I was walking around Lower East Side over the weekend and look what I found… A knitted bicycle! or a bicycle covered with bike sweater. It definitely caught my eye. How crazy! You never know what you’d find in the city… and I love it :)
(and it was 96 degrees out.)
Last post from Megijima (Setouchi International Art Festival — it’s going on until October 31st!) :: Sea Gull’s Parking Lot by Takahito Kimura.
Kimura has placed a host of weathercocks near the fishing port. When the wind blows, they turn en masse, giving the invisible wind a visible form. The work brings the visitors’ attention to the natural phenomena that abound on the island.
These sea gull weathercocks were placed everywhere around the port. When I first saw it, I thought they were real… :) I love that concept of “giving the invisible wind a visible form” — so cool.
A couple other art work I saw…
Flower / Happy Snake by Jose de Guimaraes. These welcome signs are also placed at the Takamatsu port and the various islands hosting the festival, each is differently created by the artist.
and Megi House project by Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music: Led by landscape designer Kimio Tsuchiya, the project team has transformed the courtyard of an empty house into a stage that integrates internal and external space. Concerts and performances are planned during the festival. The main building will be used as the Fine Arts Department atelier and gallery.
Couldn’t take pictures inside of the house, but even the outside of the house was cool. Love the “Megi House” sign, too. (above)
Time to move on to next island! :)
After the Fukutake House, I walked over to…
(LOVE walking around the island!)
see “Equipoise” by Harumi Yukutake. Stepping into really old farm storehouse…
Using over 10,000 rectangular strips of glass, painstakingly shaped by hand, Yukutake creates a spiral inside an old farm storehouse. Stepping inside, the viewers find themselves reflected in the glass along with their surroundings, producing a labyrinth-like sensory experience.
Yes, you read it right, over 10,000 “handmade” strips of mirror glass! This is the work you have to be in it to see and feel… (couldn’t capture well…)
(do you see my eye?)
You can go upstairs and look down the spiral…
I also enjoyed the surroundings — these benches were great!
and loved this texture of the house next to the farm storehouse…
Happy Friday!
Posted under art
Continuing my posts from Megijima this week…
#37 :: Fukutake House 2010
Fukutake House is a project started by seven of Japan’s leading art galleries and the University of Tokyo’s University Museum at the “Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial 2006,” in response to a call from Soichiro Fukutake to create an art market in Echigo-Tsumari. At the following Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial in 2009, art galleries from China and Korea joined the call, and the total number of attendees more than doubled that of 2006. For the third opening of the Fukutake House, we are moving it to Megijima Island to give it a new try in a new location. This time, we plan not only to be joined by galleries from Asia, but also by galleries and art museums from throughout the whole world. We plan to open the Fukutake House at the former Megijima Elementary School and Preschool, which are currently not being used.
I loved this one personally, not only I could see lots of different art from art galleries all over the world (inside is strictly NO photography so no photos to share), but also…
all these typographic installation!! As soon as I saw it, I was in love :) Inside the school (yes, they took over Megijima Elementary School & Preschool, which was another awesome part of this project.), throughout the exhibition, these wooden letters are used for art work titles and indication of the different rooms etc… I loved it!
Posted under Japanese, art, typography
There are more posts from the Setouchi International Art Festival… it’s gonna take me 2 more weeks or so to write about all I saw… I hope you stay with me, I try to mix in some other posts, too :)
This week, I’m taking you all to the one of the islands in Seto Inland Sea, Megijima (Megi Island / 女木島)!
From the Takamatsu port — right in front of the Liminal Air art I posted last week — you take this ferry…
((If you are familiar with the story of Momotaro, Megijima is where Momotaro went to fight the Onis… also known as Onigashima))
From Takamatsu, it is 200 yen and 20 minutes away.
Calm and gorgeous Seto Inland Sea…
Hello, Megijima!
As you get out of the boat, you can’t help but notice this awesome installation… entitled “20th Century Recall -What is “TODAY” of Asia-” by Hagetaka Funjo.
Consisting of four sails on a grand piano, this installation resembles a ship at anchor. At times, music flows from the work to create a melody that resonates with the sound of the waves.
I didn’t get to listen to the music, but right next to the title card, there was a list of the songs that you could enjoy with the sound of the waves…
It reminded me of pirates…
You can sit here and be a part of the installation…
Very surreal… it was awesome…
Another art project by Noboru Tsubaki called “Project for Sea -Light in Takamatsu” (うみあかりプロジェクト).
Under the direction of Noboru Tsubaki, various local groups are working together to create large illuminated sculptures that will be exhibited in different locations in central Takamatsu near the station and port. On the eve of the festival, the sculptures will be unveiled in a special event at the port.
((From the festival evening below — all the illuminated sculptures gathered around the station and the port. I wish I were here for this, but I got in a bit too late. Only this picture below is from the Setouchi International Art Festival website, photo by Osamu Nakamura))
After this evening, each illuminated sculpture has placed all over the Takamatsu city, lot of them are placed in a long arcade area, main shopping area in Takamatsu. As I was walking around, I found many of them, here are some photos of what I saw!
I loved seeing the details that they put into each sculpture.
Some were hung in the arcade ceiling.
Each sculpture was created by the local art schools or groups under the direction of Noboru Tsubaki, I can tell they had so much fun creating! I would have joined if I had the opportunity… I think it’s awesome to get everyone involved for the art festival.
Posted under art, letterpress
Next up is “PROM: Prosthetic Restoration of Our Memory” by Noboru Tsubaki. The mirrored building caught my eye immediately.
Tsubaki has cloaked the former Takamatsu Port Administration Office in mirror panels so that the structure merges with the surrounding scenery. The interior space houses a café and an exhibit designed to stir memories of the people who used to pass through this port. Various remnants of the building such as ferry timetables are presented in the form of a relief.
These title panels are placed for each work and also numbered — they have the Passport and you can collect stamps from each work you see. Kind of like a stamp rally. I wish I were there long enough so I could have joined the stamp rally… I’m sure kids would love that :)
Inside, there was a huge screen with changing objects… This used to be a Takamatsu Port Administration Office, I saw few things from the port office, it was all painted over in white…
I think I saw this art work the most while I was there — “Liminal Air -core-” by Shinji Ohmaki. It was placed right by the Takamatsu station port, where all the ferries to the islands comes and goes.
The mirror surfaces of these pillars capture the changes that occur in light and color through the day, allowing us to see the outer world from a totally different perspective. The appearance of the pillars alters depending on the angle from which they are viewed or the time of day. They present individuals as seen through the eyes of others and, at the same time, serve as a gate to the world of Takamatsu.
It did look different each day and I quite enjoyed this area.
One weekend, there was a Bossa Nova Festival by the gate…
and other weekend, there was a Jazz Festival here, too…
Seto Inland Sea in the background, listening to live music here was such a treat. Really mellow, calm and nice time… sigh. Wish I could do this all the time… :)
Here is another awesome timely event that I was really lucky to be able to see some of — Setouchi International Art Festival 2010. It’s going on until October 31st this year, on the seven islands of the Seto Inland Sea + Takamatsu! (where I grew up!)
I was really excited to see my hometown proudly hosting the art festival, the signs were everywhere in the city, people were so enthusiastic about the whole thing…
Love the view of Seto Inland Sea.
Blue and white, stripes were everywhere — very summery!
I will be posting lots of photos this week from the art festival!
I didn’t know where to start since I was all over the world for the last 3-4 weeks or so… but I’ll start with the timely things so you can still check it out!
I visited Levi’s Workshops while I was in San Francisco — a community print shop! During July and August, they will be teaching classes on classic letterpress machinery, screenprinting designs, setting type etc. How awesome is this?! I was so excited to see the whole place really active and everyone just creating and printing.
Vandercook press in action.
“Keep Calm and Press On” — I would love to have this!
A couple table-top presses.
Stamps! There were so many cool ones, I played around a bit, too ;)
You can also make photocopies and make art here. Love the wall full of work.
and of course, the screen printing area. It was pretty busy looking so I couldn’t take pictures of the machine, but it was pretty big.
Walls with printed work. Love this “I’m Just Sayin’” series, so fun :)
and more posters on the wall.
If you are in San Francisco and if you haven’t already, please go check it out, just feeling the creative vibe is worth the visit!
Posted under Inspiration, SF, art, letterpress
