Weaving Projects

Tsumuki Project: Weaving Voices (2018)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5rLNGqtaBg

Tsumune Project (2019)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNj8iYsLsos

The “Weaving Project” is an opportunity for those born and bred in Roppongi, those who work in Roppongi, and those with various connections to Roppongi to converse on, and turn their thoughts anew to the Roppongi community, while experiencing for themselves many different forms of art outside the exhibition galleries/Museum.
In the 2018 project, in the year marking 15-year anniversary of Roppongi Hills, participants made a new timberwork symbol of the community as a device for gathering myriad thoughts and ideas, with members of the public also taking part in the collecting of words. In the 2019 project, participants focused on sounds of the city, and expressed their ideas in marching performance and short plays.

“Neighborhood Seen through Art”

Ver. 1: THE FURNITURE (2018)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-eFt6IWjEs&t=236s

This was a research project, collaborative effort with artists, to highlight the neighborhood “commons” (history, elements etc.; shared commonalities) for Nishi-Shimbashi, the area adjacent to the Toranomon locality slated for development, based on a survey by architectural researcher Kawakatsu Shinichi. In this edition, program featured “Shiba furniture,” known for being produced there in the past.

“Art Camp” Series

“Art Camp for under 22, Vol. 2” #3 Workshop (2019)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_t8ohUgOGg&t=1s

“Art Summer Camp 2018 for under 22” (2018)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMn0NhNPkI4

“Art Camp for under 22, Vol. 3” #3 & #4 Workshop (2019)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36QFTrAK_0w&t=130s

“Art Camp for under 22, Vol. 4 - #1: Experiencing ‘Bio-Atelier’ at a Museum!?” (2020)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN8kti4bqzE

“Art Camp” is a program series targeting younger art-lovers aged 15-22; giving them the opportunity to discuss “contemporary art” with artists and curators in a different environment from the usual school formatting of “teaching”/“taught,” employing the Museum and entire Roppongi Hills neighborhood as a canvas.

Pedro Reyes, Palas por Pistolas [Shovels for Guns], Tree-Planting Program (2017)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hp3mtXFEcmk

A tree-planting program in conjunction with Pedro Reyes’ Palas por Pistolas (Shovels for Guns). The shovels in this work were made by melting guns that had been collected, transforming instruments of death into harbingers of new life. Children of elementary school near the Museum planted trees using shovels and thought about society and art.

Workshop “Imagine Having Public Art Like This!” (2017)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhKnDxk7I2s&t=6s

Dotted around Roppongi Hills are over 20 pieces of public art and street furniture. These works were commissioned and installed when Roppongi Hills was to open in 2003, and embody the Roppongi Hills’ commitment to serving as “Cultural Heart of the City.” After exploring the public art, participants came up with ideas as to the kind of public art they would like to see in their own neighborhoods with each child making and presenting a work of his/her own, in a workshop.

“Building a Forest” - In collaboration with the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra (2017)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATYt0nu469g

In this program, participants joined musicians from the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra to have fun making and performing their own sounds after visiting six locations within Roppongi Hills including shops, artworks and workplaces, meeting and conversing with people from all walks of life and getting a feel for the plethora of sounds and natural elements around the neighborhood.

“Sacred Food” (2017)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzKEutUtQ8k&t=84s

Dishes prepared by a food artist Funakoshi Masayo, who was inspired by interviewing artists participating in the SUNSHOWER: Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia 1980s to Now exhibition, were served on one special evening where the artists, plus around 25 guests with connections to Roppongi Hills were invited. The event was later recreated for the general public as a part of “Roppongi Art Night 2017.”

“Designing a Country without Sight” (2016)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Le7vLfyhYQ

The program kicked off with a workshop that asked “if a country consisted without the sighted was to exist, what kind of a place could it be?,” leading the participants to identify and explore new ideas. What sort of houses would people live in? What would the specialty dish be like? The legal system? Means of communication? And if there was art, what form/s would it take? Participants, including several who were visually impaired, offered up their ideas, which specialists then took and converted to models, samples and other tangible forms in a workshop that encouraged people to take a fresh look at their neighborhoods, and lifestyles, from alternative starting points.

Workshop “Becoming Cats and Going to an Opening Ceremony for the Cat Olympics”

Exhibition-related program (2019)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WyS3h9f05M

Artist Takekawa Nobuaki, participating artist of the Roppongi Crossing 2019, ran a workshop on the theme of his work in the exhibition, Cat Olympics. After viewing Cat Olympics, participants put on some cat make-up, and took part in an opening ceremony for a fictional feline Olympiad. This workshop was organized as a collaboration program with The Okada Laboratory, The University of Tokyo Graduate School of Education “Art Appreciation Workshop Series for Inspiring and Creating.”

Kids’ Workshop “Along with Mr. Erlich”

Exhibition-related program (2017)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEeoAzSJ2RQ

Pre-school children, together with the Mori Art Museum solo exhibition artist Leandro Erlich, chat about familiar everyday themes and explored his featured works of the participatory nature. After viewing the exhibition, children sketched whatever had come to mind. The workshop program became such a memorable formative experience to all who participated.

Kids’ Workshop “Philosophy for Children @ ‘Leandro Erlich’ Exhibition”

Exhibition-related program (2017)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf2oePgPZC4

The workshop was for children from third grade to sixth grade. It was meant for them to find questions from Leandro Erlich’s artworks and discuss them in depth. Through the philosophic dialogue with others, expanding their thoughts, describing ideas in their own words, participants found new interests to the contemporary art.

“Meet the Artist Together with People of Various Generations”

Exhibition-related program (2017)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y58yqHqWeW4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q-fbVECG1c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqmBb4W7tMU

In this program, participants got to meet face-to-face with one of the SUNSHOWER exhibition artists, Thailand’s Dusadee Huntrakul. Kids, teens and seniors came together to share their thoughts in their own words across generations through this one-week program that included visits to the exhibition, workshop making artworks, and lunch gathering after cooking a quintessential Thai dish “pad thai” together.

Kids’ Workshop “Night Journey”

Exhibition-related program (2017)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6jdO2Kw1rM&t=1s

At this workshop, junior gallery-goers joined N. S. Harsha, Mori Art Museum solo exhibition-featured artist then, to think about the “night of Tokyo.” Children transformed to their hero, headed out onto the streets of Roppongi to sketch the “Night” of the capital city.