Laboratory of Forest Art: 2019 art exhibition in the forest of Yokohama

It is this time of the year to meet the annual art exhibition, Laboratory of Forest Art, in the forest next to the Yokohama Zoorasia. On September 29th, 2019, the annual art exhibition is opened its 12^th show. It will be held till 14 October, 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, labforestart@gmail.com. Their HP is here.) As there is no parking, the access to the venue is by bus. The most convenient transportation is a bus ride to Yokohama Zoorasia, from JR Nakayama 中山 station, Sotetsu Tsurugamine 鶴ヶ峰 Station, or Sotetsu Mitsukyo 三ツ境 Station. (Time tables are here.) Get off the bus at Yokohama Zoorasia, and proceed further along for about 400m 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 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. Bonus: this year, the City holds a Flower Show in the location for last year’s Satoyama Garden Festival. To facilitate the access to the show, the Office is experimenting autopilot bus, free of charge, between Zoorasia and the Flower Show location which is right next to the Zoorasia North Gate. You can enjoy a bus ride of tomorrow by using this service. 😄 From the sign for the GROUP, enter the forest; the road is a relatively wide walking promenade. On your left there is an entrance, and you can see a big banner over there saying “the Creation and Voice of the Woods 創造と森の声.”

Those are the autopilot busses
 to the Flower Festival from Zoorasia bus stop.

From the Flower Festival / North Gate of Zoorasia,
 the GROUP shows the way to the exhibition.

The gate to the forest for the Exhibition from Zoorasia

The entrance to the exhibition. Welcome!

The GROUP actually had public display of art creation in the forest between September 15-27. Then, a day before the opening, the Group built a yurt brought from Kyrgyzstan. In the yurt, they had a mini-concert on September 29^th. Inside the yurt was cozy. The GROUP also opened half the wall of the wool tent so that we could enjoy the concert outside as well. The yurt will be there till October 6^th to have a mini-market with goodies from the Central Asian region (11:00-15:00). Please come and enjoy delightful yurt surrounded by Yokohama’s art and forest. They also have art tours on October 5^th (13:30-) and October 13^th (14:30-). On October 13^th, Noriaki Oka presides a workshop to create “Curious Sunbeams from the Canopy” from 10:30 (: cost = 500yen). On the final day, October 14^th, they arrange the last art tour from 10:30, and a symposium from 13:00. If you are interested in them, please come to the entrance of the exhibition at those times. When you enter the forest, there is a reception desk where we can have free pamphlets and the map of the forest for the show.

This year’s map for the exhibition

The yurt

At the entrance,
 last year’s vignette has new design, which includes

these dancers.

The music we enjoyed during the opening was by the musicians of Dombra, and a music unit Fu-Ching-Gido. Four lady musicians, three Japanese and one Kazakh played two-string instruments from the Central Asia. The tunes they chose for this occasion were from classics to modern, but all of them had a very warm tone wafting from the Yurt. Above the roof of the tent, the canopies of tall trees surrounding the open space were gently swinging. A swallowtail butterfly, probably Papilio protenor, danced leisurely above us. That was a very relaxing experience for Sunday afternoon … The dombra musicians passed the baton to Fu-Ching-Gido. They normally played with PA system, but today their performance was purely acoustic. Up-tempo tunes of their music sound very gentle and simply merry, or, I would say, no-hysteric atmosphere. It’s like my activated parasympathetic nerve system with dombra naturally switched to still-relaxing Sunday afternoon sympathetic mode. I loved that. The existence of yurt in the forest gave us a sort of basecamp to get comfortable for forest art. Yurta was a very good idea for an art exhibition in the forest.

There were audience who could not enter the packed-Yurt.
It was all right to listen to relaxing music surrounded by the forest.

Four muses. They were lovely.

Chairs were provided outside.

Merry music of Fu-Ching-Gido

8 artists have installed their work for the 2019 show. This year, they utilized the size of their forest more than these recent years. They are getting used to their 2^nd home, I guess. As the last year, each installation shows a QR code that can lead us to the concept of the work explained by the words of the artist. I show you the link for each manifestation of the concept, which is the same web-page you can open from the QR code.

Installation 1: Haruna Chikada, “Sinking into the forest 森に沈む”

https://labforestart.wixsite.com/mysite/haruna-chikada-1

Installation 2: Noriaki Oka, “Arch of Sunbeams from the Canopy 木洩れ日アーチ”

https://labforestart.wixsite.com/mysite/noriaki-oka

Installation 3: ASADA, “Home in the Forest, Forest in the Home 森のウチ、ウチの森”

https://labforestart.wixsite.com/mysite/asada-asada-1

Installation 4: Akatsuki Harada, “Regeneration 再生”

https://labforestart.wixsite.com/mysite/akatsuki-harada-1

Installation 5: Kazuo Ishikuro, “Mori Mori モリモリ”

https://labforestart.wixsite.com/mysite/kazuo-ishikuro-1

Installation 6: Youichiro Yoshikawa, “Green Circle in Green 緑の中の緑のまる”

https://labforestart.wixsite.com/mysite/youichiro

Installation 7: Yoko Kiga, “Out from the Frame 枠組みの中から”

https://labforestart.wixsite.com/mysite/youko-kiga-1

Installation 8: Kazuma Horie, “Exuberate 繁茂する”

https://labforestart.wixsite.com/mysite/kazuma-horie-1

Probably, all the artists are “getting used to” the creation within the forest. No installation was a war declaration that we could find in, say, 4 years ago. Their forest has lots of trees destroyed by the strong winds of Typhoon Faxai on September 9^th. Whatever. It seems to me GROUP’s creation is nonchalantly staying together with the torn trunks of Quercus acutissima. It’s something in this age of SDG. This year till October 5^th the Group also has an exhibition booth in the Flower Show that is held at the next forest where the autopilot buses are coming and going. The Group is changing every year.

The booth for GROUP the Creation and Voice of the Woods at Flower Show

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.

https://morilab.amebaownd.com/

e-mail: morinokoe7@yahoo.co.jp, labforestart@gmail.com.

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

FAX: 045-316-8420

Orang Hutan to be, or not to be: 2018 Laboratory of Forest Art in Yokohama

Last year during the period of Yokohama Triennale, BankArt 1929 had a show titled “LifeV – tourism: a mysterious world of a forest, plants, and the sea” which I reported in my blog for October 13, 2017. Actually, the exhibition was consisted of a couple of plastic palm trees and some silk flowers, poking from the concreted floor. That may have been an artistic expression of the creators, but … er … I think if we were accustomed to be in real forests or nature, we could feel the “amount of data” (I cannot find a better word in this regard …) from those installations was extremely poor, or even childish. If such reaction was the intention of the artists for BankArt, that’s fine. Though, I didn’t think they were aware of their insufficiency. Otherwise, how was it possible for them in a straight face to title their other works as “Accumulation of Knowledge”? (Oh, by the way, BankArt 1929 has closed their door on the canal last March, and is now moving to smaller locations in the city, division by division.) That may be a serious thing. Art is very human activity. Well, apes may do it, but not in a so-complicated-way-as homo sapience, don’t they? When such representative behavior of the 21^st century humans has a feeble grasp about nature, “achieving SDG by 2030” is really a pie in the sky … no, “a forest in the sky.” And those artists for BankArt were Japanese who were supposed to be educated in the tradition of “close and refined relationship between human activity and the nature, such as tea ceremony or flower arrangement.” “We Japanese have known the importance of nearby greenery called Satoyama 里山 that sustained an idyllic country life for millennia.” Heck. Since then, I am having a suspicion about the sorry relationship between the contemporary artists, aka representative humans, and the forest / mother-nature.

… Could your imagination see a forest here?
 From “Life V – tourism:
 a mysterious world of a forest, plants, and the sea”

This is supposed to be a flower-bed.
 From “Life V – tourism:
 a mysterious world of a forest, plants, and the sea”

Ancient Japanese artists may not have been like this. Using materials harvested from nature for artistic creation needs accumulation of knowledge (indeed) about nature. The tenacity of our great artisans is really impressive in this regard; pls. just stand in front of our national treasures displayed in Tokyo National Museum. Actually, such expertise is not lost (more to it, next week). Probably, the matter is about the contemporary artists, not those who engage in traditional crafts/arts. And so, we return to the 2018 exhibition by the GROUP the Creation and Voice of the Woods, I reported last seek. Their show, named Laboratory of Forest Art, is for September 2-30, 2018 in in the forest next to the Yokohama Zoorasia. Actually this is the 4^th year in my blog to report their annual event. I found a definite evolution this year, in their relationship with the forest.

Artists for Laboratory of Forest Art

For this year’s exhibition, the founders of the group, baby boomers, are handing over the programming to the Millennials. The new secretariat presented the manifesto:

Some things don’t change however; like the fact that calling this place “FOREST” is the most important thing for us; or that we want to be a group who work together in protecting and nurturing it. We adopted this view and will open a new exhibition this summer. We will have fun trying and experimenting so that this “FOREST” can be felt as a paradise for all artists, art lovers, their family and friends. Please join us in this “Laboratory of forest art.”

Now, the interesting part of this manifest is the meaning of “a group who work together in protecting and nurturing it (i.e., the forest).” They discussed this point during the symposium on the opening day. I found their approach is completely different from typical forest lovers, forest instructors included, in Japan. And that’s the most important, if we can think, at least for the forest, contemporary artists are representative of city dwellers nowadays in Japan.

The question the artists faced during the symposium was simple: why do you create your work in a forest? The answer from all 9 of them was also straight forward, and the same: the space is large in a forest. All of them said, normally they work in an atelier which ultimately limits the size and material of their installation. Then, their creation is transported to museum or gallery to be seen by the audience who are often regulars for such events. In contrast, in the forest the limit of space is practically non-existent for a single artist. They can bring in materials from the atelier, or procure the ones from the forest on the spot. The work in an atelier is lonely, but here in the forest fellow artists come and even help “building” the installation. The work will be seen by strollers who wonder in the forest without any intention to meet their artistic expression. Such audience is definitely different from those “knowing” visitors of atelier. So, in terms of space, material, and human resources, the control imposed over artistic creation is far laxer for this annual exhibition in a forest. That’s the thrills they found in the forest. And I suspect there is more.

Installation 4
Kazuma Horie, “Connecting つなげる.”
  He said he’s a painter usually,
 and created the installation by recalling
 his childhood memory of playing in the forests.
 He expects from this exhibition to absorb something different
 that would be a part of his foundation as an artist in 10 years’ time.

Installation 1
Noriaki Oka, “Nature and Un-nature 不自然と自然.”
 In the symposium
 he confessed he loves ambiguous constraint the forest imposes.
 This year he used bamboos that
 he did not imagine using in atelier
 but was offered from the other members of the GROUP.

Installation 8
Ayumi Suzuki, “Ring 輪.”
 This is her first time to present the work in a forest.
 The idea of installation is hers,
 but her family visited the forest many times to “construct” it together.
 She said both the size and the collaborative nature of the work
 were very refreshing.

The City of Yokohama allows them to present their art work in the forest that will be a botanical part of Yokohama Zoorasia. There is a reason for this generosity. The GROUP the Creation and Voice of the Woods is registered as an organization of forest volunteers. As such, they, the artists and the non-artists, engage in forest management activities year-round. The basic maintenance of trekking roads in the forest is a part of their “expected” activity. Thinning smaller trees to prevent biodiversity from degradation is another. It seems to me, as the artists join to such pursuits, they unconsciously digested the spirit of the Satoyama forest. According to Harada who is a founding member of the GROUP since 1997, in earlier days artists brought in the installations created in their downtown atelier to the forest, just like they normally did for the shows in galleries. However, after thinning and pruning for 20 years lots of logs and branches have been piled up that can be a part of their artistic material. Why not using them for their creative work? The installations made of materials regularly found in the art galleries gradually become  works from the offerings from the forest. Larger works let them think more the relationship between their work and the surrounding forest. ASADA said for some time she regarded the forest something to tackle with, or to conquer for her installation. This year, No. She dug the forest floor becoming a part of the forest, and found her art work stress-free. Chikada said she realized whatever the freedom the forest offers, ultimately the existence of the forest is far stronger than her or her work. It is the humble conversation with the forest that lets her creative urge to go forward. Yoshikawa mentioned now he’s certain about his artistic direction that can walk naturally with the time of the forest. For him presenting his work in the forest is really free without even the time constraint. 

Installation 3
Kazuo Ishikuro, “Wind God, Thunder God ふうじんらいじん.”
 He found liberating
 using the thinned trees and pruned boughs of limitless supply.

Installation 2
Yoko Kiga, “territory.”
 In the symposium, she pointed out physical challenges,
 such as rain, heat, insect bites, injuries, …
 during the activities in the forest. It made her resolve to create art. 

Installation 9
Akatsuki Harada, “The Imagination of the Giant Tree – 15 巨木のイメージ – 15.”

Installation 6
ASADA, “Dive into the forest.”

Installation 5Haruna Chikada, “There and Here むこうとこちら”

Installation 7
Youichiro Yoshikawa, “Green circles and lines 2018 緑の丸と線 2018.”
  He said amblers in this forest may think
 the importance of artistic expression without coming to the museums.

And so, here is the difference between the exhibition of Laboratory of Forest Art, and the silk flowers pasted on the concrete in BankArt. The artists for the GROUP the Creation and Voice of the Woods have dived in the forest in honest, and making the environment really a part of their creative process. This year’s installations definitely show their evolution in understanding of the environment. Certainly theirs are different from re-creation of organic farming, or traditional crafts from the forest materials. Yes, they hang heavy objects from the trees which could put pressure on the forest, albeit temporarily. The academic biologists or botanists would frown at their treatment of the nature. But, I think the artists’ approach could be a part of 21^st century Satoyama management. They sincerely search for the establishment of relationship with the forest, for their own creative necessity. They are exploring a win-win route for the environment and the humans. That’s the necessary condition for the sustainable “development,” isn’t it?

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

https://blog.goo.ne.jp/souzoutomorinokoe

e-mail: morilabo.ws@gmail.com

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

FAX: 045-316-8420

Laboratory of Forest Art: 2018 art exhibition in the forest of Yokohama

September. Yeah, it’s still hot in Yokohama, but surely the autumn is coming. On September 2^nd, 2018, the annual art exhibition is opened its 11^th show in the forest next to the Yokohama Zoorasia. It will be held till 30 September, organized by GROUP the Creation and Voice of the Woods 創造と森の声. (Phone/FAX: 045-933-1460, Email: morilabo.ws@gmail.com. Their Facebook is here.) The show is free of charge for visitors. As a continuation of organizational change started since the last year for the GROUP, the concept of 2018 program reflects the transition from baby boomers (the founders of the group) to Millennials. This year, they named their exhibition in English: Laboratory of Forest Art. Next week, I’ll report you what their idea is, which was presented during the symposium on the opening day. Anyway, it’s better you yourself go there first and find it out from their work. This week, let me introduce you the installations the GROUP has presented in the forest for 2018 exhibition.

As there is no parking, the access to the venue is by bus. The most convenient transportation is a bus ride to Yokohama Zoorasia, from JR Nakayama 中山 station, Sotetsu Tsurugamine 鶴ヶ峰 Station, or Sotetsu Mitsukyo 三ツ境 Station. (Time tables are here.) Get off the bus at Yokohama Zoorasia, and proceed further along for about 400m 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 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. From the sign, enter the forest; the road is a relatively wide walking promenade. On your left there is an entrance, and you can see a big banner over there saying “the Creation and Voice of the Woods 創造と森の声.”

The gate to the forest for the Exhibition from Zoorasia

The entrance to the exhibition. Welcome!

The banner we can find nearby

When you enter the forest, pls. find the reception desk where we can have free pamphlets and the map of the forest for the show. On the right, there is a wire fence decorated by acorns and leaves. It’s like a vignette constructed by objects from the forest. According to the GROUP, it’s for visitors to complete by hanging whatever they found / created in the forest (+ to protect the trekking roads from violent trespassing). The GROUP said from this year the City of Yokohama gave OK to leave picnic benches in the opens space at the entrance. You can have your lunch there (; though it’s a heaven for mosquito). Below is the map for this year’s exhibition.

Vignette in the forest

9 artists have installed their work for the 2018 show. The route for the exhibition is also changed here and there, which is, I think, an evolved approach (, on which I’m going to talk about next week). Each installation shows a QR code that can lead us to the concept of the work explained by the words of the artist. … Yeah, QR code may not be so familiar for you outside Japan. It’s a 2-dimensional bar code that can carry more data than the codes you find in the shelves of supermarkets. To use them, please download a QR code app. on your mobile (you can search “QR-code” in whichever vendor). In this post, I show you the link for each manifestation of the concept, which is the same web-page you can open from the QR code.

Installation 1

Noriaki Oka, “Nature and Un-nature 不自然と自然”

https://labforestart.wixsite.com/mysite/noriaki-oka

Installation 2

Yoko Kiga, “territory”

https://labforestart.wixsite.com/mysite/youko-kiga

Installation 3

Kazuo Ishikuro, “Wind God, Thunder God ふうじんらいじん”

https://labforestart.wixsite.com/mysite/kazuo-ishikuro

Installation 4

Kazuma Horie, “Connecting つなげる”

https://labforestart.wixsite.com/mysite/kazuma-horie

Installation 5

Haruna Chikada, “There and Here むこうとこちら”

https://labforestart.wixsite.com/mysite/haruna-chikada

To enjoy this installation,
 please stand on the stump in the back to the mirror.

Installation 6

ASADA, “Dive into the forest”

https://labforestart.wixsite.com/mysite/asada-asada

ASADA has an accompanying video for this installation here.

Installation 7

Youichiro Yoshikawa, “Green circles and lines 2018 緑の丸と線 2018”

https://labforestart.wixsite.com/mysite/youichiro-yoshikawa

Installation 8

Ayumi Suzuki, “Ring 輪”

https://labforestart.wixsite.com/mysite/ayumi-suzuki

Installation 9

Akatsuki Harada, “The Imagination of the Giant Tree – 15 巨木のイメージ – 15”

https://labforestart.wixsite.com/mysite/akatsuki-harada

The work is a continuation of his Giant Tree series,
 following #14 at Yogyakarta last year.

This year, they have one workshop titled “Let’s make a magic tree in the forest.” It’s on September 16, 10:00-13:00, MC-ed by Noriaki Oka (300 yen for an adult, 200 yen for a kid). RSVP via email below. Enjoy. 😄

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

https://blog.goo.ne.jp/souzoutomorinokoe

e-mail: morilabo.ws@gmail.com

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

FAX: 045-316-8420