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This year the Tokyo International Forum celebrates its fifth anniversary, and various events will be held in August to celebrate this. One of them is "Tokyo Art Jungle", scheduled for August 13th-15th. We invited Mr. David d'Heilly, the overall curator, to tell us what we can expect from this event. The attraction of Tokyo as a city Since I first came to Japan in 1985, I have come to be involved in two genres of work, as a film-maker and a curator. Why do I continue to use Japan as my working base, rather than America? Well, it's because I'm attracted by the multi-dimensional culture that exists in the city of Tokyo. The culture in two other major cities, Paris and New York, is also multi-dimensional. But the attraction here is different. Tokyo is like a crossroads of all kinds of culture, east and west, old and new. Many top-ranking artists who create great works invariably come to Tokyo for one reason or another, and pass through on their way to somewhere else. I sometimes give them assistance as part of my work. All of them have their own favorite image of Tokyo. Conversely, for us who live in Tokyo, there are qualities that we don't notice, because they are too much part of our everyday life. At this exhibition, I hope to take a fresh look at the multi-dimensional culture of Tokyo as a crossroads, in the form of an art event. In the past, I have already curated overseas exhibitions on the theme of Japanese contemporary art. These include one in Rotterdam, and the New York MoMA/PS1 exhibition in 2001. Every time I do so, the list of new things I want to attempt just gets longer. I hope to bring them all to fruition with this "Tokyo Art Jungle". Something that could only be achieved in the Tokyo International Forum
Enjoy the exhibition with casuality, as if you were just flicking through a magazine Once we had acquired the large exhibition space of the Tokyo International Forum, the method I used when considering the individual projects, organizing information, and planning the composition was that of magazine editing. The lightness of this media approach when dealing with such a huge building would initially seem at odds with it. But it proved surprisingly appropriate. Magazines carry features about popular artists, as well as articles and columns on a variety of genres such as sport, food, fashion, theater, and so on. People can then read through them quickly, or pick out the pages on their preferred subjects. In the same way, I hope the visitors to this facility will be able to enjoy a broad spectrum of exhibits at their own pace and in their own order, as if they were flicking through a magazine. Continuing the "magazine" analogy, our "Aloha! Yurakucho" program scheduled for the 1F courtyard (Plaza) will serve as a "contents page". There will be a pool here, music will be playing, new toys will add color, and people will be able to eat and drink. It will be like a "square" where people can meet to talk and exchange information. It will also be like an introduction to the various programs of "Tokyo Art Jungle", and it will be full of "hints" to this end. For example, it could act as an invitation to the "Human Cuckoo Clock" program by saxophonist Yasuaki Shimizu, or the "Non-Gravity Sport" program performed by skateboarders. It will be a place where a variety of information can be obtained. Flow from the web to the Yamanote Line, and on to the Tokyo International Forum
Next week, I will set out on a journey to the Silk Road, along with fashion designer Masahiro Nakagawa (20471120). There, we will gather materials and pictures for use in the "Silk Road Recycle Remix", one of our programs for this exhibition. The various photographs and sketches, ethnic costumes, materials, and others that we gather there will then be introduced on the web and in the Yamanote Line carriages. In the Tokyo International Forum, meanwhile, we will exhibit works re-composed using pieces gathered along the Silk Road. So the scale of the exhibition will gradually expand - from the web, to the Yamanote Line, and finally to the Tokyo International Forum. I hope people will experience all of these, culminating at the Forum, where they will feel the power of the actual exhibits themselves. I hope people will enjoy this unknown "art jungle" This "Silk Road Recycle Remix" will first be exhibited in the "2002 Smithsonian Folklife Festival -The Silk Road" at the Smithsonian Institute in America in June (a project planned by world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma). After that, it will come to the Tokyo International Forum in Japan, the final terminus of the Silk Road, in August, before finally being shown at the autumn Paris collections. There are many other projects that have the power to be developed at international level like this. We will compose works that could not be created within the conventional framework of art, simply because they are art and could only be created in three days this summer. They will be presented as if flicking through a magazine, or as if searching through an unknown jungle. Inside this huge general cultural facility, programs will be put together on a variety of themes, including sport, fashion, music, food, language, and paintings. Visitors will surely be able to experience things they wouldn't be able to otherwise. Somewhere, surely, there must be things that can be enjoyed by people who, until now, haven't been interested in art. I urge the public to pay a visit to the monumental space of the Tokyo International Forum during the staging of this exhibition, and to enjoy new discoveries. And I would be even happier if this "Tokyo Art Jungle" were to become established as a highlight summer event for Tokyo.
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