Old Japanese storehouse welcomes contemporary artists

25 May 2006 Category: Events & Exhibitions, Illustration, Japan

Do you know what a Dozou is? A Dozou is an old Japanese storehouse covered with plaster or soil to protect households from thieves and disasters. These storehouses used to be seen all over Tokyo until The Great Kanto Earthquake (1923) and The Tokyo Fire Raids (1945) happened. However, there is one Dozou which has survived - in the middle of Asakusa, Tokyo. Unfortunately, even though the buildings might be old and witnesses of history they are not safe from rapid urban developments in this city. About 10 years ago this Dozou was planned to be taken down like any other building, but luckily an artist saved it at the very last minute. Gathering like-minded friends they started to hold exhibitions there and this is where Gallery Ef has its origin. Now, this beautiful old storehouse built over 130 years ago functions as a gallery and impresses visitors by introducing young local and international artists in this very unique area of Tokyo.

Written by Chiemi

The exhibition currently held at the store house - “Le Pittoresque au Japon” by Toshi Ota and Keeda Oikawa - is responsive to this very special location. Keeda Oikawa’s beautiful illustrations blend with Toshi Ota’s photography of people from all races and cultures: Orient and Occident, modernity and tradition, men and women, light and shadow - contradictions melting in harmony.

The imagery seems to combine Japanese elements with different cultures remixed to a contemporary illustration. How would you describe the theme of your exibition?

Keeda: In the year 2000 we started to look at Japonism from 20th century all the way to today. We wanted to try if we could construct ‘picturesqueness’ from a today’s viewpoint. Right now we are at a turning point of all genre changing in our era, races and technology rapidly changing… Along with that our sense of values are also changing. Considering this, our idea about going back to how Japonism has changed things, was then to express this overall change though fashion - seen from Japan.

When taking part in Ota and Keeda’s exhibition and performance, one could really absorb this total remix of time, culture, race and tradition. Looking at how much Japan changed in the last decades with strong influences from the West, but in return influenced design, art and technology outside Japan, looking at contemporary American or German Kimono designs, blonde Japanese punks but then also a young Japanese generation going back to traditional things such as drinking bitter Asian teas instead of softdrinks their parents got used to… This old storage gallery is a perfect place to consciously flow in this re-re-re-remix of our society being sampled again and again.

During Keeda’s live painting people from a Kiyari-club got together and sang along while she was painting. Kiyari are Japanese labour songs traditionally sung when people joined forces at occasions like moving something very heavy. The number of people who can actually still sing Kiyari today is tiny! It was a great performance and matched this unique storehouse perfectly.

■Live painting movie1
■Live painting movie2

When talking to Miss Izumi, the curator of Gallery Ef she told us that: “We always look for artists who get inspired by this old storehouse and want to create something in particular for this special atmosthere. This work should then be something which should embrace the atmosphere but still stick out as new, unique, fresh and independent. That is what I call the power of art which we need to keep this old building alive.”

If you are in Tokyo and want to discover a different atmosphere of the town, take an afternoon to discover Asakusa and this mélangerie of an old Dozou storing ideas and artworks now like it used to store things 130 years ago.

38 Comments

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