Spoon & Tamago

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Echigo Tsumari Art Festival 2012

August 23, 2012 / Johnny / Comments Off

Summer is winding down. The locusts are fetching up new breath for one, final onslaught, humidity is on its last leg and back-to-school commercials are invading the airwaves. But you can still enjoy the great outdoors while simultaneously visiting the largest art gallery in the world. Running until September 17, the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale is just about half-way through. But that still leaves you 3 weeks to immerse yourself in one of the largest art festivals in the world, in one of the most unlikely places in the world. Known for their heavy snowfall in winter, the Echigo-Tsumari region is located in mountainous Niigata – easily accessible from Tokyo in a little over an hour by train.

Once there, you’ll traverse 200 villages across roughly 190,000 acres, all dotted with site-specific artworks created by some 220 artists from all over the world. The organizers admit, it’s an “absolutely inefficient approach deliberately at odds with the rationalization and efficiency of modern society.” The intention is to interact with the beauty and richness of the land, which serves as a canvas for art.

Below are some of our favorite picks – a small cross-section of what you will see if you make the pilgrimage. Unless otherwise noted, all images are courtesy Echigo-Tsumari Art Field.
(Note: some works were created for previous triennials and remain standing)

Nakasato Village Juji Project (2003) by Ryo Yamada

Architect Ryo Yamada installed a foundation of colored wooden decks that interact with its surrounding nature. During summer, flowers and weeds grow through the boards while, in autumn, they transform into a canvas for fallen leaves.

photos by S. Anzai. Courtesy Ryo Yamada & Ayako Yamada

Kamaboko Storehouse Project (2003) by Tsuyoshi Ozawa

Artist and “The Group 1965” member Tsuyoshi Ozawa created a series of architectural sculptures inspired by Kamaboko Storehouses – an indigenous warehouse with a curved roof, designed to withstand heavy snowfall. The functional warehouses come with a fish-eye window so visitors can see what’s stored inside.

Reverse City (2009) by Pascale Marthine Tayou

Cameroon-born, Belgium-based artist Pascale Marthine Tayou created an installation of oversized pencils, hung at varying heights. Each is inscribed with the name of every country in the world. While awe-inspiring in its multiplicity, standing under it one is reminded of the menacing and destructive potential that each holds.

Forest (2000) by Jun Honma

Upside down pencils not your thing? Jun Honma created an installation of 7000 right-side up pencils, all collected from locals, in a kamaboko warehouse (remember those?). The forest of pencils works to merge with the real forest surrounding it.

Ikebana House (2012) by F-Nokai

The 12-member collective F-Nokai has transformed an old tea house into a large ikebana flower arrangement.

The Cosmology of Yusuke Nakahara (2012) by Tadashi Kawamata

Before his death, the art critic and triennale advisor Yusuke Nakahara donated his collection of 30,000 books. As a form of commemoration, the prominent artist and sculptor Tadashi Kawamata created an giant house-like installation using his books. An added bonus: free wifi available inside through the end of the festival.

Restructure (2006) by Harumi Yukutake

Walking down a small, grassy dirt road you will come across a house, covered in thousands of small mirrors. Depending on your perspective, the house, at times, appears to melt into its surroundings. Harumi Yukutake, known for her large-scale installations in which she covers public structures with mirrors, hand-made every mirror, which gives me a new-found respect for her art. Stepping into the house is like stepping into another dimension – one where conflicting elements like truth and deception, light and shadow, still and moving, all peacefully coexist.

Golden Teahouse (2012) by Ryo Toyofuku

Nothing is more out of place than this Golden Teahouse, in which Ryo Toyofuku covered the disheveled interior with gold paint.

0121-1110=109071 (2009) by Lee Jae-Hyo

It’s hard to believe that Lee Jae-Hyo’s geometrically soothing spheres are made only from found wood. The sculptures will eventually be consumed by the vegetation surrounding it.

images courtesy the artist

Tsumari in Bloom (2003) by Yayoi Kusama

Yes, even Japan’s most in vogue artist is blossoming at Echigo-Tsumari.

Vinyl Furoshiki

August 23, 2012 / Justine / Comments Off

Inspired by the traditional Japanese wrapping cloth furoshiki, Samira Boon designed this amazing zipper and button free bags. These are made from only a single piece of vinyl film folded (and remain folded using the adhesive qualities of the material) in such a way you can put almost anything you want inside.

Simple and fun!

Like furoshiki? Check out our in-depth interview and factory photo shoot with LINK.

The obsession of dots: when art invades our daily life

August 22, 2012 / Justine / Comments Off

In succession of my last post let’s consider what the new topography of art looks like when it jumps out of the museum and enters the street. Yoyoi Kusama is no longer alone on her obsession with dots. They are invading our environment from everywhere! Let’s play a game of I spy: I spy Yoyoi Kusama artwork on….

Coca cola bottles…

Covering a building under construction…

On the Louis Vuitton flagship, obviously…

In illustrative pages of Alice in Wonderland…

On bras…

In botanical gardens…

Are there any Kusuma dots around your home? Keep an eye out, it may appear soon…

This invasion is quite fascinating, and makes me wonder why the patterns she creates are so powerful and if her art is diminished at all by this uncontrolled fever. Here are a few of my thoughts:

the power of her art lies in her pattern-making that is recognizable to anyone – a kind of graphic signature.
her work demonstrates that art does not have to be linked only to museum spaces, but can transcend to become a new way to comprehend our environment.
her universe is really cohesive because it is the extension of her deep inner world. Therefore the medium no longer remains important as almost anything becomes an extension of her artistic obsession.
despite the rule of rarity in art, her overproduction adds great value to her creation. Profusion comes from her work of repetition, acting as an art mantra, an exorcism motto. As this process is linked to her art conception, it is part of each final work of art keeping us following the litany of dots.

These are few reasons why I feel Kusuma’s art could invade our environment without relying on media or location. I’m excited to continue to see where Yoyoi Kusuma will take us.

The obsession of dots: Yoyoi Kusama x Louis Vuitton

August 22, 2012 / Justine / 2 Comments

For several weeks strange dotted waves rose from the ISETAN floor in Tokyo. For the ones familiar with it, there was no doubt; Yoyoi Kusuma had arrived.

This pop-up installation celebrates the collaboration between the iconic Japanese artist and French luxury brand Louis Vuitton. This fusion is obviously a success in Japan for two reasons. First, Japanese girls are fond of Louis Vuitton products. In Tokyo they are everywhere – even the beach! Second, there is a strong sense of pride amongst Japanese girls that Yoyoi hails from their home country. Furthermore, right now Kusama may very well be the most popular Japanese artist worldwide. For all these reasons, the collaboration is a major event in Japan and is echoing across various industries and geographies.

And you can follow the echo from shop to shop: after Isetan the “Comme des Garçons” vitrines in Ginza were contaminated by dots too.

(and as indicated above, the echo has spread worldwide where we find similar happenings in Paris, New-York, Singapore…)

Louis Vuitton solidifies their success by transcending beyond the physical product line and carries us into Kusuma’s world through digital tools:

A website:

And a smartphone app:

The website is quite amazing; very easy to navigate, with value-added content and images. For the app, it’s a bit of a different exercise and many brands have struggled to master it. Despite the good design, the content and purpose falls short, and ends up being quite deceptive.

However, once again, Marc Jacobs has demonstrated he knows how to renew a luxury brand, as evidenced by the craze he has stirred up in Japan!

Art Aquarium Exhibition | over 5000 goldfish on display in a pop-up aquarium

August 21, 2012 / Johnny / 3 Comments

images courtesy livedoor news

Along with wind chimes, fireflies, mosquito-repellent and shaved ice, goldfish are one of the most prominent symbols of summer in Japan. A game involving paper nets and drugged-up goldfish – the objective being to scoop them into clear-plastic bags so you can watch them die – is a staple at summer festivals across the country.

However, if placed in an actual tank, rather than a plastic coffin, watching the little fishies bob up and down is admittedly soothing, and is a great way to take your mind off the sweltering heat. So instead of engaging in the cruel pastime, head to Nihonbashi Mitsui Hall where highly-stylized aquariums – the work of self-proclaimed art aquarium producer Hidetomo kimura – are sure to satisfy your fishy fancy. Oh, and did I mention the space was air-conditioned?

images courtesy flickr user caramacci_ | click to enlarge

The show-stopper is undoubtedly the oversized goldfish bowl “Oiran,” filled with 1000 goldfish. But flanking it are other unique aquariums like the 8-meter long “Four Seasons Aquarium,” the rectangular Kaleidoscope aquarium “Kaleidorium” and the screen (byoubu) aquarium “Byoburium.” General admission is 1000 yen and the exhibition continues through September 24th.

If goldfish is your thing, I think you’ll like Riusuke Fukahori’s goldfish.

images courtesy Art Aquarium

Four Seasons Aquarium

Andonrium

Byoburium

Source: Yomiuri Online

Lost at Sea | jewelry inspired by the sea life drawings of Keiga Kawahara

August 21, 2012 / Johnny / 3 Comments

fish prints by Keiga Kawahara | click to enlarge

Dejima is a small, man-made island built in Nagasaki bay in 1634. During Japan’s self-imposed isolation, between 1603 – 1868, Dejima functioned as a lone outpost – an “anomaly” where foreign ships were allowed to dock and conduct trade.

In an interview, autor David Mitchell describes the island:

It was a keyhole in the door in the wall that encircled Japan for 250 years….Dejima was just this strange, wonderful, weird cat flap of a place between two cultures. It’s what the crew of the Starship Enterprise would call an “anomaly,” a space-time anomaly.

Dejima served as a place where goods, people and ideas mingled. It had all the ingredients for stories to be born. And one of those stories is about the doctor and botanist Philipp von Siebold who, in 1822, was sent from the Netherlands to Japan to gather information on the mysterious country. While based on Dejima he befriended a Japanese painter named Keiga Kawahara, often commissioning him to paint different wildlife species he had found. The collection grew to 6000 – 7000 pieces, and became the basis for books like “Flora Japonica” and “Fauna Japonica.” To this day, his precise drawings are used as samples by biologists.

In a new exhibition, Lost at Sea, on display through September 12, 2012, jewelry artist Nina Sajet creates a series of intriguing jewelry pieces inspired by Keiga Kawahara’s prints. “Fish have had a role in culture through the ages, serving as religious symbols and as the subjects of art, books and movies,” says Sajet. “For me the capturing of the poetic element of the Fish and especially its beautiful shapes lead to new designs.”

Her jewelry collection is on display – juxtaposed alongside Kawahara’s prints – at K-Studio in Nishiazabu, Tokyo.

(many thanks to Chitose Ohchi from O-Jewel)

Flash Sale – NAM art collective poster book

August 20, 2012 / Johnny / Comments Off

click all images to enlarge

This week’s flash sale comes from one of our favorites artists, NAM (previously)! The Tokyo-based graphic/design collective is best known for their non-digital, gravity-defying photo shoots that are staged using copious amounts of objects suspended by wires and cables. Their fantastical style has made them a favorite amongst both corporate and artistic clients in Japan and abroad.

The team recently created this large-scale 15-image poster book that chronicles their work from past to present, making it an instant collector’s item for fans. Now’s your chance to get your hands on the limited edition set of 1000, before they hit shelves even in Japan!

Clopen | a floating shelf that hides a secret drawer

August 20, 2012 / Johnny / 1 Comment

photos by Yosuke Owashi

It’s a simple, unassuming floating shelf that appears to be made from a single piece of timber. But 2 stubs of wood that conceal magnets act as “keys,” revealing a secret 23mm drawer that can hide valuables like your passport or jewelry. So cool!

Titled “clopen,” the secret was designed by Torafu Architects (previously).

Source: press release

Fadeless by Nobu Miake | a vase for dried flowers

August 17, 2012 / Johnny / 1 Comment

Ichirinzashi, or the single flower vase, can seem like an odd concept in the West where the large, plentiful flower bouquet is preferred. In Japan, however, it’s not rare to go out in search of a flower vase (and pay just as much, I might add, as a regular vase) for that single stem, which will proudly and regally be displayed in the entrance of your home. It’s a tradition inspired by a historic reverence for nature and simplicity that receives a fresh new twist from designer Nobu Miake, part of the design unit Design Soil.

Fadeless is a series of single flower vases that, with a slight configuration, can extend the life of that one important stem by preserving it in a dried state. Using brass, wood, leather and a rubber band, Miake has crafted a gorgeous product that not only preserves the flower, but time itself.

Design Soil is a collaborative design unit consisting of 14 student designers from Kobe Design University. The aim of the project is to experiment with different themes and challenge our notions of what ordinary design is. Earlier this year we covered the Kobe Design University’s 2012 graduation show.

[correction] An earlier version of this article referred to Mr. Miake as a student designer. He is a lecturer.

Source: Design Soil website

Steps by Kohdai Iwamoto | a bench that adapts to your growing family

August 16, 2012 / Johnny / Comments Off

“Steps” was designed by Kohdai Iwamoto, a member of the student design unit Design Soil. The bench adapts to the changing needs of a growing family by functioning as a desk when the cushioned stool is placed under the hole. As the child grows older, the stool can be inserted into the hole, creating a bench for parent and child. I love thoughtful designs like this that are made to last!

If you like this, you’ll most certainly enjoy Masanori Oji’s Baby in Table.