Art in Japan>Contemporary Art 1930-2004>Arcus Project

Original articles on art, artists, architecture, exhibitions, galleries, museums and cultural institutions around Tokyo, Japan.

Arcus Project

by John McGee

Risa Sato, Campaign: Risa (Images courtesy the artists and Arcus Project)

Since 1995, ARCUS Project has invited artists from a variety of countries to live and work in the quiet farmland and suburbs of Moriya Town, Ibaraki Prefecture. ARCUS, meaning "gate" in Latin, reflects the project organizers' vision of a "gateway for the creation of international arts and culture." They see ARCUS as a means to promote "communications through art among artists, among local residents, and between artists and local residents." To that end, several emerging artists arrive each fall to work in remodeled schoolhouse studios for a four-month period. The program provides them with accommodation, production expenses, professional support, etc. Each artist subsequently plans lectures and workshops for the public and produces a project or a body of new work during his or her tenure. Once a month, the general public is invited to visit the artists' studios and observe how the creative process unfolds.

Lillian Bourgeat and his artwork

The nationalities of the invited artists vary each year, but one Japanese artist is always selected to attend. This year, in addition to the Japanese artist (Risa Sato, a sculptor and performance artist from Saitama Prefecture and winner of last year's Parco Grand Prix), artists were chosen from the US (Kristin Lucas, a video and Internet artist from New York City), France (Lilian Bourgeat, a site-specific artist from Dijon), and India (Arun Gurupadappa, a sculptor from New Delhi). 

The selection process began in the participants' home countries and was administrated by the co-sponsoring organizations--the Japan Foundation in India, the Asian Cultural Council (ACC) in the US, and the Association Francaise d'Action Artistique (AFAA) in France. Following the initial selection, a Japanese screening committee composed of art critics, curators, professors, and government officials made the final decisions. The artists came to Japan in August where they met one another for the first time and got acquainted with their new, albeit temporary, lifestyle.

Lucas, the American artist, noted the first hurdle they all faced on arrival: language. Not only could they not talk to their hosts, they couldn't even talk to each other. She helped administer a crash English refresher course to Bourgeat (the French artist) and Sato (the Japanese artist) and quickly learned about Indian intonation from Gurupadappa. Since then, they have each turned their studio chalkboards into makeshift phrase books by scrawling informal bits of French, English, Japanese and Hindi on them.

Artwork by Kristen Lucas

They may not always speak the same tongue, but the artists all commented on certain conceptual similarities underpinning everyone's work. "We all have a strong relation to communication," says Lucas. Communication as a theme takes various forms: Sato's Campaign: Risa project that takes her and her large white inflatable sculptures into the streets where she makes videos while interacting with the general public; Bourgeat's masks that address the seemingly contradictory yet somehow balanced contemporary and traditional modes of social interactions within Japanese culture; Lucas's interactive, helmet-mounted mini video camera, effects mixer and Internet feed that help her investigate "the psychological effects of automation and the rapid spread of technology;" and Gurupadappa's plans for a future project involving digital media and/or Internet technology (he's currently working on several large inflated sculptures made of colored and painted fabric).

Communicating with the local population was slow at first, but they gradually warmed up. "They're shy," says Sato as she does an impression of someone peeking from behind a door. Lucas adds, "The first time, they come by themselves. The next time, they bring their kids, their neighbor's kids... things from the garden." She continues, "They have many questions; we share quite a bit." Gurupadappa, however, finds that, relative to rural India, he has little opportunity for contact with the local people. Owing to Moriya's small population and the widespread use of cars, he says that, "The relationship between cultures is not as much as I could have in India. Here we only confront people in shops." Bourgeat, on the other hand, forces the issue by coordinating parties with his new friend--the local bar owner.

Artwork by Arun Gurupadappa

Internationalization of the art world aside, perceptions acquired at home are bound to be different from those formed by actually living in a foreign country. The clash between the artists' preconceptions about Japan and the realities of living here have helped fuel their interests, led each of them in unexpected directions, and perhaps offered them thoughts about future projects. 

For Gurupadappa, this means further exploration of technology and materials: "Everywhere you go [in Japan], you confront technology," he says, "In India, we have it, but it's not in use." He continues, "[Also] we don't have a department store system in India...over here, I have been exposed to many different materials." Lucas's interest in the effects of technology led her to try "to find the Japanese sub-culture that questions these things." She found little of what she was looking for, but wound up being even more interested in the Japanese behavior and mannerisms that she encountered in her search. Sato, being Japanese, focuses less on the cultural (though she was a bit thrown by the Ibaraki dialect!) and more on the pragmatic, thereby elucidating some of the challenges of being a young artist in Tokyo. She likes having a "big place" where she can use "dangerous materials and noisy machines" all day. However, she's now discovered that "24 hours in one day is not enough." Finally, Bourgeat was amazed and confounded by the ability of Japanese to live what in France would be completely contradictory lifestyles--traditional and modern, old and new. He sums up his experience succinctly, "It's not a contradiction... it's all right, all the time."

ARCUS Project is based in Moriya Town, Kita-Soma Gun, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. Tel: 0297-46-2600.

©2006 John McGee

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