Laboratory of the Forest 2017 横浜の森美術展 2017

The 10^th Art Exhibition in the Forest of Yokohama is from 10 September in the forest next to Yokohama Zoorasia. The show will be held till 24 September, as a presentation of artworks created during the workshop series started last May. 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: morinokoe7@yahoo.co.jp. Their Facebook is here.) The show is free of charge for visitors. According to the GROUP people, as their activity has entered in the third decade, they changed the approach to the event from “mainly exhibition” to “mainly workshop.” In addition, the forest of their activity is entering the final stage of the municipal project to be a botanical park of the City of Yokohama. The GROUP decided to have an emphasis on forest maintenance activities year-round. (Actually, I’ve found the place could have an interesting status in Japanese history for modern botany. I’ll come back to it after reading Fred Pearce …) So, this year’s Laboratory of the Forest is a kind of first step for the second generation of their concept. Let’s dive in the forest to see what’s happening there.

The most frequent transportation services to the forest of the GROUP is to ride a bus either from JR Nakayama 中山 station or Sotetsu Tsurugamine 鶴ヶ峰 Station. There are the routes Asahi 11 and 15, 旭-11/旭-15, both of which connect two stations. (From Nakayama, the time table is here. From Tsurugamine, the table is here.)  If you take a bus from Nakayama, get off the bus at Kohdan-Shukaijoh-mae 公団集会場前. If you look to the 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. 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 a bit to the direction of Hikarigaoka Elementary and turn left at the first corner from the Nishi-Hikarigaoka bus stop. Go straight. Eventually you enter a small, paved and steeply 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. At this point on the edge of the forest, there is a big banner saying “the Creation and Voice of the Woods 創造と森の声.” From there, keep on going 10m or so along the forest, and on the right we see the entrance for the exhibition. Another bus route we can use is the bus to Zoorasia. Use Asahi 9 and 10, 旭-9/旭-10, to Zoorasia of Sotetsu from Yokohama (time table, here) or from Tsurugamine (time tables, here and here) Stations. Sotetsu Bus has another service from Mitsukyo 三ツ境 Station with Asahi 33 and 34, 旭-33/旭-34, (time table, here). There also is City Bus service Route 136 to Zoorasia from JR Nakayama Station (time table, here). Get off the bus at Yokohama 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, 33, 34 and Route 136 buses will take us to the North Gate of Zoorasia (terminal stop) that is the closest to the workshop 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 gate to the forest for the Exhibition from Zoorasia

Could you see a bollard over there
from the banner of the GROUP?
That’s at the entrance.

The entrance to the place

6 artworks are created during the workshop series of 2017, and now shown in the forest. They are

“Dance, Dance, Dance,” with Kazuo Ishiguro 石黒和夫, created in May 13-14 and 20-21

“We created a troop of 18 dancers from twigs of the forest.
They are bopping in the forest path!”

A ritual in a forest of New Guinea … ?

Dance!

“Abstraction of the Forest,” with Yohichiro Yoshikawa 吉川陽一郎, created in July 15-17.

“A large circle that is an abstraction in the forest.
Along the circle line, we transplanted dragon’s beard
(dwarf lilyturf / Ophiopogon japonicas) found in the forest.
It’s a painting
as an order created by humans in the wilderness.”

The installation is continuing
to the last year’s work:
the dragon’s beard there is
well established now.

“Athletic Drum,” with ASADA, created on July 29.

“We created a place with lots of ‘musical instruments’
in the forest.
Please enjoy music of yours!”

Bang!

Bong! (with a rubber sandal)

“Land-art Labo,” with Kazuma Horie 堀江和真, created on August 6 and 10.

“We created tiny mountains in the forest by moving the soil,
and decorated them with small twigs.
Eventually, they will be covered by grasses and mosses
to be a part of the forest.”

This one starts to be taken over by a vine.
It’s becoming the forest …

“Sleeping in the Forest,” with Noriaki Oka 岡典明, created on August 19 and September 2.

“We created a wooden deck in the forest
for us to throw ourselves down.
We then nailed the twigs and flowers on it.
Together, we see the sky through the tree canopy,
and feel the wind in the forest.”

“Cathedral of the Forest,” with all artists, created on September 10.

“We weaved the tree branches
to create a cathedral,
and decorate it
with ‘stained glasses.’”

I personally love the canopy of the cathedral.
Tree canopy and plastic “glasses” kids made
become one …

From this year’s installations, I had an impression that the artists are now getting used to the “time” of the forest. Forest evolves resolutely by their own term, and flatly rejects the urge of the humans to control the temporal space. The artwork in the forest, then, would be difficult to be “installations” of homo sapience, but something a part of the flow of the space and time determined only by the nature. Since each artwork has been evolving for more than 5 months already, many of them started to gather moss or even decay. Even though, the visitors of the venue can join the spirit of human conception by situating our body within each artwork in the forest. You can stand at the center of dancers there. Your experience this time will be definitely different from the tableau we had during the 2017 National Urban Greenery Fair 全国都市緑化フェア where urbanites of polished shoes strolled along the artificially created promenade. Surely, it’s a matter of your preference. But I do prefer these dancers here to them in May.

At the entrance,
they have posters about each artworks
and a map of the venue.

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.

www.facebook.com/SouzoutoMorinokoe1997

blog.goo.ne.jp/souzoutomorinokoe

e-mail: morinokoe7@yahoo.co.jp

In any case, the city office which is in charge of this forest is

Office for the Park Greeneries in the North 北部公園緑地事務所

Yokohama Municipal Government Creative Environment Policy Bureau 横浜市環境創造局

Phone: 045-311-2016 (I guess in Japanese only)

FAX: 045-316-8420 (I hope there is somebody who can read English …)

A Summer Holiday: Joining a workshop for 10th Art Exhibition in the Forest of Yokohama

As I reported in my June 2^nd post, this year 2017 Laboratory of the Forest is made of 6 series of workshops and an exhibition (September 10-24) of the installations created during the workshops. The place of the event is the forest attached to the site for this year’s National Urban Greenery Fair 全国都市緑化フェア that is planned to be a part of Yokohama Zoorasia Botanical Park. The final workshops will be held on September 2^nd (“Sleeping in the forest”) and 10^th (“Forest Cathedral”). The concept of this year’s exhibition by the GROUP the Creation and Voice of the Woods 創造と森の声 is letting the process of creating installations a part of exhibition for anybody to come and enjoy in the forest. On September 10^th, making Forest Cathedral is expected to be completed by installing transparent color panels made of plastic films spread over gaps between twigs. By that date, all the installations for the 10^th Exhibition is ready for audience. The twiggy dancers created during the first workshop last May for the Greenery Fair have moved there to join with the other works. One summer Sunday, I visited one of these activities for the Forest Cathedral. That was a fun! I tell you my experience with the people of the GROUP for Art Exhibition in the Forest of Yokohama. What I helped was preparing “Forest Cathedral” to be ready for plastic films.

Dancing twigs are moved from Urban Greenery Fair site.

The GROUP people thinned young Quercus myrsinifolia in the forest and used them to “build” a hexagonal pergola. The leaves of cut trees were removed but many of their twigs were left as such. Then, they erected “pillars” at each corner of roughly 7m diameter hexagon with 2-3 processed Quercus myrsinifolia. The tips of trees are twined at the top so that when the pillars were raised, the hexagonal pergola had beams of boughs at around 3-4m above. During the workshop on September 10, the participants are making color panels with plastic films and Y-shaped smaller twigs for max 30cm wide. The panes they create will fill the gap between the boughs.  When it’s done, the visitors in the pergola can look up the “canopy” where sunshine penetrates through colorful transparent films, which is expected to give a feel of stained glasses in a cathedral. To install color panels in the ceiling, the GROUP is planning to combine panels at the ground and use pulley to rift them up, but the lower gaps are expected to be filled by panes with twines and cable ties. When I joined their activity, the pergola was already built but the lower parts of the “canopy” had too wide gaps for color panels. My task was to create smaller spaces for the participants of 9/10 Workshop to fill the openings with their color panes.

A pile of thinned Quercus myrsinifolia

A sort of roof-top of the pergola

A prototype of color panels

The forest for the Exhibition is the property of the City of Yokohama. It’s a typical abandoned Satoyama forest where too old trees for fire logs, like Quercus acutissima and Quercus myrsinifolia, are freely scattering their seeds without human intervention. The GROUP told me the people of the city office said it was OK to “harvest” the materials for their art work from the forest so long as the activity was not dangerous. They cannot fell, say, a 20m tall Quercus serrata, but using ubiquitous young Quercus myrsinifolia is frankly welcome as a part of forest management. So, when I went there, they had a mountain of cut trees and branches. The first task was removing the leaves from the thinned trees and scattering them below the installation created during the Workshop 03 on July 28. That workshop, orchestrated by ASADA, was to create musical “instruments” in the forest. The art work was for anybody to bong the bamboos and jump on the wooden decks to create sounds in the forest. Inevitably kids used the installation as their playground and tumbling down from the platforms. The GROUP people decided to use the leaves removed for the Cathedral as natural cushions for kids to enjoy safely the art work. The morning I’ve been there were still misty in the forest. Plucking leaves to make a pile of cushions was actually very meditative. I tried the leafy ground in the middle of the process. It certainly returned gentler rebounds for legs. I hope my leaf-pulling can provide a safer space for kids …

Making natural cushions

Anybody can hop and jump
to create sounds there.

The leaf-less trees are then used to make the ceiling and walls of the Cathedral denser. First, I had to identify a gap that is too wide for color panes. Then, I chose a tree / bough / twig whose shape and size could provide an effect suitable for Y-shaped panels to fill the gap. Bringing a chosen material to the pergola and trying the branch to a gap, sometimes we found the size of the tree is too small/big to be twined to the pillar. Or the shape of the bough did not create an anticipated impression. I then had to return to the pile of leaf-less trees and restart selecting a material. When a tree was just right, the next task is attaching it to the post in a right angle securely enough to withstand average storms in Yokohama. “Tying at least 3 points would be a safer option, we guess,” Mr. Ishiyama of the GROUP advised me. Though the process required certain techniques to master during the process, and it surely takes time, I found it really a fun. I imagined what kind of color kids for 9/10 Workshop would choose for that particular space … then proceeded to the next hole. By the afternoon, the mist disappeared and a bit of sunlight came down between the taller canopies of the forest. Japonica saepestriata and Lethe sicelis were flying by when I was struggling with wires to secure the tree. That’s a kind of ideal way of spending a summer holiday.

A pile of material for art work

Mr. Ishiyama is tying a bough
to the beams.

The pergola is still too spacy
… more work is necessary.

The most frequent transportation services to the forest of the GROUP is to ride a bus either from JR Nakayama 中山 station or Sotetsu Tsurugamine 鶴ヶ峰 Station. There are the routes Asahi 11 and 15 both of which connect two stations. (From Nakayama, the time table is here. From Tsurugamine, the table is 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. 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 a bit to the direction of Hikarigaoka Elementary and turn left at the first corner from the Nishi-Hikarigaoka bus stop. Go straight. Eventually you enter a small, paved and steeply 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. At this point on the edge of the forest, there is a big banner saying “創造と森の声.” From there, keep on going 10m or so along the forest, and on the right we see the entrance for the workshop. Another bus route we can use is the bus to Zoorasia. Use Asahi 9 and 10 to Zoorasia of Sotetsu from Yokohama (time table, here) or from Tsurugamine (time tables, here and here) Stations. Sotetsu Bus has another service from Mitsukyo 三ツ境 Station with Asahi 33 and 34 (time table, here). There also is City Bus service Route 136 to Zoorasia from JR Nakayama Station (time table, here). Get off the bus at Yokohama 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, 33, 34 and Route 136 buses will take us to the North Gate of Zoorasia (terminal stop) that is the closest to the workshop 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 gate to the forest for the Exhibition from Zoorasia

The entrance to the place

The banner you’ll find if you come
from Nishi-Hikarigaoka bus stop

The art works created during the Workshops will be in the forest till 24^th of September, and dismantled in turn to disappear completely by the end of September. Please come and enjoy the installations in Yokohama’s forest, before they are gone.

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.

www.facebook.com/SouzoutoMorinokoe1997

blog.goo.ne.jp/souzoutomorinokoe

e-mail: morinokoe7@yahoo.co.jp

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/

Art in the Forest 2017: Preview for the Laboratory of the Forest 2017 森ラボ 2017

Sorry, a slight change in my posting. Next week, I start to tell you about Yadoriki Forest やどりき水源林, which I promised to post today. Instead, this week is about 2017 Laboratory of the Forest. In 2017, the forest for annual Art Exhibition in the Forest of Yokohama is a part of the place for the 2017 National Urban Greenery Fair 全国都市緑化フェア, next to Yokohama Zoorasia. On the other hand, the GROUP the Creation and Voice of the Woods 創造と森の声 that organizes the exhibition has celebrated their 20^th anniversary. They announced the art event this year has completely different program. The Group does not have 2017 exhibition as they have had regularly, but two categories of weekend activities. One is the workshops during July-September where the visitors to the forest can work with the artists to create art by themselves. By coming October, the forest will have all the installations created during the workshops, which is the 2017 Art Exhibition in the Forest of Yokohama. Another is forest management activities including vegetation survey. The first project of theirs have already completed last month as a part of the 2017 National Urban Greenery Fair. This week, I report you their May event and tell you their schedule from June. If you plan to join any of these activities, please make a contact with the GROUP the Creation and Voice of the Woods. RSVP. (Phone/FAX: 045-933-1460, Mobile: 090-9137-3329, Email: morinokoe7@yahoo.co.jp. Their Facebook is here). They, as always, solicit donations to be a supporter of their activities. If you give annual contribution of 3000 yen, they will send you 3 newsletters per year, and information for the members-only events.

Their first project for 2017 was held on May 13, 14, 20 and 21 in the venue for National Urban Greenery Fair. It’s titled “Dance, Dance, Dance,” with Kazuo Ishiguro 石黒和夫. The participants of the workshop created figures of dancing people using the materials found in the forest. It seems to me, not only the completed installations but also their activity drew a lot of attention from visitors of nice shoes more common in shopping centers, not in a forest. “Oh, look, what are they doing?” “Daddy, they are making dolls with twigs!” “Wow, this is really interesting …” For city dwellers without regular contact with nature, the art creation in the forest must have been an eye-opener. I too think their whimsical dancing figures are very animating and humorous … One weakness. The workshop was held along a wide promenade where lots of visitors are coming and going. The activity looked like a tableau in front of a crowd, just like in a standard museum. One of the charms of the Group was encountering their creation in a thick forest by surprise. I could not feel such an excitement as we could have in their regular exhibition … OK, the Greenery Fair is for those who do not know forest well. My impression is out of the context. Suggesting the way to enjoy the nature for complete novices must have an educational value. I hope “Dance, Dance, Dance” has expanded the number of the supporters for the Group. After June 3^rd, all of their installations in the venue for National Urban Greenery Fair will be moved the neighboring forest that is the same place of the last year’s exhibition. They will stay there until winter this year ... They could be more vibrant in their forest than in the Fair.

Dancing twigs

Process 1

Process 2

This is cute.

On May 27 and 28
they collaborated with Midori Ward of the City
 to exhibit their previous activities,
including a fun event of “hand-sawing a log.”

After the Greenery Fair, they return to their regular venue of the last 2 years. June and from October to the next spring is for forest management activities. July-September is for art workshops which are

Project 2: Abstraction of the Forest, July 15-17, 10:00-15:00

With Yohichiro Yoshikawa 吉川陽一郎

“Let us create abstract ‘painting’ in the forest by moving the plants we find there.”

You can join whichever date you like for this event. No problem to participate all 3 days or 2 days.

Project 3: Athletic Drum, July 29, 10:00-15:00

With ASADA

“Let us create a place with lots of ‘musical instruments’ in the forest. We then enjoy music there, physically.”

Project 4: Land-art Labo, August 6, and August 10, 10:00-15:00

With Kazuma Horie 堀江和真

“Let us create tiny mountains in the forest by moving the soil. Eventually, they will be covered by grasses and mosses and become scenery of the forest.”

You can join whichever date you like for this event. No problem to participate all 2 days.

Project 5: Sleeping in the Forest, August 19 and September 2, 10:00-15:00

With Noriaki Oka 岡典明

“Let us create a wooden deck in the forest for us to throw ourselves down. Together, we see the sky through the tree canopy, and feel the wind in the forest.

You can join whichever date you like for this event. No problem to participate all 2 days.

Project 6: Cathedral of the Forest, September 10, 10:00-15:00

All artists

“Let us weave the tree branches to create a huge cathedral, and decorate it with ‘stained glasses.’”

The most frequent transportation services to the forest of the Group from June is to ride a bus either from JR Nakayama 中山 station or Sotetsu Tsurugamine 鶴ヶ峰 Station. There are the routes Asahi 11 and 15 both of which connect two stations. (From Nakayama, the time table is here. From Tsurugamine, the table is 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 a bit to the direction of Hikarigaoka Elementary and turn left at the first corner from the Nishi-Hikarigaoka bus stop. Go straight. Eventually you enter a small, paved and steeply 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. At this point on the edge of the forest, there is a big banner saying “創造と森の声.” From there, keep on going 10m or so along the forest, and on the right we see the entrance for the workshop. Another bus route we can use is the bus to Zoorasia. Use Asahi 9 and 10 to Zoorasia of Sotetsu from Yokohama (time table, here) or from Tsurugamine (time tables, here and here) Stations. Sotetsu Bus has started a service from Mitsukyo Station with Asahi 33 and 34 (time table, here). There also is City Bus service Route 136 to Zoorasia from JR Nakayama Station (time table, here). Get off the bus at Yokohama 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, 33, 34, and Route 136 buses will take us to the North Gate of Zoorasia (terminal stop) that is the closest to the workshop 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.

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 Group’s forest

When it rains,
the paved slope to the forest entrance
looks like this.

The banner

The bus stop for
the North Gate of Zoorasia

Walking back a bit from the North Gate,
on the left there is this entrance.

Though it’s not a yellow brick road
… it leads us to the workshop place
from the Zoorasia.

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/