【TOKAS Hongo】Announcement of successful candidates for OPEN SITE 6

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  • 【TOKAS Hongo】Announcement of successful candidates for OPEN SITE 6

OPEN SITE is a Tokyo Arts and Space (TOKAS) open call program which began in 2016 and aims to build a platform that brings together projects focused on artistic expression across all genres. This year marked the 6th annual call for proposals, and a total of 153 applications were received. Following a strict selection process, successful candidates included four projects in the Exhibition category, three projects in the Performance category, and two projects in the dot category. These projects will be implemented including the TOKAS Recommendation Program and the Art Mediation Program from October 2021 to January 2022.

Execution Projects

Exhibition

Part 1|2021/10/16 (Sat) - 11/21 (Sun)

Name YANG Ikumi
Title   When I quit eating tomato

Name KIM Insook
Title   A letter from Seongbukdong (tentative)

Part 2|2021/12/4 (Sat) - 2022/1/16 (Sun)

Name Elena KNOX
Title   Actroid Series II

Name HALA Saori
Title   Odd Apples
Collaborator yuma kishi (AI Artist)

Performance

Part 1|2021/11/16 (Tue) - 11/21 (Sun)
Name Spacenotblank (ONO Ayaka, NAKAZAWA Akira)
Title   Closed Circle
Director ONO Ayaka, NAKAZAWA Akira
Performer  KOGA Yuki etc.

Part 2|2021/12/7 (Tue) - 12/12 (Sun)
Name KYICC 2021 Committee (HIGUCHI Teppei)
Title   KEIKO YONEDA International Composers' Competition 2021 
Performer HIGUCHI Teppei, INOUE Satoko, SAKAMOTO Kota, MIZOBUCHI Kanae, Lucie VÍTKOVÁ 

Part 2|2021/12/14 (Tue) - 12/19 (Sun)
Name SHIKICHI Osamu + HAYAKAWA Hanako
Title   dragging (tentative)
Performer SHIKICHI Osamu, HAYAKAWA Hanako etc.

dot

Part 1|2021/10/26 (Tue) - 11/4 (Thu)
Name OLYMPICNIC (TERADA Eri)
Title   OLYMPICNIC MUSEUM
Artist TERADA Eri, MORIYAMA Haruka

Part 1|2021/11/9 (Tue) - 11/14 (Sun)
Name SUMIYOSHIYAMA Minori
Title   Hitsudankai – From now/here, Silence

TOKAS Recommendation Program

Part 2|2021/12/24(Fri)- 2022/1/16(Sun)
Name BANDOH Yuta
Title   BANDOH Yuta x FUZUKI Yumi Exhibition (tentative)
Collaborator FUZUKI Yumi (Poet)

Application Overview

*OPEN SITE 6 accepts applications from residents in Japan only, in consideration of difficulty in traveling from overseas in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Application periodFebruary 25 (Thu) – March 24 (Wed), 2021
Total number of applications
153
Jury members
KOBAYASHI Haruo (Director, blanClass)
SAKURAI Keisuke (Musician / Dance critic)
HATANAKA Minoru (Chief Curator, NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC])
KONDO Yuki (Program Director, Tokyo Arts and Space)

Jury Member's Reviews

KOBAYASHI Haruo (Director, blanClass)  

Like last year, this year’s open call for OPEN SITE applications coincided with a state-of-emergency declaration. Naturally, the project proposals submitted overtly reflected mental and emotional states during the pandemic, but in addition, there were proposals that adopted stances toward other phenomena that are gradually creeping up on us, such as the fate of the Olympics, the daily flood of disturbing news from around the world, and the realities of diverse value systems, as well as those expressing a longing for resolution of issues left in limbo due to COVID-19’s severe curtailment of outlets for creative expression. Many project ideas were appealing, and once again selection proved difficult, but I believe the proposals that made the final cut were those that not only presented concepts we could sympathize with, but also were determined to adopt experimental approaches despite difficult circumstances, as well as open-ended projects involving intriguing multi-person units and collaborators. I trust that the situation will have improved by the time the projects are held at the end of this year, but in any case I look forward to seeing works that link the pre- and post-COVID eras.


SAKURAI Keisuke (Musician / Dance critic)

My first impression of the projects submitted, including those I viewed in the first stage of the selection process, was “Gee, everyone’s so serious.” Is it the zeitgeist? Of course, being a non-serious person, I tend to prefer things with non-serious tendencies, but then again this could all be COVID’s fault (another example of the “self-restraint” we are all being told to practice). However, all of the projects selected in the end were ones that, to me, prompted questions like “What on earth is this?” “I’m not sure I get it…” and “This is really going too far!”––all of which I mean in a positive sense. Of course, I didn’t select them all by myself, but as a member of a jury that (probably) agreed unanimously, and I was quietly relieved that we all seemed to be on the same page.



HATANAKA Minoru (Chief Curator, NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC])

The COVID-19 pandemic that began last year still shows no sign of abating, and we are living in an age of anxiety and uncertainty, when cultural events such as exhibitions and performances can be suspended or canceled without warning. Naturally this uncertainty affects the activities of TOKAS, which is dedicated to supporting cultural activities, and OPEN SITE, a public open-call program. For this reason, to take things to their logical extreme, it would have been good to receive more project proposals that could be implemented without a venue (some of them did come close), but no such conditions were stated in the application guidelines, so this cannot be helped. On the contrary, one of the criteria on which we judge proposals is that they utilize the venue and are premised on the presence of viewers. However, some project proposals took the present situation into account and incorporated notably contemporary themes and media, and I believe a distinctive feature of the selected projects was that they do not merely latch onto the trends of the times, but convey a sense that current circumstances are actually causing an expansion of artistic vocabulary.


KONDO Yuki (Program Director, Tokyo Arts and Space) 

During the selection process this time, I noticed that many project proposals had implications relating to the state of society during the pandemic, the lack of freedom under imposed restrictions, insights gained from the situation, and practical difficulties faced (of course, there were many unrelated projects as well). At the same time, I gained a renewed appreciation of the fact that global events affecting individual behavior have a significant influence on how works are viewed and interpreted. I was reminded that both creators and viewers are grappling with an ever-changing world as they engage with the contemporary artistic field. Naturally, the selection process did not give special consideration to projects that address the current situation, but rather decisions were based on evaluation of the processes and ambitions for realization of experiments and ideas, and the persuasiveness, of each proposal. This is no different from any other year, but this year we are all sharing the same circumstances to an unprecedented extent, and I look forward to seeing how the selected projects will be realized and how they will appear under these circumstances.

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