In pursuit of its aspiration to serve as the “Cultural Heart of the City” and a birthplace of ideas, Roppongi Hills has grown and developed alongside many different members of the local community. The series of “Community Engagement Programs” was launched by Roppongi Hills in conjunction with the Mori Art Museum which seeks ways to incorporate contemporary art into everyday life - as exemplified by its motto, “Art & Life.” The aim of the Program series is to offer everyone who spends time at Roppongi Hills - living, working, or visiting for leisure - a richer, fuller experience of the complex via contemporary art, and creative initiatives.
TSUMUWA Project
Roppongi has developed and changed with the times, and the invisible ideas, thoughts, and memories unique to this place are overflowing in people’s hearts as precious treasures. This project focuses on the daily lives of the core members who play a central role in the “Tsumugu Project” and depicts an image of the Roppongi community that is highlighted through dialogue, and through art in everyday life. In the spring of 2020, we started producing interview videos of the core members according to the theme of “The Maturity of People and Cities,” and to date a total of 12 videos have been completed. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6SMu12UXGpzyjnbDeaRWi-VhZR4Y6loa
We have focused on the topic of food as a wellspring of energy, in an attempt to provide a new perspective to our everyday lives. Taking inspiration from the theme of Mori Art Museum’s Another Energy exhibition, “The power to continue challenging,” participants carefully selected one dish that would give each person energy and vitality and created a recipe for it.
Together with photographer Manabe Yuri, we have turned the scene and the story behind it into a work of art. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have chosen Instagram as the platform for the presentation of the work. https://www.instagram.com/tsumushoku2021/
To mark 15 years of Roppongi Hills, the call went out for individuals with a special connection to the area to take part in a series of workshops starting February 2018 that involved joining in a dialogue then engaging in a creative project. Turning their thoughts to the future of Roppongi while reflecting on the neighborhood’s path to date, participants made a new symbol of the community that during “Roppongi Hills Spring Festival 2018” and “Roppongi Art Night 2018,” served as a device for gathering myriad thoughts and ideas, with members of the public also taking part in the collecting of words. The “Tsumuki Project” was an opportunity for those born and bred in Roppongi, those who work in Roppongi, and those with various connections to Roppongi to converse on the same level and turn their thoughts anew to the Roppongi community, as well as to experience for themselves many different forms of art.
Neighborhood Seen through Art Ver. 1: THE FURNITURE
This was a research project working with artists to highlight the neighborhood “commons” (history, elements etc. to be shared) for Nishi-Shimbashi, the area adjacent to the Toranomon locality slated for development, based on a survey by architectural researcher Kawakatsu Shinichi. The area is known for the production of “Shiba furniture,” different parts of the Western-styled furniture-making process once being subcontracted out here, forming a community, so the aim was to restore the “commons” to the neighborhood with the help of the artists. The project was also loosely tied to the Japan in Architecture exhibition (2018) at the Mori Art Museum, works being unveiled and workshops run in the area in September 2018, building close bonds with local residents.
This summer sees the launch of a new program titled “Art Summer Camp,” targeting youths aged 15-22, and giving them the opportunity to discuss “contemporary art” with artists in a different environment to the usual school format of “teacher” and “(being) taught.” By viewing works on display and sharing these works in their own words with others, participants will gain a greater understanding of what it means to share things, from what’s happening right now at home or school, to long-ago historical events, and social, political and cultural happenings in the wider world.
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.
Dotted around Roppongi Hills are over 20 pieces of public art and street furniture, starting with the symbolic, Louise Bourgeois sculpture Maman. These works were commissioned and installed when Roppongi Hills was to open, and embody the Roppongi Hills commitment to serving as “Cultural Heart of the City,” that is, a neighborhood centered on culture as an enriching presence in day-to-day life. After exploring the public art at Roppongi Hills, participants came up with ideas for 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 that extended far beyond the confines of the Mori Art Museum to encompass art out on the streets.
The “Mori Art Museum x HILLS MACHI-IKU PROJECT Kids’ Art Tour” is a program series that runs every summer as a collaboration of the Mori Art Museum and the Mori Building Company’s Public Relations. In this program, children learn through interactive discussion about Roppongi Hills’ initiatives in the community as part of its drive to serve as “Cultural Heart of the City;” the role of art museums in communities; the kind of jobs people do at the art museum; exhibitions and more. The theme of the Art Tour changes depending on the exhibition of the moment, and after pondering the connections between community and art, children enthusiastically continue to undertake workshop tasks and share their opinions.
“Sacred Food” in collaboration with Funakoshi Masayo (Food Anthology)
Dishes prepared by food artist Funakoshi Masayo, inspired by interviewing artists with works in the Mori Art Museum SUNSHOWER: Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia 1980s to Now exhibition (2017), were served at the Keyakizaka Complex Rooftop Garden in an evening enjoyed by the artists, plus around 25 guests with connections to Roppongi Hills. The event was later recreated for the general public at the Green Asia restaurant at Roppongi Hills, as part of “Roppongi Art Night 2017.”
“Building a Forest” - In collaboration with the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra
In this program, 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, participants joined musicians from the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra to have fun making and performing their own sounds. Staff from Starbucks, the Adidas store, and other commercial tenants, plus security guards and other Roppongi Hills employees, served as facilitators in a program that also tied in with the Roppongi Hills Golden Week events schedule.
The giant Louise Bourgeois sculpture Maman, Roppongi Hills landmark and familiar meeting spot, as well as its surroundings in 66 Plaza (where Maman is situated) morphed into a totally new landscape, courtesy of the work of up-and-coming textile artist Magda Sayeg. An everyday urban space in the community was “yarn-bombed” in knitted and crocheted fabric to mark the 15th anniversary of Roppongi Hills, in an audacious installation that transformed the look of the area, encouraging onlookers to perceive it in an entirely new way. This was Magda Sayeg’s first major work in Asia, and remained on display until May 27 as part of the “Roppongi Art Night 2018” program.
Period: April 25 - May 27, 2018
Venue : 66 Plaza, Roppongi Hills
Participants: approx. 4,000,000 (Number of visitors to Roppongi Hills during the period) https://www.mori.art.museum/en/learning/1178/
TSUMUWA Project
Roppongi has developed and changed with the times, and the invisible ideas, thoughts, and memories unique to this place are overflowing in people’s hearts as precious treasures. This project focuses on the daily lives of the core members who play a central role in the “Tsumugu Project” and depicts an image of the Roppongi community that is highlighted through dialogue, and through art in everyday life. In the spring of 2020, we started producing interview videos of the core members according to the theme of “The Maturity of People and Cities,” and to date a total of 12 videos have been completed. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6SMu12UXGpzyjnbDeaRWi-VhZR4Y6loa
We have focused on the topic of food as a wellspring of energy, in an attempt to provide a new perspective to our everyday lives. Taking inspiration from the theme of Mori Art Museum’s Another Energy exhibition, “The power to continue challenging,” participants carefully selected one dish that would give each person energy and vitality and created a recipe for it.
Together with photographer Manabe Yuri, we have turned the scene and the story behind it into a work of art. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have chosen Instagram as the platform for the presentation of the work. https://www.instagram.com/tsumushoku2021/
To mark 15 years of Roppongi Hills, the call went out for individuals with a special connection to the area to take part in a series of workshops starting February 2018 that involved joining in a dialogue then engaging in a creative project. Turning their thoughts to the future of Roppongi while reflecting on the neighborhood’s path to date, participants made a new symbol of the community that during “Roppongi Hills Spring Festival 2018” and “Roppongi Art Night 2018,” served as a device for gathering myriad thoughts and ideas, with members of the public also taking part in the collecting of words. The “Tsumuki Project” was an opportunity for those born and bred in Roppongi, those who work in Roppongi, and those with various connections to Roppongi to converse on the same level and turn their thoughts anew to the Roppongi community, as well as to experience for themselves many different forms of art.
Neighborhood Seen through Art Ver. 1: THE FURNITURE
This was a research project working with artists to highlight the neighborhood “commons” (history, elements etc. to be shared) for Nishi-Shimbashi, the area adjacent to the Toranomon locality slated for development, based on a survey by architectural researcher Kawakatsu Shinichi. The area is known for the production of “Shiba furniture,” different parts of the Western-styled furniture-making process once being subcontracted out here, forming a community, so the aim was to restore the “commons” to the neighborhood with the help of the artists. The project was also loosely tied to the Japan in Architecture exhibition (2018) at the Mori Art Museum, works being unveiled and workshops run in the area in September 2018, building close bonds with local residents.
This summer sees the launch of a new program titled “Art Summer Camp,” targeting youths aged 15-22, and giving them the opportunity to discuss “contemporary art” with artists in a different environment to the usual school format of “teacher” and “(being) taught.” By viewing works on display and sharing these works in their own words with others, participants will gain a greater understanding of what it means to share things, from what’s happening right now at home or school, to long-ago historical events, and social, political and cultural happenings in the wider world.
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.
Dotted around Roppongi Hills are over 20 pieces of public art and street furniture, starting with the symbolic, Louise Bourgeois sculpture Maman. These works were commissioned and installed when Roppongi Hills was to open, and embody the Roppongi Hills commitment to serving as “Cultural Heart of the City,” that is, a neighborhood centered on culture as an enriching presence in day-to-day life. After exploring the public art at Roppongi Hills, participants came up with ideas for 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 that extended far beyond the confines of the Mori Art Museum to encompass art out on the streets.
The “Mori Art Museum x HILLS MACHI-IKU PROJECT Kids’ Art Tour” is a program series that runs every summer as a collaboration of the Mori Art Museum and the Mori Building Company’s Public Relations. In this program, children learn through interactive discussion about Roppongi Hills’ initiatives in the community as part of its drive to serve as “Cultural Heart of the City;” the role of art museums in communities; the kind of jobs people do at the art museum; exhibitions and more. The theme of the Art Tour changes depending on the exhibition of the moment, and after pondering the connections between community and art, children enthusiastically continue to undertake workshop tasks and share their opinions.
“Sacred Food” in collaboration with Funakoshi Masayo (Food Anthology)
Dishes prepared by food artist Funakoshi Masayo, inspired by interviewing artists with works in the Mori Art Museum SUNSHOWER: Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia 1980s to Now exhibition (2017), were served at the Keyakizaka Complex Rooftop Garden in an evening enjoyed by the artists, plus around 25 guests with connections to Roppongi Hills. The event was later recreated for the general public at the Green Asia restaurant at Roppongi Hills, as part of “Roppongi Art Night 2017.”
“Building a Forest” - In collaboration with the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra
In this program, 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, participants joined musicians from the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra to have fun making and performing their own sounds. Staff from Starbucks, the Adidas store, and other commercial tenants, plus security guards and other Roppongi Hills employees, served as facilitators in a program that also tied in with the Roppongi Hills Golden Week events schedule.
The giant Louise Bourgeois sculpture Maman, Roppongi Hills landmark and familiar meeting spot, as well as its surroundings in 66 Plaza (where Maman is situated) morphed into a totally new landscape, courtesy of the work of up-and-coming textile artist Magda Sayeg. An everyday urban space in the community was “yarn-bombed” in knitted and crocheted fabric to mark the 15th anniversary of Roppongi Hills, in an audacious installation that transformed the look of the area, encouraging onlookers to perceive it in an entirely new way. This was Magda Sayeg’s first major work in Asia, and remained on display until May 27 as part of the “Roppongi Art Night 2018” program.
Period: April 25 - May 27, 2018
Venue : 66 Plaza, Roppongi Hills
Participants: approx. 4,000,000 (Number of visitors to Roppongi Hills during the period) https://www.mori.art.museum/en/learning/1178/
