The event was rated highly among Japanese Art/Media professionals, prompting a very similar event to take place in Japan once Fujii had returned to Japan, where was again a member of the debating panel. It is our aim to be a catalyst and trigger of such discourse, so we are very happy to observe that our effort had some direct repercussions.
 |
| Departure Film Night - Interview by Alastair Gordon |
|
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
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 this second session, The Japan Foundation has invited emerging artist and filmmakerHikaru Fujii for this special talk, taking place during his Residency in UK as part of the Art Action UK Respite Residency Project. Through his works including artist and the Disaster / Documentation in Progress’ exhibited at Art Tower Mito in 2012, and ‘3.11 Art Documentation PROJECT FUKUSHIMA!’, he documented the devastated landscape and artist community in Tohoku in 2011 and further explored and questioned the relationship between 3.11 and art in his ongoing project ‘Record of Costal Landscape’. Briefly introducing his work and activities, Fujii will demonstrate why he was prompted to act in a way as an artist and filmmaker, and suggest what he feels art can do in response to the disaster.
Joining the discussion with Fujii
will be two members of the acclaimed artists collective,The Otolith Group,Kodwo
Eshun andAngalika Sagar. Nominated for the Turner Prize in 2010,
The Otolith Group is renowned for its critically engaged and thought-provoking
films, including ‘RADIANT’, a piece concerning the nuclear issue and its
wider implications, first presented at dOCUMENTA(13).
Together Fujii and The Otolith
Group, through their personal and collaborative experiences, will discuss the
need for and the questions surrounding issues of documentation in the form of
art including the democratisation of media and examine how effective art’s
and artists’ intervention on the local and global landscape can be. By
depicting the disaster in Tohoku, what do artists want to achieve and indeed
what can be achieved?
|
|
|
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 toevent@jpf.org.uk
This event is co-organised with Art Action: Support for Japan. Hikaru Fujii is supported by the Art Action UK Respite Residency Project;http://artactionsupportforjapan.blogspot.co.uk/
There
will be a screening event of Hikaru Fujii’s work:
10 May at the Departure Limehouse: http://www.departure.org.uk/ |
|
|
The Japan Foundation, London -10-12 Russell Square, London, WC1B 5EH www.jpf.org.uk |
+copy.jpg)
+copy.jpg)
Fujii is
an emerging artist film maker who has been dealing with current complex socio
political issues in Japan with a deeply reflective approach. His recent works were shown in Art Tower Mito, "Artists and
the Disaster / Documentation in progress" 2012. He has been documenting the landscape in
Tohoku area, stricken by Tsunami and Nuclear Fallout disaster in 2011, in his work
“Record of Coastal Landscape”
