked to allow multiple users to exchange packages by using a touch screen and their cell phone numbers as digital-keys. The project simply substitutes the package with an artwork or installation.
Existing entirely in transitional public spaces, the show nevertheless remains hidden and visible solely within a private network: a person who has gained access to the work can only invite someone else to view it whose cell phone number they already have.
The curator or the artist places the artwork, then invites the first person to the show by registering his cell phone number with the X-CUBE©, and calling him to confirm. In the following hours, the invited viewer arrives at the station, uses his phone to unlock the locker-turned-gallery-space and pays ¥100 to view the work. He then invites the next person by registering a new cell phone number and calling to confirm, and so on…