My treasured object is an adventure game from 1997 called Eve. It’s by singer Peter Gabriel and Yayoi Kusama and it involves collecting segments of music as well as artworks. My mom was a big fan of Kusama; one of the first exhibitions I went to was her solo show at the Modern Art Museum in Tokyo. I don’t think I realised it was the same person.
I grew up in the middle of the countryside with my elder sister and younger brother, and my parents wanted us to be in nature all the time. To them, ‘playing’ meant going outside and interacting with friends, making bows and arrows, so they banned video games – Nintendo and PlayStation were a big thing in Japan at the time.
Then, my uncle gave this to me, saying: ‘This is the game Rio should play.’ I was surprised my mum let me, especially because I was seven at the time and it was rated 12! I didn’t speak English at that age, but I played it over and over on my first computer – an iMac that I had saved up my New Year’s money for years to buy.
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I’ve always wanted to collect the things that influenced my life in a creative way, so when I found the game on eBay I had to buy it. The package hadn’t been opened for 30 years. Playing it again after almost 30 years and now understanding English much better, it was a whole different thing, grasping the message behind the game. I realise now that they were talking about relationships and things. It’s exciting to rediscover something that meant so much to me.
The game definitely helped my creative thinking, because it’s always stayed in my mind. It was shocking, fun and exciting. It’s different to play, in that you have to find a way out by yourself – there is no guide. There are some hints, but you have to try all the options. There’s also really no end to it; it just starts over again, like a human cycle. I wish everyone could experience it! riokobayashi.com
