Untitled - NPO harappa

1 Introduction
There stands an old brick warehouse in the north from where seems to emerge a town. The
name it carries is “A to Z.”
Some twenty-six or more huts are lined up. In the town just removed from every day life,
your inner clock starts ticking.The project called “A to Z” will begin in Hirosaki, Aomori, the
hometown of Yoshitomo Nara, during the summer and the fall of 2006.
Yoshitomo Nara is the one who has kept creating his art as he recalls his boyhood dialog.
While, graf is a group of people who has designed the living circumstance through
“Monozukuri” or manufacturing in the home furnishings. It’s a make-believe work dedicated
by the two parties who collaborated for only three months.
It started in 2003 when Nara and graf met in Osaka, then the track of travel led to Taiwan,
Korea and Yokohama. The things they produced were never fitted in regular square boxes of
any museums or galleries. Those huts made of abandoned construction material will project
those memories that we have experienced somewhere in the past, presented with a peculiar
touch and spice.
But “A to Z” will only be completed when you visit the town. You will call on a hut, walk
through the path, and take a deep breath. In a moment those scattered memories will call you
in shapes of color, figures and smells.
2 Venue
Title of Project : Yoshitomo Nara + graf A to Z
Term
: July 29 to October 22, 2006
Venue
: Yoshii Brick Brew House, 2-1 Yoshinocho, Hirosaki, Aomori
Closed
: Mondays; [ Tuesdays when the holiday falls on Monday.]
Admissions
: 1000yen for Adults, 700yen for College and High school students,
300yen for children under 15
Organizer
: The Committee for A to Z Project
URL
: http://harappa-h.org/AtoZ/(PC)
http://harappa-h.org/AtoZ/m/ (cellular phone)
3 Contents
The Individually Themed Huts, prospected to be more than 26.
Those planned huts in the brick warehouse provide not only the space for displaying
paintings, drawings and photographs, but also the participation of artists deeply related with
yoshitomo nara+graf. The exhibition will cover beyond the fine arts, expanding to the
collaboration of various artists' live show and workshops.
1
Itineracy of yoshitomo nara+graf
Those planned huts in the brick warehouse provide not only the
space for displaying paintings, drawings and photographs, but
also the participation of artists deeply related with Yoshitomo
Nara+graf. The exhibition will cover beyond the fine arts,
expanding to the collaboration of various artists' live show and
workshops.
After the exhibition "S.M.L." in 2003 which was held in the
gallery graf media gm run by graf, Yoshitomo Nara+graf began
producing the huts to be used to exhibit Nara's works in Osaka,
Tokyo, Yokohama, Tottori, Fukui, Aomori, Taiwan and Korea.
---------------------------------------------------December 2003 to February 2004
Title of Exhibition: "S.M.L.",
Cooperation of Yoshitomo Nara and graf
Place
: graf media gm, Osaka
Contents
: Production of three different sized huts, small,
medium and large
---------------------------------------------------February to May 2004
Title of Exhibition: Time of May Life Art with Youthful Sprit,
the group exhibition of Yoshitomo Nara+graf
Place
: Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo
Contents
: Re-structure of three huts presented in "S.M.L."
---------------------------------------------------July to September 2004
Title of Exhibition: Non-Sect Radical Contemporary Photography ,
participated as the group exhibition of
Yoshitomo Nara+graf
Place
: Yokohama Museum of Art, Kanagawa
Contents
: Production of the hut for "Cabul Note 2002",
the presentation of slides
1)
Dec20, 2003 to Feb1, 2004
"S.M.L."
graf media gm, Osaka
"S.M.L."
photo: ｃYasunori Shimomura
2)
Feb20, 2004 to May9
Time of May Life Art with Youthful Sprit
Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo
NARA Yoshitomo + graf
"S.M.L."
mixed media
2003
photo: ｃ KIOKU Keizo
photo courtesy: Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery
3)
Jul17, 2004 to Sep20
Non-Sect Radical Contemporary Photography
Yokohama Museum of Art, Kanagawa
"Kabul Note 2002"
photo: ｃYokohama Museum of Art
2
---------------------------------------------------2004 to 2005
Title of Exhibition: "Yoshitomo NARA from the Depth of My Drawer"
Contents
: Production of "My Drawing Room" as an
installation to be a collection of Hara Museum,
later produced four circuit exhibitions as follows.
In addition "Seoul House" was produced at the
site in Seoul.
August to October, 2004 - Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo
October to November, 2004 - Kanazu Forest of Creation, Fukui
February to March, 2005 - Yonago City Museum of Art, Tottori
April to May, 2005 - Yoshii Brick Brew House, Aomori
June to August, 2005 - Rodin Gallery, Seoul, Korea
---------------------------------------------------August to October, 2004
Title of Exhibition: "Fiction Love", participated as the group
exhibition of Yoshitomo Nara+graf
Place
: Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan
Contents
: Production of "Taipei Summer House" at the site
4)
Aug11, 2004 to Oct11
"Yoshitomo NARA from the Depth of My Drawer"
Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo
"My Drawing Room"
2004.8. -
ｃ 2004 Yoshitomo Nara
Collection : Hara Museum of Contemporary Art
Photo : Hirotaka Yonekura
5)
Aug21, 2004 to Oct31
"Fiction Love"
Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan
"Taipei Summer House"
Photo : ｃ Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei
6)
Oct19, 2004 to Nov28
"Yoshitomo NARA from the Depth of My Drawer"
Kanazu Forest of Creation,The Art Core, Fukui
Photo :ｃ Hako Hosokawa
7)
Feb10, 2005 to Mar21
"Yoshitomo NARA from the Depth of My Drawer"
Yonago City Museum of Art, Tottori
Photo :ｃ Kaoru Kon
3
---------------------------------------------------December 2004 to February 2005
Title of Exhibition: "Shallow Puddles". the cooperative exhibition of
Yoshitomo Nara+graf
Place
: graf media gm, Osaka
Contents
: Production of a hut, structuring an octagonshaped room in the center
8)
Dec24, 2004 to Feb6, 2005
"Shallow Puddles"
graf media gm, Osaka
---------------------------------------------------March to June, 2005
Title of Exhibition: "The Elegance of Silence: Contemporary Art
from East Asia", participated as the group
exhibition of Yoshitomo Nara+graf
Place
: Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
Contents
: PProductions of created room#1 and created
room #2
---------------------------------------------------Coming Plans:
September 2005
Marianne Boesky Gallery
December 2005
graf media gm, Osaka
"Shallow Puddles"
Photo : ｃYasunori Shimomura
9)
Mar29, 2005 to Jun19
"The Elegance of Silence: Contemporary Art from East Asia"
Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
Yoshitomo Nara
mixed media
"The Elegance of Silence: Contemporary Art from East Asia"
Photo : KIOKU Keizo
Photo courtesy : Mori Art Museum
10)
Apr16, 2005 to May22
"Yoshitomo NARA From the Depth of My Drawer"
Yoshii Brick Brew House, Aomori
Photo : ｃ Masako Nagano
11)
Jun17, 2005 to Aug21
"Yoshitomo NARA From the Depth of My Drawer"
Rodin Gallery, Seoul, Korea
4
4 Profiles
Yoshitomo Nara
1959
Born in Aomori Prefecture in Japan
1987
Completed the Graduate School of Aichi Prefectural University of Art (M.A.)
1988-93 Studied at Kunstakademie Dusseldorf
1994-00 Lived and Worked in Koln
1995
Received the Award for Artist from Nagoya City
1998
Taught at UCLA for 3 months (Post-graduate course of painting)
Living and Working in Tokyo
---------------------------------------Solo Exhibitions
1988 Innocent being, Galerie Humanite,Tokyo
Galerie Humanite, Nagoya
1990 Galerie d'Eendt, Amsterdam
1992 Galerie Johnen & Schttle, Koln
1994 lonesome babies, Hakutosha, Nagoya
1995 SCAI THE BATHHOUSE, Tokyo
Pacific Babies, Blum & Poe,Santa Monica, USA
1997 Screen Memory, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo
1998 INOVA, University of Wisconsin (INOVA), Milwaukee, USA
1999 Walking Alone, The Ginza Art Space, Tokyo
Done Did, Parco Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
2000 Walk On, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago
Lullaby Supermarket, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, USA
2001 Drawing days, Colette, Paris, Germany
I don't mind if you forget me, Yokohama
2002 yoshitomo nara who snatched the babies?, cneai, Chatou, France
2003 Nothing Ever Happens, Museum of contemporary Art,
Galerie Michael Zink, Munich, Germany
S.M.L., graf, Osaka
2004 Blum & Poe, Los Angels, USA
Galerie Meyer Kainer, Wien, Austria
From the Depth of My Drawer, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art,Tokyo
Over the Rainbow,Pinakothek der moderne, Munich, Germany
Shallow Puddles, graf media gm, Oasaka
2005 Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York
---------------------------------------Public Collection
---------------------------------------Group Exhibition
Japan Foundation
1995 Intangible Childhood, Mie PrefecturalArt Museum, Mie
Aomori Prefecture
Tokyo Pop, The Hiratsuka Museum of Art, Hiratsuka, Kanagawa
Shiseido Art House
Ironic Fantasy, The Miyagi Museum of Art, Sendai, Miyagi
Peter Norton Family Foundation
1997 VOCA '97, The Royal Museum of Art, Tokyo
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea, Seoul
The Museum of ContemporArt, Los Angeles
1999 Art/ Domestic, Temperature of the Time, Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo
Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co.,Ltd
New Modernism for a New Millennium: Works by Contemporary Asian Artists
Rubell Family Collection
from the Logan Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Aichi Prefectural University of Arts
Painting for Joy: New Japanese Painting in 1990s,The Japan Foundation
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Forum, Tokyo
Takamatsu City Museum of Art
Art is fun10: Angelic, Devilish, or Both, Hara Museum ARC, Gunma
Hara Museum of Contemporary Art,Tokyo
Vergiss den Ball und Spiel Weiter, Nurnberg Kunsthalle, Germany
The Tokushima Modern Art Museum
2000 Continental Shift, Ludwig Forum Aachen, Germany
Neues Museum, Nurnberg
The Darker side of Playland, Museum of Modern Art,
Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery
San Francisco, San Francisco, USA
Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art
GENDAI, Center of Contemporary Art, Warsaw, Poland
2001 SUPER FLAT, MOCA Gallery, Los Angels, USA
My Reality - Contemporary art and the culuture of Japanese animation,
Des Moine Art Center, Iowa, USA
Public Offering, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, USA
Neo Tokyo-Japanese Art Now, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia
2003 -M_ARS-ART AND WAR,Neue Galerie, Austria
NINOS, Centro de Arte de Salamanco,Salamanca, Spain
I bambini siamo noi AGalleria Civica di Arte Contemporanea, Toront, Italy
2004 Super Nova Art of the 1990's from the Logan collection San Fransisco Museum of Modern Art,
Nonsect Raddical,Yokohama Museum of Art,Kanagawa, Japan
Fiction Love, MOCA Taipei, Taiwan
2005 The Elegance of Silence : Contemporary Art From East Asia, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
Little Boy, Japan Society Gallery, New York
5
graf
graf is a creative unit working in a range of design projects from space
design, architecture, interior design, furniture design and manufacturing,
lighting design, graphic design, product design, as well as art and food
from the perspective of 'the structure for living'. Their unconventional
design works also cover a range of other design projects such as retail
sales, branding and artistic direction for other firms. They also have
satellite offices in London and Tokyo.
graf started their activities as 'decorative mode no.3' in 1993. They opened
'show room graf' in Minami-Horie, Osaka, Japan in April 1998. In 2000, they
moved to the 5 storey graf building in Nakanoshima located in Osaka, Japan,
operating a showroom, a cafe / restaurant and a gallery, in addition to their
atelier and design studio. 'gm', the gallery space located on the 4th floor
of graf building at the time, re-opened as 'graf media gm' on the ground
floor of the building next door in 2003. Sponsored by decorative mode no.3
design products inc, they currently work under the generic name of 'graf'.
The 6 founding members of graf are Shigeki Hattori, Hiroto Aranishi, Kenji
Tokyura, Hideki Toyoshima, Takashi Matsui and Yuji Nozawa.
The "Nara Yoshitomo + graf A to Z" project was born from previous
collaborations between Yoshitomo Nara and Hideki Toyoshima, the director of
graf media gm, Osaka, Japan. The project team also consists of Yuji Nozawa,
the carpenter from graf, and 3 freelance members; Ryo Aoyanagi,
Yasumasa Konishi, and Yuki Takano, in addition to other support members.
graf media gm functions as a medium of graf, for design for 'Living'.
Having a gallery space equipped with a bar and a book store, they run the
space by curating exhibitions, featuring live music, dance and other
performances, forums, designing products and publishing their own materials.
Hideki Toyoshima
Born in Osaka, Japan in 1971.
Graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute, USA in 1991.
Completed a post-graduate degree at the Chelsea College of Art and Design,
UK in 2001.
Toyoshima is one of the founding members of graf. He curates and produces
the projects for 'graf media gm' in addition to exhibition design and
direction as well as art direction for other firms. He is the co-curator and
co-producer of the A to Z project which began from the Yoshitomo Nara
exhibition 'S.M.L.' at graf media gm.
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
Excerpts from the past exhibitions at graf media gm
Publications
'Yayoi Kusama Furniture by graf' (2002) : Furniture design and the
production in collaboration with Yayoi Kusama
Hiroyuki Matsukage exhibition'Man going up, Woman going across'(2003)
'Hello - KINOKO + graf meet&greet'(2003): the production and performance in
collaboration with Strange Kinoko Dance Co..
Kyoichi Tsuzuki solo exhibition: Love Hotel Night Fantasy - The world of
Erotic Design...Furniture, Products and Interior. (2003)
Susan Cianciolo exhibition: CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN BRIDGE(2004)
Keichi Tanaami exhibition: Ascension Furniture(2004)
Thailand in August - welcome to soi sabai(2004): Curated in collaboration
with Fumiya Sawa.
Yoshitomo Nara exhibition: Shallow Puddles (2005)
Masayuki Yoshinaga exhibition: BANBO(2005)
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
Other works
[Exhibition production & exhibition direction]
More Happy Every Day,National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan(2005)
[Exhibition design & production]
Rinko Kawauchi exhibition: AILA, Kanaz Forest of Creation, Fukui, Japan
(2005)
[Art direction and exhibition design]
Yayoi Kusama Furniture by graf exhibition, Galleria Carla Sozzani, Milan,
Italy (2005)
[Curation and production]
OSAKA ART KALEIDOSCOPE 'OSAKA 04' Osaka Contemporary Art Center(2004)
OSAKA ART KALEIDOSCOPE 'OSAKA 05' Osaka Contemporary Art Center(2005)
6
[Book design]
"We live through editing" by Shigeo Goto , MARBLE BOOKS (2004)
[Curation/edit/design]
"Yayoi Kusama Furniture by graf", Seigensha (2003)
[Art direction]
Yoshitomo Nara + graf documented by Masako Nagano 'This is a time
of...S.M.L.' , Seigensha(2003)
Museum collection
The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama
5 Yoshii Brick Brewhouse as a Venue
Located in the midst of Hirosaki, Yoshii Brick Brewhouse was the
largest sake brewery in the Tohoku area. After WWII, they invited a
French engineer to produce the first apple cider in Japan, but the
brewing business was over when Yoshitomo Nara entered his
childhood. He used to stare at the huge brew house full of
curiosity.
After 12 years of stay in Germany, he returned to his hometown,
Hirosaki in 2000, and first entered in the brew house and was
12)
Apr16, 2005 to May22
"Yoshitomo NARA From the Depth of My Drawer"
Yoshii Brick Brew House, Aomori
Photo : ｃ Masako Nagano
charmed by the beauty of its inner space. "Nara Yoshitomo I
DON'T MIND, IF YOU FORGET ME" was held here in 2002. It was
first introduced in Yokohama Museum of Art and later circulated
around to the Ashiya City Museum of Art and History, the
Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art and the Hokkaido
Asahikawa Museum of Art.
"Yoshitomo NARA from the Depth of My Drawer" started at Hara
Museum, Tokyo last summer and circulated here in April and May
this year.
13)
"Nara Yoshitomo I DON'T MIND, IF YOU FORGET ME"
Yoshii Brick Brew House, Aomori
Photo : ｃ Masayuki Hasegawa
Structure of the Building
Address
: 2-1, Yoshinocho, Hirosaki, Aomori
Structure
: Two-story brick building
Year of construction : the Taisho era
Floor space
: 3,956.24 square meters
( The biggest room, the so-called black room, is 19.1m x 57.3m = 1,094.43 square meters)
Designer
: Unknown
Contractor
: Unknown
7
6 Operation by Non-Profit Organization
For "Nara Yoshitomo I DON'T MIND, IF YOU FORGET ME.", from its
renovation of the brew house to the administration of exhibition,
a total of 3500 volunteers were involved. The unprecedented
success was recorded. To a city with a population of 170,000
about 60,000 people visited to see the exhibition.
NPO harappa was formed by the members of the above
exhibition in 2003. More members and volunteers were added in
the spring of 2005, "Yoshitomo Nara From the Depth of My
Drawer" was another great success.
Based on the previous committee, The Committee for A to Z
Project was established for A to Z Project. It is operated in a
different way than the conventional museums which have a
prospective income from the annual budget, while our
organization is strictly run by the cooperation and the support
from people who assent to the activity.
"A to Z Project" is operated by a Non-Profit Organization and we
look forward to receiving donations to realize our big dream.
Contributions
100,000yen unit is accepted from individuals and corporations. In
case the income of the exhibition exceeds the expenses,
contributors will receive full or partial refunds, depending on the
surplus amount. Since the committee is a Non-Profit
Organization, there cannot be any profit to the contributors.
Sponsors
10,000 yen unit subscription is accepted. Please know that it shall
not be refunded.
8
14)
A set photograph of volunteers, 2002
Photo : ｃ Masayuki Hasegawa
7 Contact
The General Office,
The Committee for A toZ Project
036-8182
c/o NPO harapa
Rennaisse Avenue 2F, 78 Dotemachi, Hirosaki, Aomori
phone: +81-(0)172-31-0195 fax: +81-(0)172-31-0196
e-mail: a_z@harappa-h.org
http://harappa-h.org/AtoZ/ (PC)
http://harappa-h.org/AtoZ/m/ (cellular phone)
9