Breathing Particles
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Breathing Particles
TOKAS Creator-in-Residence 2024 Exhibition
Since 2006, TOKAS has been implementing the Creator-in-Residence program, which offers opportunities for creators active in various disciplines including visual art, design, and curation to stay and create works in Tokyo or at various overseas destinations. This exhibition presented the work of creators participating in the TOKAS Residency Program in 2023, done either overseas
at associated residency providers or at TOKAS Residency.
In a rapidly changing world, we encounter myriad challenges in our daily lives, ranging from global issues like natural disasters and environmental degradation to social issues rooted in asymmetric power structures due to economic inequality, racial and cultural disparities, and ideological differences, with complex circumstances impacting individuals’ daily experiences and mentalities. To navigate this uncertain terrain, it is crucial that we reassess underlying causes, apply our proactive energy and intelligence to positive change, and share imagination and creativity to develop innovative approaches that transcend conventional frameworks and values.
The 11 artists featured in this exhibition have observed and studied the ecosystems surrounding them, drawing on keen sensibilities and diverse perspectives gained during residencies in cities worldwide. They have immersed themselves in the activities of various life forms and rhythms of creative practices concealed within their environments. These artists’ works capture the subtle exchange of vital energy in hidden realms, and use their observations of organic dynamics evolving from such interactions as clues to explore novel forms of symbiosis, envisioning potential futures for our multifaceted world.
During the first term of this exhibition, we present the works of four artist who took part in the TOKAS residency program, produced while engaging in discussions and dialogues on the project theme of “Ecology around the City.” These works will be shown alongside those of two invited artists from overseas. In the second term, five artists dispatched from Japan to affiliated institutions abroad will present the results of their residencies and creative activities.
Information
| Title | TOKAS Creator-in-Residence 2024 Exhibition “Breathing Particles” |
|---|---|
| Date | [Part 1] 2024/6/29 (Sat) - 2024/8/4 (Sun)
[Part 2] 2024/8/17 (Sat) - 2024/9/22 (Sun) |
| Time | 11:00-19:00 (Last entry: 18:30) |
| Closed | Mondays (except 7/15, 9/16), 7/16, 9/17 |
| Venue | Tokyo Arts and Space Hongo |
| Artists | [Part 1] Edd CARR, KIM Woojin, Edwin LO, MAEDA Kohei, MATSUMOTO Mieko, Nestor SIRÉ [Part 2] NAKAMOTO Hirofumi, NISHI Takatoku, ONO Yumiko, TANIZAKI Momoko, TSUJI Rieko |
| Admission | Free |
| Organizer | Tokyo Arts and Space, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture |
| Partner Institutions | Atelier Mondial (Basel, Switzerland), Centre Clark, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (Quebec [Montreal], Canada), Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop (Edinburgh, Scotland), HIAP[Helsinki International Artist Programme] / Finnish Cultural Foundation (Helsinki, Finland), Treasure Hill Artist Village / Artist-in-Residence Taipei (Taipei, Taiwan) |
[Part 1] 2024.6.29（Sat）－ 8.4（Sun）
Theme Project “Ecology around the City”
For this theme project, four artists participating in the TOKAS Residency pursued artistic activities individually, with the common theme of “Ecology around the city,” while also engaging in dialogues and discussions.
While living in Tokyo, a metropolis where diverse identities intersect, they examined the relation among nature, society, and people as well as the balance and challenges between economy and ecology from multifarious perspectives through the framework of the city’s ecology.
FOX TOOTH 2023
Edd CARR
International Creator Residency Program
Residency Period: 2023.5–7
Residence: TOKAS Residency
Adapting sustainable photographic processes into moving image - his work depicts our relationship to ecological crisis and the wider nonhuman world. During his residency, he researched animism in contemporary Japan, with a focus on Kitsune (fox) mythology. In this exhibition, he will create a collection of video, print, and sculptural works that create a fictional narrative of 21st Century Kitsune worship, realised with foraged materials such as Yomogoi found on the streets of Tokyo.
In Searching for the Individuations of Technological Thinking 2024
Edwin LO
International Creator Residency Program
Residency Period: 2023.5–7
Residence: TOKAS Residency
Lo examines the significance of region-specific technologies in our thinking about ecology and explores the legacy and individualization of technological thinking in Japan’s military and medical fields, which developed through interactions among the diverse cultures of Japan, China, and the West during the mid- to late Edo period (1603-1868). In this exhibition, he endeavors to reconstruct the history of technology and the historical role of technological ideology through a meditative, experimental video essay.
Performance 1 (Mouth of the Edo River) 2023 Photo: Toma Yamasaki
MAEDA Kohei
Local Creator Residency Program
Residency Period: 2023.5–7
Residence: TOKAS Residency
Maeda, whose practice revolves around the theme of “relationships and distances between nature and people,” conducted research with a human-made canal near the TOKAS residency site as a starting point. He paddled a boat from the canal to a river, traveling approximately 50 km upstream from the mouth of the Edogawa River in Chiba, through the Arakawa, Sumida, and Kanda Rivers to Inokashira Park. In this exhibition, he recreates his Tokyo upstream journey using the entire exhibition space, with a video narrating the environmental and historical background of urban rivers as a centerpiece, retracing his process and reflecting on its implications.
Seeing One’s Own Grave2022
MATSUMOTO Mieko
Local Creator Residency Program
Residency Period: 2023.5–7
Residence: TOKAS Residency
Viewing aspects of the natural environments such as geology and topography as part of society’s foundations, Matsumoto is concerned with the political and social aspects of landscape, and explores urban environments through the lens of water resources, flood control, and historic disasters and conflicts. Through the photographic and video installations shown here, she highlights the social impact of terrain and rivers in modern and contemporary times, as well as the history of the people at the mercy of the terrain, as part of a single ecosystem.
Support: NOMURA FOUNDATION
Korean Dictation Test_You Will Have to Answer the Questions You Hear 2019
KIM Woojin
International Creator Residency Program
Residency Period: 2024.1–3
Residence: TOKAS Residency
Focusing on language as a mechanism that constructs social frameworks, Kim documents individual memories related to disappearing languages. With a particular interest in Asia, where a particularly large number of languages have been lost after two world wars, she investigated minority languages and changes in Japanese language policies. In this exhibition, she presents a video piece with a theatrical structure, based on interviews about Japan’s endangered languages including Ainu and Uchina-guchi (Okinawan).
PC Gamer [GOMA]_TOKIO 2024
Nestor SIRÉ
International Creator Residency Program
Residency Period: 2024.1–3
Residence: TOKAS Residency
As part of his engagement in the ongoing research project CubaCreativa, which delves into innovative regional practices and diverse social manifestations of creativity, Siré explored two concepts related to social creativity and innovative practices in Japan, chindogu (“gadgets”) and urawaza (“tricks”). Here he presents works including a 3D prototype of a computer employing NFTs, co-produced with Tokyo Hacker Space, and a modular version of a tire-shaped computer inspired by the Latin American gaming community.
[Part 2] 2024.8.17（Sat）－ 9.22（Sun）
Singing Snail 2023
NAKAMOTO Hirofumi
Tokyo-Taipei Exchange Residency Program
Residency Period: 2023.10–12
Residence: Treasure Hill Artist Village
Building on regional research, Nakamoto produces film and video works, building a network based around the camera in which the cameraperson and the world mutually influence each other. He studied the ecology of plants and animals, folklore, history, and contemporary art developments such as video art in Taiwan. Here he presents a video piece connecting memories of his childhood in Myanmar with the history of snails in Taiwan, focusing on snails inhabiting Treasure Hill Artist Village where he was a resident.
Koive 2023
NISHI Takatoku
Tokyo-Helsinki Exchange Residency Program
Residency Period: 2023.8–11
Residence: HIAP (Helsinki International Artist Programme)
Captivated by constantly evolving natural landscapes, Nishi reconstructs optical phenomena concealed within them through materials and structures, creating new luminous spaces. He explored the distinctive architecture of Finland, skillfully designed to incorporate natural light, and its relationship with the surrounding natural environment. His installation in this exhibition focuses on white birch as an element of everyday Finnish scenery, and explores various facets of the tree’s foliage.
Nebula 2024
ONO Yumiko
Tokyo-Edinburgh Exchange Residency Program
Residency Period: 2023.4–6
Residence: Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop
Ono, who creates imaginary architectural structures using non-architectural materials such as ceramics and paper, has in recent years been exploring the potential of artworks with variable dimensions. During her residency in Edinburgh, she researched Brutalist architecture, and experimented with altering layouts and structural forms using uniform materials. In this exhibition, she will showcase newly produced structures inspired by American Brutalist architecture and seek to integrate them into the structural entity of the exhibition room.
Ice storm 2023 Photo: Paul Litherland
TANIZAKI Momoko
Tokyo-Quebec Exchange Residency Program
Residency Period: 2023.4–6
Residence: Centre Clark
Tanizaki has recently been concerned with the pathology of insomnia and other mental health issues and with diversity, and she visited communities facing mental health challenges in Canada, which differs from Japan in terms of medical care and mental health literacy. Here she will unveil an installation centered around paintings inspired by inconvenient situations encountered during her time in Canada and the emotions she experienced at the time, while casting ostensibly negative events and inefficient uses of time in a positive light.
Chat about connection (godparents, room-sharing, naming) 2023
TSUJI Rieko
Tokyo-Basel Exchange Residency Program
Residency Period: 2023.4–6
Residence: Atelier Mondial
Employing interdisciplinary modes of expression to explore interpersonal communication and the boundary between public and private spheres, Tsuji investigated the custom of godparents in Switzerland’s Christian cultural sphere, and how communities are formed through practices such as room-sharing and baby naming. In this exhibition, she explores family ties not based on blood relations and the unique bonds among friends through an installation that serves as a space for contemplation and dialogue.
Related Event
Part 1: Artist Talk 1
| Date | 2024/6/30 (Sun) 15:00-16:30 |
|---|---|
| Artists | Edd CARR, Edwin LO, MAEDA Kohei, MATSUMOTO Mieko |
| Venue | Tokyo Arts and Space Hongo |
| Admission | Free |
| Language | Japanese/English |
Part 1: Artist Talk 2
| Date | 2024/7/6 (Sat) 15:00-16:00 |
|---|---|
| Artists | KIM Woojin, Nestor SIRÉ |
| Venue | Tokyo Arts and Space Hongo |
| Admission | Free |
| Language | Japanese/English |
Part 2: Artist Talk 1
| Date | 2024/8/18 (Sun) 15:00-16:30 |
|---|---|
| Artists | ONO Yumiko, TANIZAKI Momoko, TSUJI Rieko |
| Venue | Tokyo Arts and Space Hongo |
| Admission | Free |
| Language | Japanese |
*Schedule and participants are subject to change.
Part 2: Artist Talk 2
| Date | 2024/9/7 (Sat) 15:00-16:00 |
|---|---|
| Artists | NAKAMOTO Hirofumi, NISHI Takatoku |
| Venue | Tokyo Arts and Space Hongo |
| Admission | Free |
| Language | Japanese |
Participating Creator
ONO Yumiko
MATSUMOTO Mieko
NISHI Takatoku
NAKAMOTO Hirofumi
Edd CARR
KIM Woojin
Edwin LO
MAEDA Kohei
Nestor SIRÉ
TANIZAKI Momoko
TSUJI Rieko
