2001.7.1 [Sun] - 9.16 [Sun]

What does "The Home" represent to you?

These are times of rapid development and popularization of the mobile phone and the Internet, and overseas travel is common. With global communication and movement a matter of course today, both lifestyles and values are also undergoing great change. "The Home", which forms the foundation of people's lives, is not divorced from this wave of change. And, with this change, the meaning of "The Home" is also becoming increasingly diverse, from representing a physical sense of "The Home" as "a place to return to" or "a place to sleep", through to "The Home" as a concept that is integrated with one's identity, representing "a private space where the individual can feel liberated" or "a place where the family is". It is "The Home" that is the theme of this exhibition. This exhibition is an attempt by Asian and European artists, designers, architects and curators to identify new concepts surrounding "The Home". The parcipants will use the format of the exhibition in their attempt to demonstrate how each relates his understanding of contemporary lifestyles and the significance of "The Home" to art. The active participation of gallery visitors is encouraged in these installations, which are created by each artist using different methods of expression, in the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery space. The works in this exhibition are an attempt to offer "you" a warm welcome into each "home" by, for example, enabling visitors to actually enter a home, or to sit in the living room and relax by watching TV, or being invited to visit an artist's home. We believe that during this exhibition, the art gallery will become as comfortable as being in your own home, and that visitors will be able to enjoy this exhibition and feel as relaxed as spending a summer's day sitting on the veranda of your own home. Participating artists: Atelier Bow-wow (Japan), Foundation B.a.d & their neighbours (the Netherlands), Kim Sora/Gimhongsok (Korea), Jens Haaning (Denmark), Surasi Kusolwong (Thailand), Xavier Moulin & Kohama Izumi (France/Japan), Ozawa Tsuyoshi (Japan), Périphériques (France), Suh Do-Ho (Korea/U.S.A), Wang Jianwei (China), Yamaide Jun'ya (Japan) Curators: Hou Hanru (independent curator) and Jerome Sans (Co-director, Palais de Tokyo, Paris) in collaboration with Kataoka Mami (Curator, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery)

Atelier Bow-wow Atelier Bow-wow is a prominent partnership of two young architects Tsukamoto Yoshiharu and Kaijima Momoyo. Postcards from "Made in Tokyo", a guidebook to examples of slightly quirky architecture typical of Tokyo, "Metropolitan Highway Guidebook", a collection of locations with interesting views of Tokyo's Metropolitan Highway, "Pet Architecture Guidebook", a catalogue of small and cute buildings spawned by the city of Tokyo, and "Tokyo Recycle Guidebook", a collection of ideas that introduce the concept of "recycling" into the established city of Tokyo, occupy the four entrances to the Gallery. Visitors normally just walk through these entrances, but on this occasion, colored vinyl curtains have been used to enclose these areas, transforming each space into an independent room.

Tokyo Recycle Guide Book 1999-2001 photo : Masataka Nakano

These are models houses, built to a scale of 1/100, designed by Atelier Bow-wow. Opera glasses are provided to view these houses, and the observer has a sense that he is peeping into an urban scene. Houses are normally only viewed at one angle, that is, facing the street. However, because these models are placed on revolving turntables, observers are given a 360-degree view of the houses.

Les Plus Petites Maisons / L'architecture dansant 2001 photo : Masataka Nakano

"Made in Tokyo" website http://www.dnp.co.jp/museum/nmp/madeintokyo/mit.html

Foundation B.a.d & their neighbours B.a.d, based in Rotterdam, holds events which involve opening up its studio, inviting guest artists, and involving the local residents. "Oasism II: A Proposal for 'Huis ten Bosch'" is an attempt to add an architectural complex titled "SWAFB003" to Huis ten Bosch in Nagasaki. This construction comprises individual housing for residents, 'Shelter Living', and a studio is to be built around a semi-public garden to provide a venue for social interaction through the collaboration of the residents and B.a.d (This project is not an actual proposal for Huis ten Bosch).

Oasism II : A proposal for 'Huis ten Bosch' 2001 photo : Masataka Nakano Keiju Takenaka

Kim Sora / Gimhongsok The Korean artists Kim Sora and Gimhongsok have likened a dome of electronic appliances (Electric.igloo) to an Inuit igloo (a dome of ice). Visitors will be able to see a range of contrasting examples such as an igloo, normally only found in extremely cold climates, in the Japanese summer, and electronic appliances, normally used inside the home, attached to the exterior of the igloo. However, each of these possesses the impermanence of temporary housing, and visitors will also be able to sense the interesting link that exists between contemporary urban life and the life of the Inuit.

E.gloo 2001 photo : Masataka Nakano Inside of the 'E gloo' photo : Keiju Takenaka

Jens Haaning The Danish artist Jens Haaning is attempting to clarify the relationship between reality in society and art. The notice of admission fees at the ticket box of the exhibition includes the notice "Foreigners Free". This project, which allows free admission for foreigners, is typical of Haaning's work, the theme of which is global movement and migration as well as issues surrounding migrants. By this focus on the existence of others, that is, "foreigners", our attitudes, both conscious and unconscious, regarding the boundaries that lie between the self and others are awakened.

Foreigners Free 2001 photo : Masataka Nakano

A series of 12 portraits of foreign laborers working in Denmark by Haaning who deals in social issues such as the migrant issue. These photographs have been inscribed with details of what each person is wearing and its price, as elements that form the identity of each individual.

HAKAN, AURANZEAB, ECEVIT, FAYSAL 2001 photo : Masataka Nakano

Surasi Kusolwong The Thai artist Surasi Kusolwong's work "Lucky Tokyo 2001" is a prize-based project in which visitors can win luxury prizes such as the Gold Prize, "A Tokyo-Bangkok trip with Surasi". You are invited to fill out a "Lucky Ticket" and place it in the raffle box in the middle of the stage. Like the markets in Bangkok, where Surasi Kusolwong resides, this project will bring a sense of excitement and joy to the exhibition. Furthermore, some of the artist's work can be taken home as prizes by the winners to then become part of the city. This installation, which combines "the raffle", an integral part of everyday life, with simple shapes and bright colors, is also reminiscent of minimal art.

Lucky Tokyo 2001 2001 photo : Masataka Nakano Keiju Takenaka

Xavier Moulin / Kohama Izumi ixi, the partnership of Xavier Moulin, a French man, and Kohama Izumi, a Japanese woman, is exhibiting costumes called "Homewear" which has numerous functions other than as clothing. Homewear can become a bag, a sheet, a cushion, etc. Mannequins dressed in this mobile home wear are positioned throughout the gallery observing the works of other artists. ixi Homewear enables the wearer to create a sense of comfort wherever he is. We suggest you start at the beginning and follow the viewing order to enjoy this work.

Homewear 2001 photo : Masataka Nakano Keiju Takenaka

The ixi website can be found at http://www.ixilab.com/.

Ozawa Tsuyoshi Ozawa Tsuyoshi is an artist who continues to develop numerous cutting-edge projects such as Nasubi Gallery, Jizo Konryu (Erecting a Jizo), Sodan Art University and Shoyuga Shiryokan (Soy sauce art reference center). Ozawa's most recent work in his Sodan Art series, in which the work changes in accordance with the opinions and ideas of others, involves the capsule hotel, a product of the combination of the housing situation in Japan's metropolitan areas and Japan's labor environment. How can this temporary private space, fitted out with the minimum requirements for an overnight stay, be made more comfortable? Sodan Art Hotel, which starts out with three capsules, a lounge area and reception, was transformed by the work taking a direction that exceeded all expectations as a result of the three renovations that took place once a week.

Sodan Art Hotel 2001 photo : Masataka Nakano

Périphériques Périphériques is a group of four architects based in Paris. Neon Nest, which colors the Gallery's entrance lobby, symbolizes the neon nights of Tokyo or other Asian cities. The bright enclosure created with approximately one hundred fluorescent lights transforms the entrance lobby into a light-filled space and connects the space from the window facing the sunken garden to the exterior of the gallery.

Neon Nest 2001 photo : Masataka Nakano

The poster that covers the upper section of the gallery wall creates an illusion that we are standing amongst a group of office buildings at night, looking through a window. The space created by the six-meter-high ceiling is emphasized by this poster and creates a flow throughout the entire exhibition.

Poster Window 2001 photo : Masataka Nakano

Suh Do-Ho Suh Do-Ho, who was born in Seoul and lives in New York, recreates his own home using a soft and semi-transparent fabric in an attempt to identify a home that can be used by people on the move. The blue-gray house is a life-sized model of Suh Do-Ho's apartment in New York. The pink section represents the corridor leading to the apartment. The space in Suh Do-Ho's apartment has been painstakingly recreated to include even details such as door knobs, water faucets and light switches, enabling us to imagine what it would be like to actually visit the real apartment. However, because of the apartment's semi-transparent quality, the entire space appears illusory, and we cannot help but be moved by its beauty. This "home", which can be folded and packed away in boxes, is also a mobile home that can travel the world.

348 West 22nd Street, Apt.A, New York / Rodin Gallery, Seoul / Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo 2001 photo : Masataka Nakano

Wang Jianwei Wang Jianwei, the Peking-based artist, recreates a typical family scene in China through a living room setting in which people sitting in the room come into contact with Western culture through pirated videos. Please feel free to watch your choice of pirated video from the selection available on the table and on the walls. Alternatively, your own video collection can be exchanged with those in this room.

Home Cinema 2001 photo : Masataka Nakano Keiju Takenaka

Yamaide Jun'ya The curtains that hang from the gallery ceiling were borrowed from the general public for this project, and a nametag with the name of the owner is displayed with each curtain. The curtains found in private homes are opened and then closed everyday to act as a boundary between the private and the public. However, in the public space that is the gallery, these curtains play the role of visually shutting off the space in the venue, while maintaining a connection with the other works, thus creating an overall sense of harmony. After having brought about this temporary change to the gallery space, the curtains, which are collected from many different homes, will be returned to their owners.

Project No.23 : curtain 2001 photo : Masataka Nakano

Related Events

Curators' Talk by Hou Hanru and Jerome Sans Date: Sunday, July 1, 2001 from 14:00 Meet at the gallery entrance Gallery Talk by the curator of TOCAG Dates: July 22, August 12, August 26 and September 9, from 14:00 Meet at the gallery entrance

Information

Dates: 1 July [Sun] - 16 September [Sun] 2001 Opening Hours: 12:00 - 20:00 (to 21:00 on Fridays and Saturdays, entry up to 30 minutes before closing) Closed: Mondays (Tuesday if the Monday is a public holiday) Admission: Adults 900 (700) yen / Senior High School and University students 700 (550) yen / Junior High and Elementary School students 500 (400) yen * Admission fee includes entry into the Terada Gallery and Project N.; ( ) indicates group admission fee for over 15 people. * Discount for late entry, senior citizens and children on weekends. Please ask for details. Organizered by the Tokyo Opera City Cultural Foundation Sponsored by Nippon Life Insurance Company / Odakyu Railway Co.,Ltd. / SOPH. Co.,Ltd. Supported by AVON Products Co.,Ltd. / Air France / IDÉE Co.,Ltd. / NTT DoCoMo, Inc. / Kawashima Textile Manufactures Ltd. / Kotobuki corporation / Takeo Co.,Ltd. / Nippon Gengakki Co.,Ltd. / Thai Restaurant BAN-THAI / Bijutsu Shuppan-sha, Ltd. / Daiei Building Materials Co.,Ltd. / Ceccotti Collezioni / Samsung Japan Corporation / Fuji Xerox Co.,Ltd. / Ryohin Keikaku Co.,Ltd. Granted by Association Française d'Action Artistique / Mondriaan Foundation / Royal Netherlands Embassy Patronized by Ambassade de France au Japon For further information: Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery Tel. +81-3-5353-0756