MUJI has announced details on this year’s edition of their “MUJI Award” competition. The theme for 2008 is “Found MUJI.” From the site:
What can you create, when considering the life, culture and tradition of a particular region of the world, giving it a MUJI viewpoint, while at the same time respecting its origins?
The “Found MUJI” mark has been used often in exhibitions at their Atelier MUJI gallery space in Yurakucho. The entry period runs July 1-31. Via Dezain.net.
Looks like Kadokawa — the company behind the terrific THE MELANCHOLY OF HARUHI SUZUMIYA series — will be allowing some of its content to be posted on YouTube for free viewing, starting next month. Here’s a link to Kodakawa’s YouTube channel. Via Japan Probe.
Looks like artist Tenmyouya Hisashi is raking in the dough. At a Christie’s auction in Hong Kong, the Gundam painting pictured above was sold for around US$600,000. Via Kotaku.
Emori Takeaki of iconic band Citrus gets the interview treatment over at Neojaponisme. Also, listen to the Neojaponisme podcast, with David and Trevor chatting about the band, and playing a few tracks.
The Art Space Tokyo maps keep on coming, with Ginza (the gallery covered in the book is Tokyo Gallery + BTAP) now available as a downloadable PDF.
At the last PauseTalk (Vol. 21), artist Robin Anthony Coe talked about the mixed media art projects he’s worked on, and that he’s currently preparing a fourth one, and would love to get some new collaborators. A few words from Robin:
What is the next project?
A mixed media art work combining word, image and sound. This is our starting point. We have created a flexible framework and made some decisions about the possible content. It is an art film performance piece rather than an installation. Mediums that will fit into this art project collaboration include; written word, spoken word, photography, music, video, drawing, painting, collage, dance. At present we are writing and taking photographs, but will expand the artistic mediums of the project as the work progresses. There are two of us working on this project at the moment, but we would like to find some more collaborators. We are looking for Tokyo based creative types to join us. We have a loose theme and direction but expect it to evolve depending on who is involved.
We envisage a low key word of mouth weekend one off art event in a central Tokyo location to show the finished work. The audience being made up of friends and acquaintances of the participating artists. The important thing is to make and show the work. We don’t expect to make money, have press coverage or become famous. We do expect to learn, have fun, and create an artwork that stretches our artistic skills, and engages the audience.
We are working on the project in our spare time now and expect to for the next couple of months. We hope to show the finished work in a few months. All artists need a deadline.
I myself am an ex art student preschool teacher and my friend and collaborator is an animator and photographer.
Please contact me if you are interested in either joining the event as an art collaborator or an audience member.
He is planning a meeting at Respekt Cafe in Shibuya on June 15. I think he’ll probably be at the next PauseTalk as well, taking place June 2 (next week).
Dezeen posts a few photos of the Kait workshop at the Kanagawa Institute of Technology. The complex was designed by Junya Ishagami Architects. I would have loved to get access to a work space like that when I was a student. In fact, I’d love have access to a work space like that now!
FOTOMO is a Japanese book that includes papercraft cutouts of city sights. Looks like it would let you create quite the nice diorama. Via Boing Boing.
My weekly Tokyo post is up at MoCo Loco, this time covering Lemnos‘ Spread Clock, Takumi Yoshida‘s Revolve power strip, an exhibition of works by Ryuji Nakamura, and Ryue Nishizawa’s participation in the “Some Ideas on Living…” exhibition.
Yoshitomo Nara has released his first children’s book, THE LONESOME PUPPY. You’ll find a few excerpts here. Via Boing Boing.