The “logistics-type” exhibition “Vanpool over the Cliff in the Foreground” themed around logistics, labor, and the opposite shore was held in Tokyo Bay. To date Fujikura has focused on infrastructure across the city and its suburbs and the depths of the landscape that accompanies it, primarily using 3DCG animation techniques in the creation of her works.
As an extension of these creative themes, Fujikura launched a research project looking at the landscape of Tokyo’s bay area, something that has long interested her. Participating in the research were artist/dancer Aokid, Takahiro Ohmura who specializes in architectural design and design theory, landscape history specialist Ryosuke Kondo, and urban studies expert Naoki Saito. Through repeated fieldwork and discussion, they attempted to capture the harbor landscape from multiple perspectives.
In this exhibition, Fujikura developed new spatial forms of expression focusing on the dynamism of daily logistics taking place on reclaimed land, and its visual/aural scale. Lumber was sent as a ticket to participants by the day before the exhibition. Attached to the lumber was a QR code for a web site carrying information such as the meeting place and other points to note. Participants gathered at Aomi Passenger Terminal on the day of the exhibition and under the guidance (“Guide Dance”) of Aokid, boarded a small boat for a tour of Tokyo Bay.
Playing inside the boat were video works by Fujikura and radio pieces created on the basis of her research. Aokid’s activities as “Guide Dance” included doing a dance with participants which incorporated elements of the landscape, conducting games, performing tasks on a checklist, etc. After about 40 minutes of cruising, Aokid and the participants arrived at the customs broker Tokai Kaiun Co., Ltd.’s tool shed, stored the lumber away on designated shelving, and received a booklet in exchange for transporting the lumber. The booklet included graphics and images created by Fujikura on the basis of her research, essays by Kondo, Saito and Ohmura, research diaries by Aokid, and more. The tool shed featured a display of Fujikura’s video works, research photographs, and the checklist of onboard tasks which Aokid completed when he did the cruise.