r:ead #1’s process

r:ead #1’s one-week 1st period of stay (Dec 11 to Dec 18, 2012) was the first encounter between the four participating artists, Jisun Kim (Korea), Meiro Koizumi (Japan), Chia-En Jao (Taiwan) and Ning Li (China). In order to get to know each other and introduce their creative activities so far, during the first two days, every artist gave a brief presentation about her/his work up to the present day, each followed by a Q&A session and discussion.

After the artists had shared some basic ideas and thoughts through their presentations, we started to explore the city of Tokyo together. In order to undergo an ‘authentic’ tourist experience; we decided to take part in a very common and popular type of tour, a so-called HATO-Bus tour. The route we chose led us to the Yasukuni Shrine and the House of Parliament. Afterwards, we also joined a guided tour through the Imperial Palace.

On the next day, we held an interim meeting, in which the artists discussed their impressions of their stay in Tokyo so far and the questions that arose to them visiting the different locations in Tokyo. r:ead #1’s 1st period of stay also coincided with the Japanese Lower House election and the prior election campaign. This gained the artists the opportunity, to attend several stump speeches by candidates of the respective political parties.

The Lower House election on Dec 16, 2012 actually made a lasting impression on the artists and became one of the main topics of discussion during the final meeting of the 1st period of stay. All artists commonly raised the issue of the condition of democracy in Asia and the role that art can or should achieve under the terms of the current economic & social system.

After the 1st period of stay was finished, every artist reflected her/his impressions of the 1st period of stay in a report. The artist’s reports written after the 1st residency period in Tokyo can be viewed here.

For the 2nd period of stay (Feb 22 – Mar 13), each artist was accompanied by a curator/dramaturge, she/he had selected in order to form a critical counterpart for the research and creation process during the second part of the residency.

After an initial meeting, every group started their research activities in Tokyo, combined with regular gatherings of all participants at the Nishi-Sugamo Arts Factory. This time, the presentations held in the frame of r:ead, were mainly focusing on the viewpoints of the curators. Every curator gave a presentation on the situation of art in their respective country and their own curatorial activities. The artists were following up with short presentations of their recent ideas and plans for research & creation during the 2nd period of stay in Tokyo.

r:ead’s final presentation (semi-public) was held on March 11, 2013 at the Nishi-Sugamo Arts Factory. Every team (artist and curator/dramaturge of each country) had 90 minutes time to present the results of their fieldwork and creational process in Tokyo. There forms of presentation were diverse: a participatory newspaper-reading performance by the Taiwanese team, video extracts on the subject of oral history by the Japanese team, a quiz show by the Korean team and a documentary film by the Chinese team.

On the day after the final presentation the r:ead #1 participants and r:ead team gathered once more in order to give feedback to each other regarding the residency and it’s outcome.

After returning to their countries, every artist and curator again summarized her/his experiences in Tokyo in a report. The reports of r:ead #1’s 2nd period of stay can be viewed here.

r:ead # 1(2012/2013)

[Schedule]

Dialogue & Research Period: Dec 11 – 18, 2012
Creation Period: Feb 22 – Mar 12, 2013

[Venues]

Nishi-Sugamo Arts Factory, and more

[Participants]

Jisun Kim / Jinjoo Kim (Korea)
Meiro Koizumi / Kyongfa Che (Japan)
Chia-En Jao, / Amy Cheng (Taiwan)
Ning Li / Yinan Li (China)

Supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs Government of Japan in the fiscal 2012

r:ead project team

Director: Chiaki Soma (ANJ)
Co-Director: Ulrike Krautheim (ANJ)
Administrator: Hirotomo Kojima (ANJ)
Co-ordinators/Translators: Hitomi Oyama, Seunghyo Lee
Assistant: Kaori Yoshizaki
Web Design: Drill
Art Direction: Masahiro Okabe (voids)