Tsuzuki Kyoichi's Revolving Roadside Japan -- October 17 (Sat) to November 29 (Sun)
Room 9, Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito (ATM)
For further information, please call (029) 227-8111.
Mail to:
webstaff@arttowermito.or.jp
Dipping into hidden hot springs, tasting locally-brewed sake,
partaking of local dishes -- is that really what travel is all about?
Japanese like to fly off to the Amazon or the Sahara,
but never seem to visit the minor towns of Japan.
Maybe, then, the least-explored region for the Japanese people is the rural part of their own country.
Everyone here thinks they know -- but no one really does -- this mysterious country called Japan,
which is really full of hidden places that are stimulating and fun in a strange sort of way.
The treasures produced by ineffable willpower will dance before your very eyes.
Kyoichi Tsuzuki, Journalist
Tsuzuki Kyoichi's Revolving Roadside Japan
The exhibition -- "Revolving Roadside Japan" -- takes its name from the way the items are presented: on a revolving conveyor belt used in some sushi shops.
Exhibited are original prints selected from tens of thousands of photographs taken by Kyoichi Tsuzuki in preparation for 238 installments of the serial "ROADSIDE JAPAN,"
which appeared in the weekly photo magazine,
"SPA!" over a five-year period that began in February 1993 and ended in summer 1998.
On display are more than 180 photographs, including some appearing in Tsuzuki's book,
"ROADSIDE JAPAN" (honored with the Ihei Kimura Award in 1998),
which covers 155 of the installments of his serialized column through August 1996.
Other pictures are also displayed that did not appear in the book.
One can say that Tsuzuki's exhibition at ATM is a special selection of the photographs of the many spots introduced in "ROADSIDE JAPAN."
Tsuzuki says about his photographs, "Here you find neither the beautiful scenes typical of Japan nor the simple and elegant kind of spaces that leave foreigners speechless.
Rather I have included only those spots that would incur such epithets as "gaudy" and "frivolous,"
and that would even be slighted by people living in the neighborhood.
But present-day Japan has precisely this kind of unpainted, messy face.
It is not beautiful, but has its own charms depending on how you look at it."
As his statement suggests, "present-day Japan" is unfolded in three types of photographs -- large,
medium and small in size -- that pass along on the conveyor belt.
You are welcome to take any photograph in your hand and look at it to the full,
and you can buy any that you like at surprisingly low prices,
"taking out" as many as you like.
(In the conveyor-belt sushi business, the word "nukitori" used for this, meaning literally "removing" or "taking out.")
We recommend that you purchase and take the photographs home, so you can enjoy them in a more relaxed manner in a room like that shown in
"TOKYO STYLE," Tsuzuki's book published in 1993.
Another room displays framed images from "ROADSIDE JAPAN."
Tsuzuki has written, "The problem is where we Japanese find our reality -- Japan the ugly,
Japan the elegant, or Japan the comfortable.
If we accepted our immediate reality more positively, we would have a far more delightful life."
Tsuzuki sends us intense messages through his photographs on this occasion.
He will also deliver a lecture on the first day of the exhibition, October 17.
About Kyoichi Tsuzuki
Born in Tokyo in 1956, Tsuzuki worked as an editor and writer for the magazines,
"Popeye" and "Brutus," from 1976 to 1986, dealing chiefly with contemporary art,
architecture, design and urban life.
From 1989 to 1992, then, he compiled ArT RANDOM (published by Kyoto Shoin),
a 102-volume collection of contemporary art, which afforded a comprehensive view of the multifarious range of contemporary art around the world in the 1980s.
After that, he has written many articles and edited books on contemporary art, architecture, photography and design.
In 1993, he published "TOKYO STYLE," a collection of common living spaces in Tokyo.
From that year to July 1998, he serialized "ROADSIDE JAPAN" in the magazine "SPA!", visiting strange spots popping up around Japan.
The first collection of the installments in the series, "ROADSIDE JAPAN," came out in winter 1996 (the book won the 23rd Ihei Kimura Award).
In the autumn of 1997, he began issuing "Street Design File," a series of designs produced by nonprofessionals.
The five volumes of the first installment were published by the end of 1997.
Tsuzuki has also engaged himself in the design of spaces at such clubs as Ebisu MILK and Iikura ORANGE.
About the Exhibition
Title: Kyoichi Tsuzuki's "Revolving Roadside Japan"
Period: October 17 (Sat) to November 29 (Sun), 1998
Venue: Workshop, Room 9 of Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito (ATM)
Times: 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. (no admission after 6:00 p.m.)
Holidays: Mondays. However, as November 23 (Mon) is a national holiday, the Gallery will be closed instead on November 24 (Tue).
Admission: Included in the admission to the exhibition, "Kawaguchi Tatsuo 1990-98."
Organized by: Contemporary Art Center, Art Tower Mito (ATM)
Supported by: Toyota Motor Corporation
Special support: Japan Crescent Co., Ltd.
Cooperation: Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd., SOUM Corporation, and It's Co., Ltd.
Photo cooperation: Jumbo Oshidori Sushi's Hino Central Restaurant
Related Project
Open Public Lecture: "Art in Everyday Life #1"
Lecturer: Kyoichi Tsuzuki
Theme: About "ROADSIDE JAPAN"
Organized by: Contemporary Art Center, Art Tower Mito (ATM). ATM Members Club.
Time: 2:00 to 3:30 p.m., October 17 (Sat)
Venue: Conference Hall, Art Tower Mito (ATM)
Admission: ¥500
Seating capacity: 80 people (unreserved seats will be available on a first-come, first-served basis)
Reservations: Ticket Reservation Center, Art Tower Mito
(029) 225-3555
Copyright 1998 ART TOWER MITO. All Rights Reserved. Created by
Team TK.
Mail to: webstaff@arttowermito.or.jp
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