2013 Residency application process is now Open

Following our successful 2012 Art Action UK Respite Residency Project,

2013 Residency is now open for applications.

Please see below for detail of application process.

http://artaction-uk-japan.jimdo.com/

Who:    Emerging artist working and living in Tohoku,

               Kanto area in Japan, age 35 and below.

Where:  London, UK, (also touring to York and Margate)

When:   April- May (3 weeks)

Kaya Hanasaki published images she has collected during her Respite Residency 2012
on:

Kaya Hanasaki's Protraits with Mask Project

This is ongoing project in which Hanasaki involves audience to experience wearing a protective mask, which in Japan became mundane object to provide protection from Radio Active articles in the air after the Nuclear Fall Out Disaster in Fukushima 2011.

The mask not only functions as a physical protective gear, but also it is increasingly becoming a contentious item, dividing population, depending on the political perspectives. If you trust Government safety guideline, there should be no need to wear it, but if you mis-trust Government Safety standard, you might wear them. This item is becoming an issue to divide communities, as well as families.

The idea of Hanasaki's project is to ask as many people as possible to wear the mask and imagine the current circumstance in Japan where normal citizens have to consider risk factors and pro and cons, in relation to the most basic of human activity- BREATHING.

Fund Raiser for 2013 Respite residency took place in SOHO, London,

on 29th November, 7-9pm, at Cafe Eterno, Neal Street, W1

It was a great evening with lots of support from artists and curators and others, including Meryl Doney,  Kaya Hanasaki, Kate Allen, Veronique Chance, Marguerite Horner, Taeko Ishii, East Teas, Tango South London, Richard Allen, Ken McLaughlin, Song Ling, Yumi Otaka, Luciana Ortega, Rachelle Sherwood. Some of artists offered creative skill sets for art raffles, while others took part in sales of items and project works. Also lots of Sushi and Japanese canape were made by artists and enjoyed by others!

We are happy to announce that over 70% of fund is now raised to make 2013 Respite possible.

But we are still accepting donation,  so please go to

 

http://www.everyclick.com/artaction

100% of what you give will go to Artists Residency Project in UK 2013, and benefit selected artist from affected areas who will travel to York and Margate as well as being hosted as an artist in residency at Departure, Limehouse, London. And he/ she will transmit their perspectives on what is happening in Japan since 3.11 Tsunami and Nuclear Fall out Disaster from within as a young emerging artists.

 

Event in Tokyo

As a Result of UK Respite residency, Kaya Hanasaki is exhibiting in Tokyo.

The Event on 4th October will live link with UK and Japan

to dicuss the effect of this grassroots exchange.

http://12gouten.shirouto.org/schedule/art-action-in-uk/

Case 1 Artist talk with Endo Ichiro

Art Action is invited to take part in the Event below

at The Japan Foundation London

Please book your place to avoid disappointment.

 

25th September, Tuesday, 2012 from 6:30pm

at

Japan Foundation

10-12 Russell Sq. London

WC1B 5EH

Post 3.11 is a series of talks with individuals who through art have in various ways been involved in supporting the victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in the Tohoku region of Japan. Showcasing their activities, this talk series aims to examine how the role of the artist and art activities can be vital in such unprecedented situations, in spreading awareness and helping restore confidence among those affected, fundamentally questioning whether art has to have a practical social function.

For the first session, The Japan Foundation has invited Ichiro Endo, a painter, performer and self-proclaimed ‘future artist’ famous for his artworks and activities, conveying a strong sense ‘future’ through his eccentric artworks and activities which have been exhibited at venues including Art Tower Mito, BACC Bangkok and the Beppu Contemporary Art Festival. Turning his attention to organising projects in the disaster-stricken Tohoku region, Endo’s activities include travelling around in his graffiti covered bus called Mirai-e-go! (“Go for future”) as a means of spreading Endo’s characteristic message to people.

Through Endo’s presentation, he will briefly introduce his work and activities before and after the incident in Tohoku, demonstrating how he was prompted to act in such a way in response to the disaster. Evaluating his involvement in Tohoku, Endo will be joined for a further discussion by Kaori Homma, UK based Japanese artist and Keith Whittle, curator and Japan Foundation Fellow, to explore the artist’s role including whether these activities have helped build new relationships between the artist and society. Kaori Homma, through her Art Action programme, commissioned a residency in the UK for an artist from Tohoku. Keith Whittle is undertaking research into projects working with individuals and communities in Japan, many of which are working with devastated areas and beyond, organising art events directly with, or for those affected.

	This event is free to attend but booking is essential. To reserve a place, please email your name and the title of the event you would like to attend to event@jpf.org.uk
	Ichiro Endo is supported by the Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture, Tokyo Wonder Site
	The Japan Foundation, London – 10-12 Russell Square, London, WC1B 5EH www.jpf.org.uk



Art Action UK Residency Success!

Thank you for your support!

 

 

Art Action's UK Respite Residency Project 2012 has been completed with amazing results.

Artist Kaya Hanasaki's stay in UK culminated in

Performance Events at Deptford X and Greenbelt Festival which are also linked to Project Fukushima! also featured Misaoredwolf, main spokes person for Japan's Anti Nuclear Movement.

Please see links: http://www.greenbelt.org.uk/contributors/respite/

http://www.pj-fukushima.jp/festival/flag_list.php
http://nonukesmorehearts.org/

 





Emotionally charged Hanasaki's performance



Thunderstorm and Powercut did not affect Hanasaki's delivery




 

Hanasaki's performances and the discussion were also live linked to Project Fukushima!

 

 

One of the most touching moment was when an audience asked

"what we might be able to do for people in Fukushima?"

The answer from a Fukushima local artist

and organiser of Project Fukushima! Mr. Otomo was

"Just be a friend, and please don't forget us."

 

Responding to the above request and recognising the current context of Fukushima where residents feel isolated, and forgotten,

Hanasaki has collected more than 120 signitures and words of encouragement on a Banner which is going back to Fukushima.

 

 

 

She also collected over 100 portraits of people wearing protective masks which will be made into an installation art in Japan on her return.

 

 

We will be continuing our effort to bring more artists from affected areas.

So, if you would like to take part in direct action to rbing about a change, you can contribute online at;

http://www.everyclick.com/artaction

Project Fukushima!

Kaya Hanasaki, selected artist for Art Action UK Respite Residency 2012, is  holding a performance event on 12th August 2012 which is now accepted officially linked to Project Fukushima! as a satellite event.
We are hoping to  have live link discussion and performance and drinks reception and art sale for fund raising.

http://www.pj-fukushima.jp/en/

This performance also marks the ending of Deptford X 2012.

http://www.deptfordx.webeden.co.uk/#/welcome/4552417510

2012 ART ACTION UK respite residency artist announced

２０１２年度のＡrt Action　主催 のＵＫアーチストレジデンシーには

花崎草さんが入賞しました。
Kaya, Hanasaki has been awarded 2012 ARt Action. Respite Residency in UK, supported by ACG

パフォーマンス及びインスタレーションを作家活動の中心として、３．１１以降反原発運動など社会活動にもアートを通して関わってきている若手作家。日本の震災後の現状をロンドン及びグリーンベルトにおいて英国現地のアーチスト・観客との関わりの中にて、どのような形で発信し、相互理解の可能性を広げていけるかが期待されます。

Hanasaki  was born in Japan,1987. MA Tokyo National Univ. of Fine Arts and Music. Hanasaki’s art practice is both performative and  installational. She deals with difficult socio political issues without compromise. Hanasaki has been active in raising questions about the issues of the Nuclear Disaster in Tohoku, coordinating Symposium “10months after 3.11”. We are hoping Hanasaki might be able to inform UK audience about this difficult issue through young Japanese artist perspectives while she is in UK having short respite from ongoing problems in Japan.

　http://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/2012/01/class-of-post-3-11.html

Art Action Residency Project 2012 nominations

Art Action Residency Project is now going through selction process for the 2012 Residency Project.
So far finalist nominees are selected and the most difficult selection process to narrow down to two final recepients will be taking place this week.
Thank you for the artists who has applied for this project who demonstrtated great enthusiasm and maintained high standard of applications.
Thank you also for all the supporters of this project!

Please watch this space!
The two finalist will be announced by 28th May.

ARTS CENTER GROUP (ACG) UK RESIDENCY PROGRAMME 2012年夏 ACG英国アートレジデンシープログラム

2012年夏 アートレジデンシープログラム（英国）公募開始！

東日本大震災支援プロジェクト(Art Action: Support for Japan)

東北・関東在住・日本人アーティストのための英国アーティスト・レジデンシー

このレジデンシーは、東北および関東地方出身・あるいは在住している若手アーチストが、福島原発の放射能被曝の不安や東日本震災のストレスから短期間脱出し、心身ともに回復する機会を提供するとともに、英国のアトリエ・スペースにて、作品制作や制作に向けてのリサーチを行い、アーチストの視点から震災の経験や自分のアートへの理念を、受け入れ先の地域の人々と分かち合う事を通じ、国際交流をはかることを目的としています。 
期間:　8月上旬ー8月末

受け入れ団体:ACG (アーツセンターグループ ) www.artscentregroup.org

場所:イギリス・ ロンドン及びチェルトナム
締切り:　2012年5月3日（木）　（必着）

送付先：artaction2012@gmail.com（メールのみの受付）

応募方法の詳細は以下のＨＰ　をご参照ください。
http://artaction2012.jimdo.com/

Thank you

Thank you for all your support

for 21st March Silent Auction in London!

Yes!! we are going to make it!
Thank you for your support, and now we are in a position to say we will be able to go ahead with our plan with ACG UK residency Programme for Japanese artists from the affected area.

 

http://artaction2012.jimdo.com/

Time to go

On 25^th March, Fukushima Daiichi Baptist Church had a final joint service with Okutama Church before they have vacated camp on 26^th  March.

It was emotional service.

People of Fukushima Daiichi Baptist decided that they are going to rebuild a chapel and old people’s care home in Iwaki City, Fukushima just outside of 20km exclusion zone.

It is not quite home as their homes lie empty within the exclusion zone.

The entrance of the new church faces the direction of their original church, which are only 2km from exploded Fukushima Daiichi plants and they are not allowed to go back. The form of the new church resembles the outstretched wings of an eagle as Isaiah 40:31, for their next journey ahead.

Mainly old people are going back there. And other people with younger families are dispersing to different part of Japan some as far as Okinawa.

Hi, Thank you so much for showing kind support and encouragement. I know some of you are just not able to attend our Charity Silent Auction on 21st and yet have shown such kind concern and requested another means of giving. So I have set up a page (see below). http://www.everyclick.com/artaction2012/info Simply go to the page and you can give towards our effort to support artists from stricken area. Thank you! Kaori Homma   ONE YEAR AFTER THE TSUNAMI: A Charity Silent Art Auction Wednesday 21st March 2012 10-4pm viewing 5-8pm Silent Auction at Flatplanet (downstairs) 37-39 Great Marlborough Street, Soho W1F 7JG http://www.flatplanet.co.uk/ Supported by: The Arts Centre Group, Morphe, Wallspace,Art Action support for Japan, Arch Metrials,

UPCOMING CHARITY EVENT!

On the 21st March we will be having a silent art auction at FlatPlanet in aid of setting up a respite residency for young Japanese artists, affected by the 3/11 earthquake and nuclear crisis last year. More information on the invite below or you can check out the facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/402560873094748/. We look forward to seeing you there!

1. 

BBC Documentary

Finally some insight into the Fukushima crisis from the British media!! Please check out this documentary that the BBC broadcasted this Thursday. It is available until the 9th April. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01cpd2m/This_World_Inside_the_Meltdown/

"

Investigative documentary. A look at 2011's tsunami that swamped Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, making 100,000 people homeless and causing nuclear meltdown and a radiation leak.

International investigative documentary series. When a tsunami struck Japan in 2011, it swamped the Fukushima nuclear complex causing nuclear meltdown and releasing radiation that ultimately would leave hundreds of square miles uninhabitable, and cost a hundred thousand people their homes.
With unique footage and powerful eyewitness testimony from key figures in the drama - the engineers in the plant, firemen, soldiers, pilots, tsunami survivors, the Japanese prime minister and even the MD of the company operating the plant - Inside the Meltdown reveals what really happened in the extraordinary days after the tsunami as a disaster unfolded that Japan's nuclear industry said would never happen.
It tells the story of workers inside the plant's pitch-dark, radio-active reactor buildings desperately trying to stop reactors exploding as radiation levels rose inexorably. 'In the control room people were saying we were finished,' says one. 'They were saying it quietly but they were saying it.' It meets the helicopter pilots who desperately dropped water from above the radioactive cores, and the firemen who braved radiation to spray water onto melting nuclear fuel. 'We chose all the over 40s', their chief tells the programme. 'These were the guys who were not going to be having any more children.'
Inside the Meltdown also reveals the tensions between the plant's owners and an increasingly distrustful Japanese prime minister, struggling to get at the truth of what was happening, fearful the owners planned to abandon the plant. He reveals his experts at one point warned he might need to evacuate vast areas of Japan, even the capital Tokyo. 'That first week, we walked a razor thin line,' he tells This World."

573 "disaster related" deaths

Very sad reading. But this is only the beginning.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120204003191.htm

The meltdown and the media

If this is the only hope to find out exactly what is happening now in Fukushima and the rest of the hope for want of a better word... I can only describe things as bleak.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2012/01/japans-nuclear-crisis

Back to Budapest!

In November 2011, Kaori Homma returned to Budapest for a solo show at the A38 floating gallery, with support from the Japan Foundation, IPA Foundation

http://cargocollective.com/drhu#/Past-Projects

The event was not only a great personal success for Kaori, it also created another opportunity to raise awareness of the ongoing situation in Japan.

Students from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts enthusiastically sold Meridian Line badges to raise money for the Japanese Red Cross.

Thank you to all who helped!

Fukushima = 168 Hiroshima Bombs

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/science/news/20110829-OYT1T01205.htm?from=main5 http://search.independent.co.uk/topic/radiation-fukushima


The Japanese government has very quietly announced that the Fukushima situation is more serious than previously let out, possibly even worse than Chernobyl. I have read a shocking article stating that the caesium 137 released from Fukushima was equivalent to 168 Hiroshima Bombs. And yet the article was small, and matter of fact. Most worringly, I have not heard many reactions to this major news from any friends or family currently living in Japan. 

Though the consequences of this information will inevitably, in the long run, be grave, unlike the Hiroshima Bomb, or even the Tsunami of 11th march, the Fukushima nuclear crisis has not been regarded as a news worthy spectacle.