AOMORI GOKAN Arts Fest 2024 / Hirosaki Exchange #06Hirosaki Exchange #06: Bearing Witness to Shirakami
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KANO Tetsuro, Abstract maps, Concrete territories, 2024 Courtesy of the Artist
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NAGASAWA Aoi, Filled with the Water of Life, 2024 Courtesy of the Artist
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SATO Tomoko, Index for a Ghost Tokyo: Introduction, 2021
©︎Theater Commons Tokyo'21 Photo: Shun Sato -
L PACK. Photo: Koichi Tanoue
Venues: Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art, cafe & shop BRICK, Gallery Mannaka, Hirosaki Orando
The Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art presents Hirosaki Exchange #06: Bearing Witness to Shirakami from Sat., April 6 to Sun., September 1, 2024. This project is one of the main programs in AOMORI GOKAN Art Fest 2024, which will take place at five art museums and art centers in Aomori Prefecture, including this museum [term of festival: Sat., April 13, 2024 – Sun., September 1, 2024]. Four artists or groups – Kano Tetsuro, Sato Tomoko, Nagasawa Aoi, and L PACK. – will carry out research projects from their respective perspectives, and the results will be showcased in exhibitions, workshops, and other events.
The “Shirakami” of the title is a reference to Shirakami-Sanchi, a mountainous area spanning from the southwest of Aomori Prefecture to the northwest of neighboring Akita Prefecture of which approximately 17,000 hectares is covered with pristine beech forests. It was registered as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site in 1993. While Shirakami-Sanchi sustains diverse flora and fauna, it is also the headwaters of the Iwaki River, which flows across the Tsugaru Plain (western Aomori Prefecture, including Hirosaki City) linking the wilderness with urban areas. In this project, visitors can join the participating artists in tracing the river that has supported human habitation since ancient times, and bear witness to the mountains that serve as their source. Doing so is sure to prompt reflection on the flora and fauna thriving there before and since the World Heritage registration, changes to lifestyles in mountain villages, and the transformations modernization has brought to the lives of people who have always coexisted with the mountains.
Kano Tetsuro, one of the participating artists, will investigate changes affecting both humans and animals who lived in Shirakami-Sanchi before it became a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site, primarily through three-dimensional works exhibited both inside and outside the museum. Nagasawa Aoi will exhibit paintings based on her own hunting experiences. Throughout the exhibition period, Sato Tomoko will subtly interact with visitors and continue to reveal the process and update the outcomes of her long-term research. Inspired by Yomiya, Hirosaki City’s familiar and beloved summer festival, L PACK. will present interactive works in a three-day event at the end of the exhibition.
Human beings exist not only within our social habitat, but also in mutual relation to the natural environment. The practices of artists seeking to break free of binary oppositions between people and nature and conventional value systems to construct new relationships will offer perspectives transcending anthropocentrism, envisioning coexistence with diverse others in the pursuit of a sustainable society. By experiencing this range of art practices that subvert our preconceptions and expand our sensibilities, we are sure to find that familiar landscapes appear in a different light.
Artists
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Photo: Takashi Arai【Exhibition】KANO Tetsuro
Born in 1980 in Miyagi, and lives and works in Kanagawa . He completed graduate studies in sculpture at Tokyo Zokei University in 2007. In 2011 he acquired a hunting license, specializing in trapping and netting. Kano’s research and residency projects interrogate the world from the perspectives of various living things, encompassing activities such as hunting, fishing, and surveying, and are carried out both within Japan and internationally. Kano will present his works in the museum library space and at various locations across the city, reflecting on changes experienced by both humans and animals following the designation of Shirakami-Sanchi as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site and engaging with diverse facets of nature and culture in Aomori.
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【Exhibition】NAGASAWA Aoi
Born in 1994 in Yokote, Akita. Lives and works there. She graduated from Akita University of Art with a major in Arts & Roots in 2017. There she obtained a hunting license (first-class gun hunting, trapping). Nagasawa makes paintings that explore relationships between human beings, other organisms, and nature, delving into the “roots of life” by engaging with hunting and the traditional matagi hunting culture of Tohoku. With a focus on mountain lifestyles and hunting practices, she will present paintings derived from her personal experiences with fishing and hunting. Additionally, she will appear in a talk event to share her working process, which is intimately connected to her own lifestyle.
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Photo: Ryusuke Ohno【Reserch】SATO Tomoko
Born in 1990 in Nagano, and lives and works in Kanagawa . She earned an MFA in Film and New Media from Tokyo University of the Arts in 2018. Making use of a lecture format, Sato’s practice focuses on narrative as a mode of expression. With a thematic focus on modernization of mountain villages, human activities, and history, she will visit Hirosaki on a recurring basis to present her research findings.
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Photo: Koichi Tanoue【Event】L PACK.
L PACK. is a duo formed by Odagiri Susumu (born in 1984 in Hirakawa , Aomori) and Nakajima Tetsuya (born in 1984 in Shizuoka), both of whom live and work in Kanagawa. Both are graduates of Shizuoka University of Art and Culture, where they majored in spatial design. Their work traverses the fields of art, design, architecture, and folk crafts, with the aim of weaving themselves into the fabric of communities by adeptly improvising with a limited selection tools and local materials, and their conceptual starting point is “landscape with coffee.” Over the final three days of the exhibition period, they will present an interactive work that draws inspiration from local culture, including the Yomiya festival and street stalls.
Highlights
1.Intersection of Multiple Perspectives on Shirakami-Sanchi
In 2023, Shirakami-Sanchi celebrated its 30th anniversary as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site. Artists participating in this project are undertaking research in Nishimeya Village, often regarded as the gateway to Shirakami-Sanchi, and conducting interviews with related persons to create and exhibit works that resonate with the venue. Among the artists, Sato Tomoko will explore commonalities between Taiwan (where she is currently based), her hometown of Nagano, and Shirakami-Sanchi. She has titled her research project, ongoing throughout the exhibition period, “ ‘The Far Sides’ Meeting,” and will continuously update and publicly reveal its progress at the venue. By exploring changes in mountain village lifestyles brought about by modernization, and ways of coexisting with nature through the lens of Shirakami-Sanchi, she highlights multiple perspectives on the transformation of human habitats. Throughout the exhibition, there will be numerous opportunities for visitors to interact and exchange diverse viewpoints with artists as well as among themselves.
2. Works Exhibited Throughout the City
Kano Tetsuro’s works will be featured not only at the museum but also at several locations in Hirosaki City. These include the Tsuchibuchi River Yoshino-cho Green Space in front of the museum, the exhibition space inside the Chuo-hirosaki Station building (Gallery Mannaka), and the café space of Hirosaki Orando. Kano will compose spaces by combining readymade products with natural elements and investigate whether these constructions hold significance for animals, adopting a distinctly non-anthropocentric approach. While serving as art for human appreciation, Kano’s works also offer insights into animal perspectives. This project will feature mobile works and installations that resemble communal housing for non-human beings, such as birds and insects. As visitors make their way through Hirosaki, encountering works that harmonize with the city’s scenery, they will undoubtedly see familiar scenery with new eyes.
3. Interactive Outdoor Event on the Exhibition’s Final Three Days
From Fri., August 30th to Mon., September 1st, 2024, a special three-day event will take place in the green space in front of the museum as a part of the joint AOMORI GOKAN Art Fest 2024 initiative. This unique happening will present Kuribayashi Takashi’s Genki-ro along with an interactive artwork by L PACK. titled When you put them all together, it’s a complete disaster. L PACK.’s street stall derives inspiration from Hirosaki City’s familiar summer nighttime shrine festival Yomiya and the mobile ice cream sellers often seen on the streets. Visitors to the stall, which serves an unconventional menu, may find themselves engaging in unexpected forms of communication.
Outline
- Date: 2024.4.6 (SAT) ―9.1 (SUN) *Gallery Mannaka: April 6—23 / May 8—September 1,2024
Venue: Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art, HIROSAKI ORANDO［47-2, Hyakkoku-machi, Hirosaki City］ , Gallery Mannaka ［1-6, Yoshino-cho, Hirosaki City］
*Opening hours are as per each venue.
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Organizer: Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art
Special Cooperation: YAMAGUCHI Tsumie
Cooperation: NAGAI Atsuko (Ridun Co., Ltd.), Hirosaki Cidre Factory kimori
Sponsors: OBAYASHI CORPORATION, NTT FACILITIES, INC.
Under the patronage of The To-o Nippo Press, THE DAILY TOHOKU SHIMBUN, THE MUTSU SHIMPO Press, Aomori Broadcasting Corporation, Aomori Television Broadcasting Co., Ltd., Asahi Broadcasting Aomori Co., Ltd., Aomori Fm Broadcasting, FM APPLE WAVE, Hirosaki City Board of Education - *Admittance to exhibition in the museum gallery requires a separate admission ticket.