An art festival held in a traditional downtown shitamachi area where the elegant and atmospheric“nagaya” row house culture lives on. Neighborly traditions survive even now in Tokyo’s Sumida Mukojima district, which lived through the ravages of war and which has continued to evolve in its own unique way alongside its traditional “nagaya culture.” With coronavirus calling into question the relationship between people, space and time, we decided to hold an experiential art event, Sumida Mukojima EXPO 2020.
The area-wide exhibition event made use of approximately 40 locations including Sumida Lifetime Learning Center, Shichiken-Nagaya, Oguraya, around 20 nagaya row houses and art spaces, and spaces under the eaves of around 18 houses.