Devised by playwright, director, and actor Hideki Noda, this new movement aims to gather together the diverse artistic scenes of Tokyo and the rest of Japan, in order to spread the word about them. Featuring contributions from a variety of artists assembled by Noda and his partners in this initiative such as, sculptor Kohei Nawa and contemporary artist Katsuhiko Hibino. Tokyo Caravan will start out from Rio de Janeiro during the 2016 Summer Olympics before popping up in various locations both within Japan and overseas to present a “Grand Cultural Circus,” while continuously endeavoring to promote exchange that transcends the boundaries between countries and regions.
General Supervisor: Hideki Noda (playwright, director, actor; Artistic Director of the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre)
Assistant Supervisor: Katsuhiko Hibino (artist; Professor, Department of Intermedia Art, Faculty of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts)
Artistic Supervisor: Kohei Nawa (sculptor; Professor, Graduate School/Art and Design Studies at Kyoto University of Art and Design; Director, SANDWICH)
Perhaps you could call Tokyo Caravan an “art brigade” or “cultural circus” that pops up unexpectedly in your town to present a spectacle. Anyways, it’s an art caravan like nobody’s ever tried before.
From October 8 to 10, we’ll hold a workshop as a kind of experimental presentation, where people can see what we’re working on while we’re in the middle of it.
We’d also like to get people’s feedback so we can work out how the project should evolve as we go forward. Then we plan to get underway in full swing next autumn.
I hope that the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will further transform TOKYO into a city of culture, and that our “art brigade/cultural circus” will survive beyond 2020 as part of its legacy. That’s my vision for Tokyo Caravan.
In terms of the content of this Tokyo Caravan workshop…well, it’s something suitable for a brigade, taking as its starting point the concept behind Tokyo Caravan – that “culture is traffic” – and featuring the motifs of exchange, travel, and transport.
Artists who support the intentions behind Tokyo Caravan will create everything.
The places where Tokyo Caravan will appear and the programs that it will feature will differ each time, and my dream is that they’ll gradually get bigger and more ambitious in scope.