The Museum of Art, Kochi

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The Museum of Art, Kochi Seminar Series 2019
Atelier of/for Community #02, by Natsuki Ishigami Beginning
"Making"
from Place A practical art project workshop and talk for beginning "making" from place

Sat. 14 Dec. 2019 - Sun. 15 Dec. 2019

The playwright Natsuki Ishigami has produced many art projects based on the concept of "place and narrative."
"What" to make here?
Why make it "here"?
This two-day workshop will be devoted to thought about the premise of "making" proceeding from a particular place, together with people who live in Shikoku and Kochi.

Language: Japanese only

Schedule: 2019

A practical art project for Beginning "Making" from Place
①Day 1: Saturday, 14 December 13:00-17:00
②Day 2: Sunday, 15 December - 13:00-17:00

Atelier Talk - Before beginning the art project in the community
Sunady, 15 December - 10:00-11:30

Venue: Kochi Castle Museum of History

Admission:
Free of Charge (Workshop requires advanced reservation)

Organized, planned, and produced by The Museum of Art, Kochi
Artist by Natsuki Ishigami (Playwright, Pepin Structural Designs, NPO Place and Narraties, The Cave)
Curated by orangcosong (Chikara Fujiwara, Minori Sumiyoshiyama)
Supported by Saison Foundation (Senior Fellowship for Chikara Fujiwara's activities)
Nominal Supported by The Kochi Shinbun, RKC Kochi Broadcasting Co., Ltd., TV Kochi Broadcasting Co., Ltd., FM Kochi, Kochi SUN SUN TV, Kochi Cable Broadcast, Kochi City FM
Publicity Photo by Ryuichiro Suzuki (for Art project by Natsuki Ishigami "Ao ni au" [Meeting Ao] in Maizuru city, Kyoto prefecture)

Description

〇Workshop:
A practical art project for Beginning "Making" from Place by Natsuki Ishigami
①Day 1: Saturday, 14 December 13:00-17:00
②Day 2: Sunday, 15 December - 13:00-17:00

In an art project, diverse people participate in the production of a work of art, and the very process of that production is opened up as a part of the artistic creation. The participants may even get out of the museum or theater and do art that is bound up with the social context and activities of people in the host community. In this workshop, Ishigami, who has conducted art projects in various places while involving the people who live there by various theatrical techniques, will consider art project possibilities in Kochi with the other participants, and perform a little test.

Venue | Kochi Castle Museum of History, Washitsu (14 Dec), Workshop Room (15 Dec)
Admission | Free of Charge [ 20 participants by reservation]
* Highly recommended for full 2-days participations (1 day participation is accepted also)
*Please be reminded for comfortable wares for outside activities during the workshop

〇Atelier Talk:
Before beginning the art project in the community by Natsuki Ishigami
Sunady, 15 December - 10:00-11:30

Language: Japanese only

Ishigami will introduce cases of art project activities undertaken with locals thus far, in cities where she has stayed, both inside and outside Japan. What kind of art is possible in our community? What sorts of things can occur through art projects? Ishigami will discuss such questions with all of the participants.

Venue | Kochi Castle Museum of History, Workshop Room (15 Dec)
Admission | Free of Charge [ 50 attendees, no requirement for advanced reservation]

Massage

■from Artist --- Natsuki Ishigami
Thus far, I have visited various places and resided in many for a while. While there, I put together theatrical works and art projects. When I am going to someplace different, I like to go without making any preparations, as far as possible. I arrive completely defenseless, with nothing in hand, no plan, and no objective, and like to meet people and encounter scenery in that condition. Without searching for anything, and even putting "making" on hold, if possible. This is frightening, but by so doing, I keep myself in the situation of "being without making." I feel that, it is only after accumulating many "not make" possibilities that "what I want to make here" first comes into view.
This time, I will be visiting Kochi in November for the purpose of research. It will actually be the second time for me to visit Kochi, the first being the school trip I made in junior high school, but you could say it is in effect the first. I will deliver what I feel there in the form of a workshop held in December. For this reason, the substance has not yet been decided, but I think I may use the workshop as an opportunity to test "being without making" in the city (forgive me if it turns out to be something different). "Making from place" has a common thread with "making a place," and is also linked to "making a place for being" for oneself and someone else. I hope to turn the workshop into a venue where the participants discover a "place" they had not been able to see before within the familiar landscape and redo their ties to places they thought they knew.

■from Curator --- orangcosong
The days when Tokyo was Japan's center of economic activity and art are gone, and we now seem to be at a crossroads. But at the same time, what is to come next is not entirely clear… I believe we are in this kind of phase of transition. In response, under this Local Studio program, I am inviting artists who probe the question of what art can do while getting involved with a certain area and the lives of people residing there to engage in dialogue and apply what is learned in their future practice. For this installment, I have invited the playwright Natsuki Ishigami, who has done various art projects in collaboration with the local community while residing in places including Yokohama, Tokyo, Takamatsu, Kinosaki, Maizuru, Manila, and Taipei. She will not only describe specific cases of her activity but also hold a workshop for making an approach to the Kochi community together with the participants. The workshop is bound to generate some wonderful knowledge and ideas. I urge all to take part.

Profiles

〇Natsuki Ishigami : Artist
Natsuki Ishigami is a playwright whose activities have centered on the theatrical troupe Pepin Structural Designs since 1999. She holds a degree in Media and Governance from Keio University Graduate School. In 2002, she was awarded First Prize in the Second Kanagawa Drama Awards for her play "Tokyo Rice." While based in Yokohama, in recent years she has resided in other cities inside and outside Japan, and created site-specific theater and art projects taking cities and communities as their theme. A foremost example is "Give Me Chocolate" (2015 - 2017), which was created and staged in the cities of Yokohama, Melbourne, and Manila. She has also been involved in various projects related to space and cities, such as "Sensuous City" (HOME's Soken, 2015; a project of investigative research), service as the president of the NPO Basho to Monogatari (BM, or NPO Place and Narratives), and the launch of The CAVE, a creative site utilizing idle property. She also served as project director in the performing arts division for The Culture City of East Asia 2019 Toshima, and guest curator of the Artist Lab for the 2019 Taipei Art Festival ADAM (Asia Discovers Asia Meeting). http://pepin.jp/

〇orangcosong : curator
This art collective was organized in 2019 by Chikara Fujiwara and Minori Sumiyoshiyama, who are active mainly in other Asian countries. The two are also husband and wife, and create works through interaction with others in each project. https://orangcosong.com/

Born in Kochi in 1977, Fujiwara is an artist and critic. His "Engeki Quest" is a tour project that attempts to connect a world divided by "invisible walls." Since 2014, it has been created in Yokohama, Kinosaki, Manila, Dusseldorf, Ansan, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Bangkok. Since 2017, Fujiwara has served as Senior Fellow of the Saison Foundation and East Asian Cultural Exchange Envoy under a program operated by the Agency for Cultural Affairs.

Born in Osaka in 1986, Sumiyoshiyama is an artist and dancer. She holds gatherings under the title "Hitsudankai - From now/here, Silence." These participatory performances are attempts at communication solely by writing, in a situation of complete silence. She has staged it in Kyoto, Osaka, Busan, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, Kochi, Yangon, and Jogjakarta.

About "Atelier of/for Community"

This program replaces our museum with a "local studio" (= art workplace, or Atelier of/for Community). Under it, artists engaged in unique creative expression are invited to Kochi to explore the possibilities of next-generation art there, together with local art principals - the artists and audiences.

PAST ACTIVITIES (2018)：　　
#00 - 21 Oct, Minori Sumiyoshiyam "Hitsudankai - From now/here, Silence" @ Doyo Bijutu Exhibition, The Museum of Art of Kochi
#01 - 23-25 Oct, Aging and Theatre - OiBokkeShi "Portable Toilet Theatre", Atelier Talks, and Workshop @ The Museum of Art, Kochi - Museum Hall