Fri 25 0ct – Sun 24 Nov, 2024
Opening hours: 11:00-19:00 (last entry 18:45)
Closed: Mondays
＜Exhibition Outline＞
Puppets and stuffed figures created by students and graduates of the Tokyo University of the Arts are on display in Ueno Station. They are available to borrow as “fellows” to take with on a trip around Tokyo in an art project titled Fellow Traveller” that allows visitors to experience artworks directly by taking a stroll through the city with unique companions. Visitors can choose one of the “fellows’’ on display and spend time with them, walking together, getting on trains, and engaging with the biennale artworks. As more people participate in the project, there will be more opportunities for chance encounters and friendly connections made with people walking with the same “fellows”. This project will deliver to many people the experience of travelling and strolling together with someone, feeling that we are not alone in this city.
Curator: Min Nishihara
Artists: Amon de Nuts, Maho Arakawa, Uta Ishimoto, ISSHUUMAWATTETSURAI, Chiho Okuno, Chen Shige, Koji Nakamura, Hodaka Nomura, Rinka Fujita, Sara Horita, Nana Matsushita, Nao Motooka, Hikari Wake
*This exhibition is organized by the Tokyo University of the Arts, Geidai PARK (Geidai Platform of Arts and Knowledge for the Future), Art × Business Interdisciplinary Research Field, as an opportunity for students to practice artistic expression in society. This project is part of the program for the international art festival “Tokyo Biennale 2025 Pre-Action”.
▶How to participate in “Fellow Traveller”:
If you would like to participate, please ask a staff member at the venue. Please register your details as a “Fellow Traveller Club Member” and we will lend you a “Fellow” of your choice.
⚫ There are two rental/return points in Tokyo:
・CREATIVE HUB UENO ‘es’ (within JR Ueno Station)
7-1-1 Ueno, Taito-ku, Tokyo (JR Ueno Station Asakusa Exit) MAP
Date: October 25 (Fri) – November 24 (Sun)
Hours: 11am-7pm
Closed: October 28th (Mon), 5th (Tue), 11th (Mon), November 18th(Mon)
・Slit Park YURAKUCHO (Shin-Kokusai Building, Yurakucho)
3-4-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo MAP
Date: October 29 (Fri) – November 23 (Sun)
Hours: 11am-7pm
Closed: November 3rd (Sun), 4th (Mon), 10th (Sun), 11th (Mon), 17th (Sun), 18th (Mon)
⚫ Note:
*Proof of identity (e.g. ID card, passport) will be checked at the time of lending.
*Children under the age of elementary school sixth grade must be accompanied by an adult.
*The rental period is for 1 day only. The “fellows” must be returned by 18:30.
*Each participant may borrow one “companion”.
*Some “fellows” may not be available for rental due to maintenance or other reasons.
*Each “fellows” is a work of art, carefully crafted by an artist. Please handle with care.
＜Profile＞
Curated by: Min Nishihara
Curator and psychotherapist. She moved to the U.S. after working in the Japanese contemporary art scene in the 1990s, and worked as a social worker and clinical psychotherapist in Los Angeles. In addition to providing psychotherapy, she has conducted art projects at places including senior facilities and domestic violence shelters. In 2018, she returned to Japan to work on activities related to art and resilience. She currently serves as an associate professor at Tokyo University of the Arts, and is Director of Akita Cultural Creation Center and General Director of Tokyo Biennale 2023/2025.
Artists:
ISSHUUMAWATTETSURAI
ISSHUUMAWATTETSURAI is a merchandise label created by Takao Ikiyama and Yusuke Muroi, founded in 2017 and based in Ibaraki Prefecture. They completed their postgraduate studies in Global Art Practice at Tokyo University of the Arts in 2019.
Chiho Okuno
Born in 1998 in Kyoto, Chiho Okuno is currently undertaking a doctoral course at the Department of Intermedia Art, Tokyo University of the Arts. Through the production of small works such as manga and etchings, she attempts to transform experience into art through creativity.
Shige CHEN
An artist born in 1993 in Taipei, Taiwan and doctoral student at the Department of Intermedia Art, Tokyo University of the Arts. Takes on themes such as the boundary/coexistence/divergence of methods of arrangement concerning pictorial and descriptive expression, compression of visual images, symbols and language literacy, and multilingual society.
Koji Nakamura
Born in 2001 in Shimosuwa, Nagano Pref., currently a student at the Department of Intermedia Art, Tokyo University of the Arts.
Through my practice, I am interested in the emotional attachment to objects. I create works using sound vibrations and flashing lights, musical instruments and puppets to examine thise attachment to and value of objects through the animistic spirit of the Suwa region where my hometown is located. The Puppet Series, which I have been working on since 2023, was inspired by a fire that occurred in a place important to me, after which I wished to make friends with the only remaining puppet.
Hodaka Nomura
Born in 2002, in Kanagawa, Hodaka Nomura is currently a student at the Department of Intermedia Art, Tokyo University of the Arts. She explores the changes that occur through communication in the act of expression. Recently she has been considering “walking” as the starting point of any dialogue, and makes plush toys from the memory of walking, and uses walking itself as a creative process.
Nao Motooka
Born in 1998 in Matsuyama, Ehime Pref. Graduated from the Department of Intermedia Art, Faculty of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts in 2021. Works in local communities, including “Handmade Community in Solidarity with Palestine”.
Hikari Wake
Born in 2000 in Ehime Pref. Completed the program in Department of Intermedia Art, Graduate School of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts. While feeling squeezed in crowded trains, she fantasizes about ways to escape from Tokyo.
*Other artist profiles will be published at a later date.
