Godzilla and The Phoenix in Tokyo and Yokohama.

 

Godzilla and The Phoenix


18-27 June, 2013


Coordinated by Per Hüttner and Samon Takahashi with support by Najomo.

(All events are free of charge -  find program and venues in English and Japanese.)

Venues: Mori Art Museum, Spiral/Wacoal Art Center, BankART Studio NYK, Institut français de Tokyo, Embassy of Sweden in Tokyo, Creative Hub 131, Traumaris, Kameido Studio, Koganecho Bazaar, Zou No Hana, Nitehi Works, Musashino Art University, Shuhaly farm and Publicus Nihonbashi.

Godzilla and The Phoenix is the second phase in a series of events organized by OuUnPo, and will take place in Japan between 18-27 of June, 2013. OuUnPo has chosen the two mythical creatures, Godzilla and The Phoenix as a starting point to develop dialogue and research with local partners in Japan. The goal is to use local knowledge to gain a deeper understanding of how renewal and creativity are interlinked. Godzilla and The Phoenix represent east and west, but also rebirth from destruction, underlining that every fundamental societal change is based on a different outlook on the world.

The session will address issues like: how can historical problem resolution help and/or mislead us in the present? How do our expectations of the future shape how we see the reality that surrounds us and how we act in the present? How can exchanges between different disciplines and between different cultures offer tools to help us to foster creativity and safeguard diversity?

Previously, OuUnPo held a session in Lebanon (December 2012) and after the Japan session, the group will continue to investigate future topics in Sweden (May 2014) and Brazil (September 2014). During each session, OuUnPo looks at how heritage and crises are linked to explore the similarities and differences in how people respond and deal with situations of regeneration in each country– and most importantly, how negative situations can be used for the development of new ideas and solutions.

OuUnPo is a group of artists, curators and researchers, and operates like an itinerant laboratory co-creating and sharing knowledge through artistic production. Please go to the OuUnPo blog or visit us on Facebook to find a detailed program including addresses and links. You find images from the session here.

Contributors: Sara Giannini, 西原 鶴真(Kakushin Nishihara), 武谷 大介(Daisuke Takeya), 藤井 光(Hikaru Fujii), 高山 明(Akira Takayama), Natasha Rosling, Yane Calovski, Nikola Nikolovski, 猪飼 尚司(Hisashi Ikai), 柳原 照広(Teruhiro Yanagihara), Damien Faure, 塚本 由晴 (Yoshiharu Tsukamoto ), 東京ピクニッククラブ(Tokyo Pic-Nic Club), Natalia Kamia, 丹羽 良徳(Yoshinori Niwa), Marcus Petterson, Åbäke, 山本 高之(Takayuki Yamamoto), 小泉 明郎(Meiro Koizumi), Raffaella della Olga, 諸泉 茂(Shigeru Moroizumi), 新野 圭二郎(Keijiro Niino), 近藤 健一(Kenichi Kondo), Zeina Assaf, Boat People Association, 山野 真吾(Shingo Yamano), Bucci, 嶋田 勇介(Yusuke Shimada), 須弥山(Shumisen), 工藤 丈輝(Taketeru Kudo), 稲吉 稔(Minoru Inayoshi),  Fatos Ustek, Stephen Whitmarsh, Queen’s Ostrich, Elena Nemkova, Carl Stone, Christophe Charles, Megane, 遠藤 一郎(Ichiro Endo), 西﨑 健人(Takehito Nishizaki), 杉田このみ(Konomi Sugita), Jacopo Miliani, 曽我 高明(Takaaki Soga), 中里 和人(Katsuhito Nakazato), 嘉藤 笑子(Emiko Kato), Claudia Squitieri, Per Hüttner and Samon Takahashi.

Godzilla and The Phoenix is supported by Embassy of Sweden in Japan, Institut français de Tokyo, Spiral/ Wacoal Art Center, Musashino Art University, The Scandinavia-Japan Sasakawa Foundation.

OuUnPo is supported by CREED and Linköpings universitet.

Tokyo Research (1)

Here are some pictures from Tokyo. This project is called Neko Lobby that I attended to great pleasure both my conceptual senses and my palates. It was part of the Tokyo Hotaru Festival.

The project is connected to the collective Creative Hub 131 and the wonderful Boat People project. They are also connected to farms that grow tomatoes, carrots (produce their of brand of carrot juice), shiitake mushrooms and other yummy stuff. Creative Hub 131 are planning to open their own art centre and broadcasting facilities. We are also invited to visit an ostrich farm!!! More updates soon!

No sleep 'til 日本

"The more industrialized and technological areas of human agglomeration become, the more indispensable it is to find an antidote to survive in the anthill. The hectic pace of urban life, albeit immortalized in the poetry of Baudelaire, would not prosper if it dispensed with the “playful” dimension. When the space of the game also begins to demand rights of citizenship and social well-being, the obstacles hindering the execution of projects are of a different nature. The possibility of carrying out a work plan in the public sphere lies beyond the competence of art. For this reason, we must analyze the figure of the architect who guides the utopia of art to the common spaces without denying them the full force of their reality."

LISETTE LAGNADO - Shifts in the Dérive: Experiences, Journeys, Morphologies 


Background
OuUnPo is a research group made up of artists, curators and researchers who together look at the boundaries of performance by appropriating and stretching the language of workshops, seminars and meetings. The group travels to different cities and investigates a given problem. The members of the group change at each meeting. We interact extensively with local institutions and creators at every location. We have previously collaborated with Tate Britain, in London; MACRO in Rome; Serralves in Porto and Deste Foundation in Athens to mention some of the most well known. We are usually 10-15 creators who travel to each meeting. Meetings have been held in Athens, Belgrade, Amsterdam-Nijmegen, Paris, Skopje, Stockholm-Norrköping, Porto and London.

Field of Research
OuUnPo will examine if they can a facilitate a more meaningful understanding of a series of existing contemporary art exhibition by interacting with groups of visitors. The OuUnPo group will also examine whether visits to other sites in the urban space together with the audiences. We do so with the aim of creating links between the visitors' everyday life experiences and the works of art on display.

Work methods
OuUnPo is preparing a meeting in Japan in spring 2013. Since the group’s modus operandi is mobility, we will focus on temporary and mobile architecture in the urban spaces in the visited Japanes cities. The group will look for traces of human action that highlight and affect architecture without necessarily being part of it. We are particularly interested in the playfulness of artistic invention in Japanese culture and its ability to come up with dynamic solutions to difficult problems.

The project is going to operate on two interconnected levels:



1. The group is going to carry out investigations in the urban landscape of the visited cities. We take the starting point in the Japanese cityscape and carry out performances, sound-interventions and smaller installational activities. These will be private, public or sometimes for a smaller invited group.



2. OuUnPo will also make interventions in existing exhibitions and collections. We offer to museums to activate the temporary exhibitions and permanent collections with creative guided tours, walks, performances, sound-interventions, readings and lectures. These can also take place at a given place in the city in order to in order to highlight a given aspect of the exhibition or collection. In other words, we become a kind of fleeting architecture –that highlight and affect the exhibition without necessarily being part of it.


The London-based design group Åbäke and Marcus Pettersson who have already carried investigation into temporary architecture in Tokyo are specially invited for the event. We are also looking forward to collaborate with inspiring people and groups like Momus, Neko Lobby and Creative Hub 131 to mention a few. Negotiations with more collaborative partners are under way. So keep your eyes peeled for further updates.