For the Creative Reconstruction: Vision Formulation 1, 6h Session, Kenji Yanobe, the contemporary artist, was invited to give a talk titled, “A Passionate Account of My Works”.
He gave a very powerful speech, talking about when, as a child, he saw the empty site of Expo ’70 Osaka and felt that anything could be created from this vacant lot, and that since art is about being free, we should do whatever we want to. In mentioning his works involving major incidents and disasters in Japan and in the world, he gave us some food for thought about the relationship between art and society. (Akagi)
Notice: ”Minipro Talk Show”
This is a notice about a talk show from “Minipro”, a reconstruction support group led by Tsukuba University students. Please come and take part.
“Then, Now, Hereafter – Reflecting on 3.11” ~ With Hoshi-san and Sato-san from Minami-Soma, Fukushima Prefecture.
Date & Time: 2014/06/05 (Thursday), 18:30 – 20:00
Place: Tsukuba University, Area 3, Rm. 3A202
Timetable: 18:30~ Doors open. Welcoming speech by the director and introduction of the speakers.
18:40~ Talks by the speakers (Hoshi-san, Sato-san.)
19:30~ Interview.
20:00~ Q & A, Discussion time.
20:30~ The end.
”Minipro: Let’s Go and See and Think About Tohoku Project” began with the idea to actually go and see with our own eyes the disaster-stricken areas, so as to keep the memory of the earthquake from fading. The main objective is to go and see the present Tohoku, the present Fukushima, and to inform to as many people as possible about what they saw from a college students’ point of view. The present talk show has been planned so that the current state of Fukushima could be felt and understood while staying in Tsukuba. It is a significant event as people who are working on the disaster reconstruction in Minami-Soma, Fukushima Prefecture have been invited to speak about their experiences.
Director: Fumimasa Yamashita, 2nd Year, College of Comparative Culture.
トークイベントチラシPDF
Itako Team Tour
On May 23, the entire Itako Team went on a tour of the Itako-shi area. The Hinode area in Itako-shi is where massive damages were caused by liquefaction due to the Great East Japan Earthquake. Even though 3 years have passed since the earthquake, there are still roads that have not been repaired. Compared to last year, not much change could be detected in the parts that have been properly paved and that are still under works. Seeing firsthand of the situation made us realize the enormity of the damages that were hardly reported. (Top photo)
We also visited a temple called Suiunzan Choonji and met with the monk, Hashimoto-san, and asked him to tell us about the Hinode area. (Bottom photo) The most memorable words he mentioned were that the recovery of the kindergartens would lead to the protection of the town. Since Itako-shi is a new town, many of the parents’ generation come from other parts of the country, whereas for the children born here in Itako-shi, Itako will be their hometown and they might grow up to be in charge of developing the future of the town. Activities of Jibo Kindergarten, which Choonji runs, were introduced to us and we were impressed by its positive and constructive attitude. Once again, I vowed to give support to the region. (Yamazaki, 3rd Year at School of Art & Design)
[Preview] Creative Reconstruction: Vision Formulation 1, 6th Session
For the Creative Reconstruction: Vision Formulation 1, 6h Session, Kenji Yanobe, the contemporary artist, will be invited to give a talk titled, “A Passionate Account of My Works”. Please come, as anyone is welcome to attend. In line with the lecture, 2 promotional videos will be shown at the 6A Entrance Gallery.
[Lecture]
Venue: Tsukuba University, Bldg.6A Rm.208
Date & Time: May 30, Friday, 12:15 – 13:30
[Exhibition]
Venue: Tsukuba University, Bldg.6A, Entrance Gallery
Date & Time: May 22 (Thursday) to May 30(Friday), 9:00 – 18:00
* Closed on Saturdays and Sundays.
Creative Reconstruction: Vision Formulation 1, 5th Session
For the Creative Reconstruction: Vision Formulation 1, 5th Session, Noi Sawaragi, the art critic, was invited to give a talk titled, “The Art of the Japanese Archipelago and Its Foundation”.
When thinking about art in terms of the “Japanese archipelago”, unlike Western Europe from where “art”, as we know it, had generated, Japan has been, from the olden days, victim of many natural disasters including earthquakes, and therefore has always lived with unstable grounds. It was very interesting to hear that pictures depicting past major earthquakes are important in the study of Japanese art. It led us to the thinking that not only is it necessary to consider the Great East Japan Earthquake, but also to study how the Japanese people had coped with past earthquakes. (Akagi)
[Preview] Creative Reconstruction: Vision Formulation 1, 5th Session
For the Creative Reconstruction: Vision Formulation 1, 5th Session, Noi Sawaragi, the art critic, will be invited to give a talk titled, “The Art of the Japanese Archipelago and Its Foundation”. Please come, as anyone is welcome to attend.
Venue: Tsukuba University, Bldg.6A Rm.208
Date & Time: May 23, Friday, 12:15〜13:30
Creative Reconstruction: Vision Formulation 1, 4th Session
For the Creative Reconstruction: Vision Formulation 1, 4th Session, the artist, Noboru Tsubaki was invited to give a talk titled, “The Decorum of Mutation Art”.
His talk began with the subject of philosophy and extended to his own works from multiple angles. Among them, most noteworthy was the story about his art project in Shodo-shima (Island), in which he mentioned that the key to a successful project is how many people you can get to participate in the project. This is something very important and relates to the future of our CR activities, as well. (Akagi)
Kotonoha Team, Minami-Soma Tour
Because of the code sharing with the College of Comparative Culture that started this year, the “Kotonoha Team” has been created. Applying the properties of its specialty, activities focused on “words” are being planned. As a start, we decided to visit the site and went on a tour of Minami-Soma City in Fukushima on May 10 and 11. (14 students, 4 instructors) The first day, we visited the Koike Naganuma Nishi Emergency Temporary Housing, where residents of the Odaka district, who suffered damages from both the tsunami and radiation, live.
Minoru Matsumoto, Chief of the Odaka District Regional Development Division spoke to us about the damages and the reconstruction plans, and Shinichiro Raku, President of the Community Association, about the life at the temporary housing and its problems with reference to actual examples. Since the damages in the Odaka district are not the same across the board, we listened to stories by the evacuees from the eastern region, western region and central region. In the evening, we visited the home of Mikako Takahashi, President of Hokuyosha Cleaning, Japan, and a supporter of “Tsunagaro Minami-Soma”. She showed us some valuable video footage and told us about how she was among the first to reopen her cleaning business after the disastrous earthquake. The second day, we toured the Odaka district with Matsumoto-san, guided by Fumitoshi Kanazawa, Chief Curator of the Fukushima Museum. This is an area preparing for the lifting of the evacuation directive, and although a return in 2 years has been decided, the conditions are still as can be seen in the photograph. It was heart wrenching for us, too, to see the sad looks on Raku-san, Tamagawa-san and Inamura-san, who had come with us from the temporary housing. We also visited Rikuzenhama-kaido, Soma Odaka Shrine, Kashima Fukko Shopping Center and Michinoku Kashima Baseball Stadium. It was a two-day visit in which we felt we had learned things that we could never have known just by reading about them. (Takahashi)
India x Art x School!
Wall Art Festival 2014 Briefing Session
On May 13 (Tue) from 18:30 – 20:30, the briefing session for the Wall Art Festival 2014 was held.
The Wall Art Festival is a festival that began with the desire to do something for the education of children in India and to convey to the villagers what art can do and how much fun school can be. In the farming villages of India, school education is still limited, for there is little regard for educating children and many children are unable to attend school because their parents are away working in different provinces. With the aim of spreading education, artists from both Japan and India use as canvasses the classroom walls of schools in such small villages to paint modern art and traditional Indian wall paintings. The art festival has been held every year since 2010 at schools in India.
Using slides and videos, the briefing session at Tsukuba University reported on the 5th Festival held in 2014. Ichiro Endo, the futuristic artist and Akira Kamo, the painter, were invited as guest artists, as were Okazu-san (Kazunori Hamao), the India-coordinator of the project, and Akiko Ohkuni, the representative. The 4 of them were invited as guests. They spoke about why they are working on the educational support in India and about the effect art has on the support effort. The session was very enlightening and helpful for future guidance.
Before the briefing session, for about 1 hour from 16:30, there was a “Future Dragon Big Sky Kite” performance by Ichiro Endo. At the multi-purpose grounds of the Institute of Health and Physical Education, a chain of kites with dreams of Indian children drawn on was flown up in the Tsukuba sky!
Ichiro Endo’s “Mirai e Go (Go for Future)” was also on exhibit in the inner garden of the School of Art & Design building, setting the mood for the briefing session.
The next project will be the EARTH ART PROJECT on Aug. 10 and 11, 2015 at a school in Ladakh region where children of nomads go to school (5000m above sea level). The planning is already ongoing and participating artists have been decided. They are looking for 12 art volunteers who will be helping the artists with their works and holding workshops with the children while working on organizing the exhibition. Those who are interested please check out the website below. (Ono)
EARTH ART PROJECT Website
http://earth-art.info/volunteer-2014/
Related URL
Wall Art Festival http://wafes.net/
Wall Art Festival Blog http://blog.livedoor.jp/wall_art/
Blue Bear Inc. http://www.blue-bear.co.jp/
Facebook page: Wall Art Festival https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wall-Art-Festival/369068276466528?fref=ts
Motion Gallery https://motion-gallery.net/projects/wallartfestival2014/walls/4420?fb_action_ids=722940924412593&fb_action_types=og.comments&fb_source=aggregation&fb_a
Okuma-machi Team, Aizu Research
On May 10 and 11, we visited the North Emergency Temporary Housing of Johoku Elementary School in Aizu-Wakamatsu-city, where people from Okuma-cho have evacuated and are currently living. This activity is now entering its 3rd year. Together with the residents of the temporary housing, we made shiratama-dango and discussed plans for this year’s Summer Festival. It turned out to be a productive research carried out in a lively atmosphere.
The next day, we visited the Fukushima Museum and spoke to Ms. Shoji and Mr. Kamata, who had evacuated from Okuma-cho and are working in Aizu and Sukagawa. Curators of the museum, Mr. Kawanobe and Ms. Kobayashi, who are also supporters of CR, spoke about the many activities in Fukushima as well. It was a very informative and significant two days, as we were able to hear directly from many people.
(Akagi)
