We’ve just finished our REALtimeFOOD project, which was a 7 week long process combining art, ecology, community, and growing food in an urban setting. Suhee and I are both really happy with how it all went, and glad to see so many people inspired by the workshops and our ‘grown to order’ restaurant concept. You can read more about that on the Final Straw blog.
This week I begin a new project in a group show at Contemporary Art Space Osaka (CASO). The show is called Art Shower, and is basically a residency program where ten artists are working for three weeks to build works in Osaka’s largest gallery space. I was invited here as part of the Robert Callender Residency for Young Artists, a residency award which I was very fortunate to receive during my MFA show last year in Edinburgh.
One of my favorite aspects of the Art Shower show in particular, is that it is a three week “open build” where the entire process of building is on view for the public to visit, see, and engage with the artists. I’ll try to pull in some helpers during this time, too 🙂
The building process for this show will be slow and meditative — I need a slow and meditative time after the past two months — and the materials will be sourced only from Osakako, the small man-made island on which the gallery sits. Which, incidentally kind of reminds me of Treasure Island in San Francisco… except with better public transportation access and a giant ferris wheel and aquarium at one end.
The lead curator of the show, Mr. Kawabata, apparently puts this show on because he enjoys helping young artists, not just by turning them into ‘proper’ fine artists, but helping them see how they can best survive and support themselves in the world. There are many ways for artists to do this, and from what I can see, most of us here are not aimed explicitly at having paintings hanging in galleries… so I can see that alternative art-business models will also spring from such gatherings.
The other artists here include sculptors, painters, performers, clothing makers, video, photo, and installation. It’s a pretty good sampling of genres and a dedicated group of people. Looking forward to working together to turn this gigantic empty white building into something that inspires some kind of inner truth to ooze out of us all.
Ooze. That was a weird word to use there, but I’ll go with it.
