Preview, Laboratory of the Forest 2016 横浜の森美術展 2016

Summer! The forests of Yokohama are having showers of the chorus of cicadas. It means, the time of the art exhibition in Yokohama’s forest is approaching. This year, 9^th Art Exhibition in the Forest of Yokohama will be held during 19 September – 23 October, in the same forest as the last year, i.e. next to Yokohama Zoorasia. As always, the event is organized by GROUP the Creation and Voice of the Woods 創造と森の声. (Phone/FAX: 045-933-1460, Email: morinokoe2@yahoo.co.jp. Their Facebook is here.) Their activity is recognized with grant this year as one of the 27 groups in Yokohama for their contribution to connecting artistic creativity and ordinary lives of local community. In addition, from July 1^st, they started cloud funding for the event at Motion Gallery (link here). They are also soliciting direct donation, for which we can either hand them money during the events, or transfer your donation to their postal order account (account # 00200-2-48335, account name: GROUP創造と森の声, … er, yeah, at Japan Post, i.e. no international monetary transfer via this route is possible). We can check the artists for 2016 from the Motion Gallery page.

This year’s show will have 7 Japanese and 3 overseas artists for the main exhibition in the Forest, and for a satellite show in Midori Ward Administration Office for 10 -23 September. The artists for 2016 are ASADA, Oka Noriaki 岡典明, Ishikuro Kazuo 石黒和夫, Kiga Yoko 木賀陽子, Chikada Akina 近田明奈, Horie Kazuma 堀江和真, Yoshikawa Youichiro 吉川陽一郎, Kang Hee Joon from Korea, Ri Eung Woo from Korea, and Thomas May from Germany. They start to construct their installation in the forest from August 14^th. This year, the show schedules 5 workshops. The detail the workshops is ↓:

When?	Where?	What to do?	With whom?	Cost (yen)?	Reservation necessary?
9/11/2016 10:00	Forest	Discovered! Tou-ceratops: the tower dinasor of the Forest	Oka Noriaki and Ishikuro Kazuo	500	Yes
9/15/2016 13:00	Midori Ward Office	Let's play with laminated leaves	Yoshikawa Yoichiro	300	First-come, First-served; max 30 people
9/20/2016 13:00	Midori Ward Office	Making Totebag with leave-prints	ASADA	300	First-come, First-served; max 30 people
9/25/2016 10:00	Forest	Costume of the Forest	ASADA and Kiga Yoko	500	Yes
10/23/2016 13:00	Forest	Music workshop with Okapi	Okapi	0	No

The satellite show is open during weekdays, except September 10^th, during the office hours of the Ward Office. The GROUP plans to exhibit their history of 20 years and smaller installations using the materials from the forest in addition to 2 workshops listed above. The main show starts on 19^th of September. At 11:00, a guided tour begins with the artists, and there will be a party from 13:00 with 3 performance groups. This year, tariTARI for Bali dance, Matej Kolenic for Slovak music, and Creams for Irish Reels will appear on the stage. On the closing day of October 23^rd, the artists will preside once more at guided tours from 10:00, and from 13:00 Okapi for steelpan drum is going to have a musical workshop and the closing live concert. Moreover, every Sunday during the event the GROUP provides tours at 10:30, 13:00, and 15:00, MC-ed by Harada Akira, and/or the artists, and /or the member of the GROUP. 

The easiest access to the place is to ride a bus. The most frequent service is either from JR Nakayama 中山 station or Sotetsu Tsurugamine 鶴ヶ峰 Station. There are the routes Asahi 11 - 15 all of which connect two stations. (From Nakayama, the time tables are here and here. From Tsurugamine, the tables are here.)  If you take a bus from Nakayama, get off the bus at Kohdan-Shukaijoh-mae 公団集会場前. If you turn right from the bus stop, beyond the traffic light, you’ll find a building looks like an old school. It is now-defunct Hikarigaoka Elementary School ひかりが丘小学校 (as this Hikarigaoka Housing Complex becomes the town of elderly people with very few kids). If you ride a bus from Tsurugamine for Nishi-Hikarigaoka 西ひかりが丘, it actually takes you in front of this building at the bus stop, called Nishi-Hikarigaoka, the final stop. In any case, first, you walk to the gate of Hikarigaoka Elementary. Turn left there, and left again at the T-crossing facing Kanagawa University High School.  Soon we’ll find a construction site for Yokohama Zoorasia Forest Park on the right, whose gate is still closed. Keep walking the paved road along the Forest Park site, and eventually you enter a small, paved and climbing-up road between the forest on the right and a retirement housing complex, Care Home Yokohama and Villa Yokohama, on the left. Pass the top of the hill seeing a downing slope on the left between the Care Home and Villa. Keep on going 10m or so along the forest, and on the right we see the entrance for the exhibition.

Kohdan-Shukaijoh-mae stop
if you take a bus from Nakayama

Nishi-Hikarigaoka stop
if you take a bus from Tsurugamine

Former Hikarigaoka Elementary School
seen from the direction of the Exhibition

The site for Zoorasia Forest Park is
still under construction and closed …
The notice board says they plan to complete the thing
by January 31, 2017.
They built a bridge over a former bog.

Another bus route we can use for the exhibition is the bus to Zoorasia. Use Asahi 10 to Zoorasia of Sotetsu from Yokohama or from Tsurugamine Station. There is also City bus service Route 136 to Zoorasia from JR Nakayama Station (time table, here). Get off the bus to Yokohama Zoorasia at its terminal (i.e. Zoorasia), and proceed further along for about 400 m to the direction of #2 Parking of the zoo. On the right, there will be a small gate with the sign GROUP the Creation and Voice of the Woods. If you visit the place during weekends, many Asahi 10 and Route 136 buses will take us to the North Gate of Zoorasia (terminal stop) that is the closest to the exhibition entrance. When you leave the terminal stop of Zoorasia North Gate, go back a bit along the bus road, and on the left there is the sign for the GROUP.

The bus route to Zoorasia North Gate.
There are many weekend services to the North Gate.

The bus passes in front of the planned main gate
for Zoorasia Forest Park.

North Gate Terminal.

We walk back a bit …

a bit …

and reach to the gate leading us for the art show on the left.
If you walk from Zoorasia Main Gate,
you’ll find this on your right.

Entering the forest from the gate,
which is actually a popular route for
off-road bikers in early weekend mornings.

Walk straight till you find this bollard ahead.

On the left of the buffer stop,
there is the entrance for the show.

Last year, the show was held during the Indian Summer of Yokohama. This year, the schedule is changed so that we can enjoy the show well into October. Autumn is easier time for us to visit forests in Yokohama. I think the event will be a fun. :)

The Forest in August

If you find a problem in the site introduced in this post, the best contact address will be GROUP the Creation and Voice of the Woods. The events also receives grants from Culture and Tourism Bureau of the City 横浜市文化観光局. The contact address of the Bureau is

Minatocho, Naka-ku, Yokohama, 231-0017
TEL：　045-671-3715　FAX：　045-663-5606

URL: http://www.city.yokohama.lg.jp/bunka/bunshin/torikumi/artsite/