【TOKAS Hongo】Announcement of successful candidates for OPEN SITE 8
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 8th annual call for proposals, and a total of 215 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 from November 2023 to February 2024.
Execution Projects
Exhibition
Open hours 11:00-19:00 / Admission free
Part 1｜2023/11/25 (Sat) - 12/24 (Sun)
Name SATO Ryotaro
Title Inorganic Friends
Name Arts Collective (Representative: André CHAN)
Title Time Flies Over Us But Leaves Its Shadow Behind
Part 2｜2024/1/13 (Sat) - 2024/2/11 (Sun)
Name NOMURA Zai
Title Can't Remember I Forgot You
Name suzueri
Title About migration
Performance
Booking required / Admission paid
The schedule will be announced on the TOKAS website and flyers.
Part 1｜2023/12/5 (Tue) - 12/10 (Sun)
Name RESSENCHKA (Representative: KAWAI Hogara)
Title SO LONG GOODBYE
Part 2｜2024/1/16 (Tue) - 1/21 (Sun)
Name YANAI Shino
Title I Hear Your Breath
Part 2｜2024/1/30 (Tue) - 2/4 (Sun)
Name HANAGATA Shin
Title A Garden of Prosthesis
dot
Admission free
The schedule will be announced on the TOKAS website and flyers.
Part 1｜2023/11/28 (Tue) - 12/3 (Sun)
Name Hilos que Luchan (Representative: IWAMA Kasumi)
Title Hilos que Luchan, Manos que Sanan
Part 2｜2024/2/6 (Tue) - 2/11 (Sun)
Name 6steps (Representative: KIMURA Reina)
Title 6steps (Choreography / Dance) Extraction and Exhibit -TOKAS Hongo Version-
TOKAS Recommendation Program
Admission free
The schedule will be announced on the TOKAS website and flyers.
Part 1｜2023/12/14（Thu）- 12/24（Sun）
Name TSANG Tsui-Shan
Title Chroma 11
Application Overview
| Application period | February 28 (Tue) – March 30 (Thu), 2023 |
|---|---|
| Total number of applications | 215 |
| Jury members | KISHIMOTO Kako（Artistic Director, BUoY) KOBAYASHI Haruo (Director, blanClass) HATANAKA Minoru (Chief Curator, NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC]) KONDO Yuki (Program Director, Tokyo Arts and Space) |
Jury Member's Reviews
KISHIMOTO Kako (Artistic Director, BUoY)
I went into the selection process with a sense of dizziness, as the project proposals that piled up in front of me were far too many and too large to fit into the relatively small platform that OPEN SITE offers. The paperwork was dizzying, but once we started with the interviews, I began to grasp the “shooting range” of each project in terms of expansiveness in a social context, and that pretty much cleared my view. Then I realized that there certainly aren’t that many opportunities to see so many works gathered in one place, that are informed by a readiness to survive the post-pandemic world with respect for both the self and the other, and while diving deep into personal interests, seek physical contact with others while leaving their own identity behind, to the extent that their own existence is put at stake. At the screening stage, the actual works are yet to be created, but I am already seriously excited at the prospect of witnessing the encounters of visitors with the various “works” that will emerge as results of their respective creators’ struggles and revolts.
KOBAYASHI Haruo (Director, blanClass)
Being a judge for OPEN SITE for the fourth time this year, to me it seemed that the large number of applications from all kinds of places, including overseas, marked a significant departure from the trend of recent years. That also meant that we had to revert to Zoom meetings and interviews, as a result of which quite a few entries made it to the secondary screening that all seemed good enough to be chosen to participate. In short, the selection was once anything but an easy task. My general impression was that of works reflecting things that artists or curators had acquired as individuals, for example based on methods and ideas they developed by themselves during the pandemic, from their own positions within their own respective areas; and kinds of art that reconnect things, words and memories, on an equal footing with the human being. When looking at the results, I seem to recognize a selection of projects with a rather stable kind of quality. Personally, I would like to see a lineup of works that are slightly more differentiated and less easy to predict, so in a way, I’m hoping that some of these projects will turn out different than expected, and produce works that – in a positive sense – take us by surprise.
HATANAKA Minoru (Chief Curator, NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC])
One aspect that set this time’s screening apart from previous OPEN SITE programs (or better, that signaled a return to the conditions of pre-pandemic days) has to be the fact that there were significantly more submissions from overseas. Even though that isn’t really reflected in the selections we eventually made, I expect increasing numbers of them to apply and be selected in each category in the future. One of the unique features of TOKAS is its position as an international cultural facility in Tokyo that offers artist residencies, and I think this is an aspect that should be advertised more, as these programs are at once opportunities for showcasing what kinds of artworks and exhibitions are being realized in the aftermath of the global pandemic. As a matter of course, it doesn’t necessarily have to be art that reflects the effects of the pandemic or other social aspects, and that’s not even a factor that divides works into good ones and not so good ones. However, participants should produce their art with a certain awareness of why exactly their works come out the way they do, and it appears to me that this is one factor that is reflected in the projects we selected. After all, I believe that it is the business of art to express certain ideas in ways that are different from all others.
KONDO Yuki (Program Director, Tokyo Arts and Space)
OPEN SITE is a program that supports experimental projects under the banner of an “open call for participation,” and there were in fact quite a few entries that were full of uncertainties at the point of submission. I guess there are several different reasons for this, such as creators being unable to decide on details while the plan isn’t completely worked out, proposing works that aren’t yet made, or having difficulties finishing their works because they want to do something truly experimental and challenging. But while some of those “uncertainties” can be understood as undigested concepts/ideas, others may be seen as sources of ample possibilities. Whenever one can sense in a creator’s work new attempts that potentially introduce leaps and bounds to the path of his or her artistic practice, and detect a certain articulateness and inner necessity toward the development and outlook of his or her works, that raises expectations significantly. In all of the selected projects, I seemed to feel rather high expectations toward the respective final results that, at that stage, were not yet visible.
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