The Agency for Cultural Affairs presents “CULTURE GATE to JAPAN”
On February 27, 2021, the Agency for Cultural Affairs opened a new art exhibit at Haneda and Narita
Airports as part of their “CULTURE GATE to JAPAN” initiative. Multimedia artworks by eight groups
of artists are now exhibited at the airports as well as online, with the aim of promoting the
appeals of Japanese culture and sharing it with the world.
Haneda and Narita Airports Event Overview
The theme of the exhibits at Haneda and Narita is “VISION GATE”. Under the curation of Paola
ANTONELLI, these exhibits seek to explore the concept of “vision” from past to future, and its role
as the foundation of Japanese culture.
Period: Opening on February 27, 2021
Location:
[Installation] Haneda Airport Terminal 2, 2nd Floor Departures Lobby, Security Checkpoint D
[Video works]
– Haneda Airport Terminal 3, 2nd Floor Arrivals Concourse;
– Haneda Airport Terminal 1 & 2 Departure Concourses;
– Narita Airport All Terminals, Digital Signage monitors
*Locations for the video works in Haneda Airport are within the security area
Entrance: Free
Theme: VISION GATE
Curator: Paola ANTONELLI
Paola ANTONELLI is Senior Curator of Architecture & Design at The Museum of Modern Art in New York,
as well as MoMA’s founding Director of Research & Development. Her work investigates design’s
impact on everyday experience, often including overlooked objects and practices, and combining
design, architecture, art, science and technology.
Following the XXII Triennale di Milano–her 2019 Broken Nature, devoted to the idea of restorative
design– she has recently curated at MoMA the exhibition Material Ecology, on the work of architect
Neri OXMAN. Her acclaimed Instagram Live series @design.emergency–conceived with design critic
Alice RAWSTHORN–explores design’s role in building a better future for all.
Title and Artist (in alphabetical order):
[Installation] Crowd Cloud by SUZUKI Yuri & HOSOI Miyu
Keeping the human voice at the core, in this work, artists distilled the sounds of the Japanese
language and created a unique composition and experience in which the sound emanates from a choir
of dozens of standing horns, that are conversing with each other like people waiting for friends
and relatives in the Arrival Hall of an airport.
SUZUKI Yuri: SUZUKI Yuri is an artist and designer who examines possibilities of sound and music in
our day-to-day experiences. Since 2018, he became a partner at the world’s largest independent
consultancy, Pentagram. SUZUKI’s creative work spans across the fields of design, music and art,
with outcomes ranging from public art and products to sonic identity and compositions. His works
have been recognized through industry awards as well as acquired for numerous international museum
collections including Museum of Design Museum London, Israel Museum and Museum of Modern Art, New
York.
HOSOI Miyu: Born in 1993, musical/sound artist HOSOI Miyu has been active in taking various
artistic endeavors from creating the installations to bring awareness to the surrounding sound by
using multichannel sound systems to the performing arts productions. HOSOI particularly is known
for the overdubbing works using her own vocals. Her renowned work “Lenna” on 22.2 channels was
presented at various venues including NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC] Anechoic Room, Yamaguchi
Center for Arts and Media [YCAM], Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre Concert Hall and the Audio Engineering
Society. She is the recipient of the New Face Award at the 23rd Japan Media Arts Festival Art
Division.
[Video works] Six videos by six different group of artists usher travelers into Japan’s
extraordinarily rich and eclectic culture
Theme Park Tokyo by acky bright
The work explored the city of Tokyo by using traditional picture scroll structure and contemporary
manga style.
acky bright is an illustrator and a Manga Artist, and is known for his black and white line art. He
has many oversea followers for his unique style combining Japan’s 80s and 90s anime and manga style
and modern perspective. He has been publishing many works as “Doodle” through social media and live
painting events. His new work, manga “Shin Henkei Shojo (New Transformer Girls)” (DLE) is currently
serialized online.
Hitoshobu (One Shot) by Jun Inoue
The work captured artist’s live painting and the ephemeral nature of the world of Sho/Calligraphy.
Inoue illustrates the delicate spirituality particular to Japan using abstract lines to create
unique “spaces.” His exquisite sensibility blends modern sense and traditional spirit to stimulate
the consciousness of the viewer. Leveraging his connections to the worlds of fashion and music, he
has exhibited his works in a wide range of venues including live painting performances and artwork
presentations. Inoue has held numerous private exhibitions in Japan and abroad, including venues in
both Melbourne and Paris.
Gravity Garden by KODAMA Sachiko
This work was created with the red, green and blue fluorescent ferrofluid to represent Japanese
Garden with the magnetic energy and gravity.
After graduating from the School of Science at Hokkaido University, KODAMA completed her graduate
studies and earned a doctorate in Art at the Graduate School of Art and Design at the University of
Tsukuba. Since 2000, she has pioneered the use of ferrofluids in art. Her artwork “Protrude, Flow”
(selected by SIGGRAPH Art Gallery 2001) won the Grand Prize in the 5th Japan Media Arts Festival
Digital Art (Interactive Art) Division. Her artwork has been exhibited in over 20 countries at art
museums, galleries, public spaces, and private homes. She has impacted not only art and design, but
a wide range of related fields.
TSUGI by PARTY
In this work, areas such as Arctic ice that has melted due to global warming and forests lost due
to wildfires are depicted in a hopeful light: being repaired and regenerated with kintsugi by the
will of humankind.
PARTY is a creative collective that cuts across art, science, design, and engineering to install in
society experiences of the future. Notable projects include space design for Narita International
Airport Terminal 3, creative direction for “WIRED JAPAN” magazine, and “VARP” virtual music
experiences through collaborations with artists including RADWIMPS and kZm. PARTY also develops
businesses such as Stadium Experiment and The Chain Museum.
Day of a Full Moon by MOGI Monika
This work combines the love of Japan’s natural landscapes that artist finds otherworldly and
mystical, with her admiration of strong, unique women
MOGI Monika is an artist, photographer, and director, born in 1992. She is a self taught
photographer and her career started as a teenager shooting for art and fashion magazines such as
Vogue Japan, ArtReview, Numero Tokyo, etc. While acting as a creative director behind all of her
work, she began to cast her friends and youth culture of Tokyo which has been highlighted in her
work. Growing up between the U.S. and Japan, MOGI blends her unique view of both cultures. In
recent years she has also participated in photo exhibitions in Tokyo and New York and has directed
TV commercials and fashion campaigns worldwide. Her work with Paola ANTONELLI began in 2016, when
MOGI was commissioned to photograph contents for the MoMA exhibition ‘ITEMS: Is Fashion Modern?”
catalog.
Kojiki – Amenomanai by MORI Mariko
In this work artist took scenes from the “Kojiki”- the oldest record of creation myth in Japan –
and turned them into computer-generated images.
Since the latter half of the 1990s, MORI has participated in international exhibits in various
countries and held numerous private exhibitions at art museums. Her major public artworks include
“Sun Pillar” on Miyakojima Island in 2010, “Ring: One with Nature” at the Cultural Program of the
2016 Rio Olympics and Paralympic Games, and “Cycloid V” at the Toranomon Hills Business Tower
entrance. MORI has garnered a number of prestigious awards including Honorable Mention in the 47th
Venice Biennale in 1997 and the Award to a Promising Artist and Scholar in the Field of
Contemporary Japanese Arts at the 8th Japan Arts Foundation Award in 2001. She received an honorary
degree from the University of the Arts London in 2014.
About CULTURE GATE to JAPAN
Beginning in February of 2021, the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan launched an
innovative cultural promotion project called “CULTURE GATE to JAPAN”. Held at seven airports across
Japan as well as the Tokyo International Cruise Terminal, artists and creators active in the field
of Media Arts exhibit artworks inspired by the unique culture of each area with the goal of
communicating the broader appeal of Japanese culture.
The global effects of the novel coronavirus have made it difficult to meet new people and
experience new cultures in person. However, that should not interrupt the exchange of art, ideas,
and culture. Through this project, we hope to continue providing people around the world with the
same sense of wonder and joy felt when encountering a new culture.
Organizer: Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan
Official Website: https://culture-gate.jp/
The “CULTURE GATE to JAPAN” PR is managed by wondertrunk & co. Inc.
ontact Information, PR Agency wondertrunk & co. – CULTURE GATE to JAPAN Initiative, Project Leads:
OKAMOTO, NAKAMURA, SANO, TEL:03-5413-8827 / FAX:03-5411-0075 / Mail: info@wondertrunk.co
SOURCE: Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan CULTURE GATE to JAPAN Initiative
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