From October, Koganei Artfull Action! will hold a series of talks, “Public lecture: opening dialog.” For each talk a guest will be invited to give a presentation on several subjects, with time for dialog with participants.
Our guest for the first talk, entitled “A Journey around May,” will be video artist/filmmaker Hiroyuki Oki. Although fragmented like the constellations or a patchwork, the film and video works Oki creates in Japan and overseas clearly capture moments in our world. The accumulation of these moments undeniably questions our lives today and the world we live in. In this first talk we will watch Oki’s work “May” together with the artist, and offer a forum for comprehensive dialog on the meaning of the work’s origins and structure.
About “Public lecture: opening dialog”
When we engage with political news through the media, despite the fact that politics is fundamental to supporting our everyday lives, we quickly get used to the careless way things are decided though we may wonder at it. Nor do we question the quantity or quality of the huge amount of information flying about online: it feels like we come to a convenient understanding of something from our partial understanding of each of the diverse fragments we are fed. We seem to be living in a very complex, fast-changing and emotionally-charged society.
The interrelationships and consequences of each event are skated over due to their complex connections and the speed of change; and the event itself gets forgotten in a short time. In spite of the daily occurrence of serious issues, disconcerting events, incidents and accidents, each are dealt with in a dismissive way as if they are fiction. A society that doesn’t present a clear and connected picture of itself could be called a “zone of emptiness.” Society as a whole dilutes reality, and the reality of the existence of each of us living in it is also diluted in the same way. It’s as if we’re drifting on an emptiness resembling the world of an amusement arcade or video game.
The great artists of our time whether consciously or unconsciously are compelled to seize the characteristics of our society and depict them in a variety of ways. Art is a very emotional act, but exceptional creative expression doesn’t allow the artist’s earnest quest to get swept away. We regard this group of work as shining a light on the present; and we want to get together with lots of people to start experiments with dialogue that attains the raw reality of life, unbound by analysis or existing values.
Developing this sort of forum for dialog together with the public will lead to the extension of creative possibility, something that tends to atrophy and shrink in Japanese society. If the existence of this dialog leads to a more diverse and abundant expansion of creativity, and in particular not to artistic expression aimed at self-verification or the desire for approval or recognition, we might also simultaneously extend various possibilities for surviving in the society of the future.
Planning: Miho Miyashita (NPO Artfull Action)
Hiroyuki Oki
Free
30
*Advance reservation not required.
*The program contents may be subject to change.
Artfull Action NPO
TEL: 050-3627-9531
E-mail: mail@artfullaction.net
Koganei Art Spot Chateau 2F (Chateau Koganei 2F, 6 -5-3 Honcho, Koganei-shi, Tokyo)