Reading Night #2

The second night of reading 'Makura no Soushi' was held also at lovely early summer evening.

The wind and people came through the gallery space, whose entrance were screened with NOREN, fabricated with Elizabeth Text piece printed at KURIYA Graphic earlier this week.

We had many visitors: a translator and musician who shared thoughts on translation between languages, different cultures and various forms of art; the local theater people, residency artists, neighbor school kids, youkobo staff members, friends, family and so on. Thea also joined from Berlin through skype!

At the end of night, Elizabeth requested participants to read their own poetry by referring to the sub-theme which Seishonagon used. 'Things that is disillusioning."

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to those who joined the night and shared their stories from and observations on their everyday living.

              

 

 

          

Reading Night #1

On the 22nd of June, in the Friday evening from 6 to midnight, the first reading night 'The Pillow Book' with Elizabeth and visitors from the local was held in a intimate atmosphere.

Youkobo Staff members, the residency artist, the local elementary school child and her mother, and youkobo frequent visitors were gathered to share reading of Seishonagon's honest, witty and keen observations on little things in everyday life.

  

 

Printmakers who knows about colours

Printing texts on the fabric, at Silk Screen Workshop 'Kuriya Graphic' in Musashino City, next to Suginami ward where Youkobo is located.

Selecting colour from a book on Japanese Traditional Colour. Elizabeth chose to create an gradation of blue colour for her second text.

The director, Mr. Matsumura and his assistant, Ms. Tanaka. They are printers and artists. Elizabeth says, "Mr. Matsumura is genious." He is, indeed, and Ms. Tanaka gives him an excellent assist. They were willing to play with colours according to what is in the text, and in relation to the colour of fabric.

The piece should be graphically interesting as well as being readable. 

Elizabeth writes and works in Tokyo

Next day, Elizabeth made herself "familiar to these new materials for installation, which Utako brought into the space. She says "you keep working and you know what to do with it."

She also wrote a new story for her work, which Utako then translated, as it follows.
The text will be silk screen printed, by Kuriya Graphic tomorrow, to linen tea towels which Elizabeth brought from Melbourne.

Things that look ordinary but become extraordinary - when feeling sad about leaving for Japan I notice a small black spot on the white sheets of my bed. It turns out to be a little mole shed during the night from the back of a gentleman. When picking it up on my finger-tip and placing it in my pocket before departing for the airport, I remember earlier this monthseeing the planet Venus as a little black spot crossing the sun. How extraordinary that a small black spot should become a sign of love.

「普通に見えるけれど、特別になるもの」 ̶ 日本に行くので悲しかった時、私 のベットに黒い小さな点があるのに気付いた。夜の間に、彼の背中から落ちた黒 子だと分かった。空港に向かう前、指先で拾って私のポケットに忍ばせた時、月 初めに太陽の前を金星が黒い点になって通り過ぎて行くのを思い出した。黒い点 が愛の印になるなんて、何て特別なの。

On the train into Tokyo I notice everywhere bed-clothes hanging over balconies to catch the morning sun. I wonder if in Japan each morning it rains little black spots and other things shed from the bodies of lovers.

In Shinjuku at a book store I notice on the cover of a book, a small black spot on a women’s dress. Utako tells me it is a book about ghosts. Stepping outside, the rain leaves dark spots on my grey silk dress.

東京に向かう電車の中から、そこら中で寝具がバルコニーに朝の光を浴びて干さ れているのが見えた。日本では、毎朝、恋する者達の体から零れ落ちる皮膚が黒 い雨となって降るのかもしれない、なんて想像しちゃう。

新宿の本屋で、表紙の女性の服に黒い小さな点がある本を見つけた。詩子が、幽 霊についての本だと教えてくれた。外に出ると、私のグレーのシルクのドレスに 雨が黒いシミを残した。

Translation matters

Elizabeth and I worked on the materials for Reading Night on Tuesday.

Kuriya Graphic, a silk screen workshop since 80s, in Mitaka, the neighbour city of Zempukuji, is supporting us creative Text on Fabric, written by Elizabeth and translated by Utako. The director of Kuriya Graphic worked for making a lecture poster for French Institute for 20 years. He has even a record of Derrida giving lecture on languages. As a sculpture who pays attention to any detail in the world, including a warm on the street, what will she translate from everyday ordinary to extraordinary... from language to object. Only I could do might be weaving my little thoughts as I translate languages.

 

Elizabeth in Tokyo!

On Monday, Elizabeth arrived Tokyo early in the morning for the first time in her life to be in Japan! but she fit into Tokyo in a instance and began to organise her one-week of just doing her own work as an artist!

We started dialogue by exchanging what have been happening in our life as people.

Her teaching period in Melbourne has just finished last year for the semester. It seems always precious to secure studio hours for artist who are also educator. 

Anyway for this week, she will live for her own art, for who she is.

 Nishiogikubo Craft Shop and Shinjuku Craft by Gucci

Works in progress: Week 1

Thea's work (post card sent from Berling to Youkobo. Video work filmed at Berline to be shared through Drop Box with Utako). The time lag and the intervention of someone's time in distant are merged in the gallery. Let me now the special thanks to my partner who fixed the problems with playing the movie at Digital Photo Frame.

    

Elizabeth has sent me her own text inspired by Seishonagon's Pillow Book. She sends a photo associated with her text via email. She will also bring her sculptural piece into the work. She will have Night Reading at Youkobo this Friday and Saturday. 

Gaku up-loaded her Art Manga at her website. She also give a receiver the instruction how to construct her Mange into a sculpture. While she keeps working on her weekly Art Manga in New York, I will work on figuring out it this Wednesday. it is like a separate gift appended to a cartoon magazine which I used to buy every month in my youth :)

  Utako records what is happening in and outside of her studio. Drawing trace the shadow of her corrected nature inside associated with someone she knows while the photo captures the movement of nature with which someone unknown interact without conscious.

A clear day in rainy season

On Sunday morning, I traveled to Oyama City, to see an exhibition Cantos Familia by Jun Itoi at Kurumaya Museum of Art. I was wonderful indeed for both work wise and exhibition wise. As a city museum, which has a mission in may ways, to present art for citizens while engaging the context of contemporary art. The museum curator, I work with last year for my project which was hosted by the museum, considers and experiments as much she can at any situations for the museum, and beyond. (it is shame that I don;t have a picture with me here, I was too focused to see things there... but probably it is really good for people to actually visit there. The show ended already, but her next curated show will start in September.)

The visit was a great reminder for myself that there are people in the art world who challenge everyday what they can contribute to art, by re-evaulating things and rethinking approaches constantly. They are indeed always in the process.

The owner of the land where the museum is located love flowers. She gave me her favourite seasonal flowers. The bunch made a sweet link between where I traveled in the morning and where I returned in the afternoon, where I had other travellers visiting Youkobo.

My friend curator from Melbourne is now traveling Japan with her daughter. We were once belong to a group of researchers who related a scholar at Melbourne University. She pays wonderful attention to the process which an artist takes to get some achievement or finalised artwork, in considering the social and artistic contexts where the artist was/is. Now that she has moved on, from being national museum curator to an freelance curator, her focus is now creating pathway for artists to archive their processes to the level or public cultural heritage (if I can express in this way)

I wonder how she saws the process in the gallery and also the support which youkobo provides for artists to spend hours in studio.

Her daughter, who gave an kind and caring company to her visiting my work, is in early 20s, has very long way to process her life.

Just before they were off to the next destination, coincidentally they paused in front of the wall paint done by school kids at 'momoshi' elementary school next door. 

At any stage of our life, you can always find the dream toward which we live a life as a journey, everyday there will be a new encounter, I hope to think so.