Audio Content
Shibugya Radio “Surprises in Interaction, Again”
Tokyo Shibuya Koen-dori Gallery is launching the podcast “Shibugya Radio” (Shibuya Gallery Radio) to transmit audio content. Gallery curators will choose topical themes and invite not only artists and experts but a wide variety of guests to talk on the program.
The podcast’s first series “Surprises in Interaction, Again” will be offered in fiscal 2023. Tokyo Shibuya Koen-dori Gallery was hit by the COVID-19 outbreak soon after its grand opening and struggled under tough pandemic measures for three years. To begin the series, we will look back at the grand opening exhibition marking our start, “Open to Surprises.” Inviting people involved in that exhibition as guests, we will have them recall with us the highlights of the past three years. To connect our guests with what is currently happening at the Gallery, we will ask them their perspectives on the exhibition now underway.
In this way, we will vocally share the surprises we encounter in “interaction again” after a long passage of time. The name “Shibugya Radio” is syllabic abbreviation combining the Gallery’s nickname “Shibugyara” and “radio.” Please tune in at your leisure.
Guest ３. FUKUMORI Shin
host：SATO Mamiko（Curator of Tokyo Shibuya Koen-dori Gallery）
Edit・Recording：KOYAMA Yuya
Graphic design： akitsu sekkei
【2024/1 Recording date】
#12 ● Recalling the Covid-19 Pandemic and Shobu Gakuen’s Recent Activities
This time, FUKUMORI Shin joined us in recalling the Covid-19 pandemic that started after the Open to Surprises exhibition and Shobu Gakuen’s more recent activities. We talked about the things he came to realize from watching the users, who maintained steady day-to-day lives even amid a state of emergency, and the path taken until now by Shobu Gakuen, which last year marked its 50th anniversary. This was our last episode with Fukumori. The podcast closed with a live performance of the jingle music, “CLAP.”
#11 ● Recalling Open to Surprises with the Shobu Gakuen Workshops
This time, FUKUMORI Shin joined us in discussing the workshops we visited, the circumstances behind their establishment, and the perspectives of staff watching over the workshops. We then recalled the exhibition Open to Surprises with him and talked about works by the participating “nui project” artists YOSHIMOTO Atsushi, NOMAGUCHI Keisuke, and ARIMURA Aiko, and the special session “Discovery of Sound from Nowhere” that was cancelled.
#10 ● Visiting the “Woodworking Workshop” and “Amua Hall.”
This time, we visited the “Woodworking Workshop” and “Amua Hall” with FUKUMORI Shin and discussed what we saw. We enjoyed a fun talk with Fukumori and FUKUMORI Noriko, Director of Shobu Cultural and Art Support Center “Amua no mori" amid joyous sounds coming from wood mallets and various musical instruments.
#9 ● Self-introduction and Visiting the “Textile Workshop”
Our third guest was FUKUMORI Shin, General Director of social welfare corporation Taiyo-Kai Shobu Gakuen in Kagoshima City. Shobu Gakuen, the facility to which participating artists of Open to Surprises belong, also would take part in a special session we planned. Our podcast with Fukumori was this program’s first recording in a remote location. This time, we asked Fukumori to introduce himself, and we discussed what we saw in the “Textile Workshop.” We had fun talking with Fukumori while viewing everyone’s artworks.
FUKUMORI Shin
Born in Kagoshima Prefecture in 1959. General Director of social welfare corporation Taiyo-Kai Shobu Gakuen in Kagoshima City. An employee of Shobu Gakuen since around its tenth year, 1984, FUKUMORI Shin in 1985 launched “Kobo Shobu” (Shobu Workshop) with the aim of producing crafts unique to Shobu Gakuen. A self-taught wood craftsman, he established craft workshops focused on woodworking, dyeing, weaving, embroidery, pottery, and Japanese washi paper and prepared an environment where workshop users could create freely and express their true individuality. Kobo Shobu’s activities have garnered attention both at home and abroad, particularly the remarkable embroidery works of the “nui project” (a spinoff of the Textile Workshop in 1992) whose threads and knots overlap in varying densities, and the sound performances of the “otto & orabu” percussion-group-and-shouting-chorus formed in 2001 with the concept of “uneven, good feeling sound.” In recent years, Fukumori has expanded his interests to food and horticulture and is producing wide-ranging activities that foster the creative expression of people with intellectual disabilities as a new “SHOBU STYLE.” He is the author of Ari-no-Mama ga Aru Tokoro (“Where People and Things Are Just What They Are”; Shobunsha, 2019).
ⒸSHOBU STYLE
#8 ● Recalling Recent Work
This time, we had IENARI Toshikatsu recall his recent work. We also discussed his talks with students at the university, the dot architects solo exhibition, and their participation in the Venice Biennale. This was our last episode with Ienari.
#7 ● Recalling the Covid-19 Pandemic
This time, we looked back with IENARI Toshikatsu at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic after the Open to Surprises exhibition. We discussed the difficulties posed by remote conferences, the “party rehearsals” he conceived with associates, and the farming project that eventually developed.
#6 ● Recalling the Exhibition Open to Surprises
This time, we looked back at the Open to Surprises exhibition with IENARI Toshikatsu. We enjoyed talking about his memories of that time, how their venue design evolved, what they saw as important, and the process by which they attained that distinctive wall reminiscent of both a mountain and an onigiri (rice ball).
#5 ● Self-introduction and Seeing the Art Brut 2023 Touring Exhibition, Dear Stories: Tales and Talks
Our second guest was IENARI Toshikatsu, co-founder of dot architects, the Osaka-based architectural team in charge of the venue design for Open to Surprises. This time, we asked Ienari to introduce himself and talked with him about the 2023 Art Brut touring exhibition, Dear Stories: Tales and Talks underway at the Gallery when the podcast was recorded.
Guest 2. IENARI Toshikatsu
IENARI Toshikatsu
Born in Hyogo Prefecture in 1974. Co- founder, dot architects. Professor, Kyoto University of Art and Design. IENARI Toshikatsu founded the architect team “dot architects” with SHAKUSHIRO Takeshi in Kitakagaya, Osaka in 2004. In all architectural processes—planning, design, building, and use—Ienari is guided by an aim to create and foster “place” while drawing out the potential of all aspects involved. This he does by using his physical being in active interaction with materials, people, and land, and engaging in dialogue and collaboration. He participates in diverse projects, including collaborations with people from other fields. Ienari has designed venues related to Art Brut, such as the Symbiosis Art Festival exhibitions: I am a Memory (Kyoto Museum of Art, Annex, and other venues, 2022) and DOUBLES (Kyoto Institute, Library, and Archives, and other venues, 2019). Recent major exhibitions include the 18th International Architecture Exhibition, Venice Biennale (Japan Pavilion, Venice, Italy, 2023), and dot architects POLITICS OF LIVING (TOTO GALLERY･MA, Tokyo, 2023). Ienari additionally engages in stage design.
photo：Yuma Harada
Guest 1. SUENAGA Fuminao
#4 ● Recalling Recent Work
This time, we had SUENAGA Fuminao look back at his recent work and discuss the new research project he is now engaged in. We also asked him to tell us more about curry, a subject he knows well. This was our last episode with Suenaga.
#3 ● Recalling the Covid-19 Pandemic
This time, we looked back with SUENAGA Fuminao at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic after the Open to Surprises exhibition. We had him recall how he spent the past 3 or so years and how his production and lifestyle changed.
#2 ● Recalling the Exhibition Open to Surprises
This time, we looked back at the exhibition Open to Surprises with SUENAGA Fuminao. We enjoyed talking with him and recalling memories of our first preparatory meeting, his subsequent research for creating artworks, and the process of displaying them.
#1 ● Self-introduction and Seeing the Imaginative Drawing in Monochrome Exhibition
Our first guest was artist SUENAGA Fuminao who took part as an exhibiting artist. This time, we asked Suenaga to introduce himself and talked with him about the exhibition Imaginative Drawing in Monochrome underway at the Gallery when the podcast was recorded.
SUENAGA Fuminao
Born in Yamaguchi Prefecture in 1974. Professor, Tokyo Zokei University. SUENAGA Fuminao investigates the relationship between objects and the space in which they are placed, and the characteristics making a motif recognizable. He replies to his investigations with three-dimensional paintings composed of carefully painted color fields and attention to their arrangement. His numerous painting series include “Three-dimensional painting with motifs of daily necessities,” “Museum Piece,” and “Tangram Painting.” His recent exhibitions include Publicness of the Art Center (Phase I & II) (Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito, Ibaraki, 2019-20) and Fuminao Suenaga – Entrance Gallery vol. 3 Fuminao Suenaga (Chiba City Museum of Art [Museum Shop BATICA, Entrance Space], Chiba, 2021). Suenaga is also involved in research concerning “Gallery Shimada” activities in Yamaguchi City and Tokyo. Handling the curation of the Gallery Shimada Archive Exhibition (Do a front, Yamaguchi, 2022), he published Gendai Bijutsu Joho: Gallery Shimada no Kiseki (“Contemporary Art Information: Gallery Shimada’s Trajectory”), REMASTA, 2023.
Photo: NISHIMURA Tomomi
Jingle｜ottotto 「CLAP」
イラスト 有川るり子
Otto & orabu is a 30-member “super amateur group” whose concept is “uneven, good feeling sounds” played on ethnic instruments by Shobu Gakuen staff and members. The song “ottotto” was especially created for the special session “Discovery of Sound from Nowhere,” a related event of the exhibition Open to Surprises.
“CLAP,” derives from a hand-clapping session originally performed at the song’s end by the chorus group, “orabu” (“shout” in Kagoshima dialect).
While the jingle does not feature any clapping, its good-feeling sounds and rhythm make hard not to clap along and give a spirited opening and closing to the podcast. Please give “ottotto” a listen.
