Jan 25 (Sat) – 26 (Sun)
At Futatsunuma General Park of Hirono town,
Futaba County, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan.
広野町から南相馬市にまたがる原発事故の被災地でのアートフェアに出展できることは、私にとって非常に意義深い機会です。私の作品「WAVE」や「OCEAN」は、自然の力強さと美しさ、そしてその背後に潜む脅威や不確実性をテーマにしています。水は生命を育む存在でありながら、一瞬にして破壊力を発揮することもあります。この二面性は、被災地が経験した自然の猛威とも重なり合い、私たちが向き合うべき課題を映し出しています。
また、この地域が持つ豊かな自然と再生への強い意志に共鳴し、作品を通じて新たな視点や感情を共有できればと思っています。このフェアを通じて、芸術の力が癒しや希望を与え、被災地の未来への道を照らす一助となることを願っています。
It is a very significant opportunity for me to exhibit at an art fair in an area affected by the nuclear accident, spanning from Hirono Town to Minami Soma City. My artworks WAVE and OCEAN are about the power and beauty of nature, as well as the threats and uncertainties that lie behind it. Water is a life-giving element, but it can also be a destructive force in an instant. This duality overlaps with the fury of nature experienced by the affected areas and reflects the challenges we must face.
We also resonate with the region's rich nature and strong will for regeneration, and hope to share new perspectives and emotions through our artworks. Through this fair, we hope that the power of art will provide healing and hope and help to light the way to the future of the affected areas.
"Marginal Art Fair Fukushima Hirono" is a new art fair to be held at Futatsunuma General Park in Hirono town, Futaba-gun, Fukushima Prefecture. Artworks of more than 20 participating artists will gather at the venue. In addition, international open call will be held, inviting artists from Japan and abroad to participate. During the fair, there will be workshops to support artists and reception. Please enjoy the various artistic expressions and events.
Event summary
Exhibition name : "Marginal Art Fair Fukushima Hirono"
Event period : Saturday, January 25, 2025 - Sunday, January 26, 2025
Event location : Futatsunuma General Park, Hirono town, Futaba-gun, Fukushima Prefecture
Admission fee : General: 500 yen, Students (high school students and below): Free
Artists
Ai☆Madonna / KOKI SUGITA / Ikeya Tomohide / Koyama Hitoki / Sone Eriko / Tamura Yuta / Aoyama Sae / Aoki Minori / Hatano Wataru / Takekoshi Hayato / Shibata Naoki / Mill Yoko / Arai Fuzuki / NINIGI TIGER / Akatsu Mie / Tachi Seika / Ikehara Yuta / Kazuki Nishinaga / Nadine Baldow / alfonatski / Watanabe Mai / Ishizuka Yumiko / Ishikawa Takuya / Yamazaki Seitaro and others
Organized and managed by:
Marginal Art Fair Fukushima Hirono Executive Committee
Sponsored by:
San-Ai Corporation
Supported by:
Hirono Town, Hirono shinko-kosha, Hirono Town Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Hirono Town Tourism Association
Contact
Marginal Art Fair Fukushima Hirono Executive Committee
https://artfairhirono.com
info@artfairhirono.com
A message from Director Seitaro Yamazaki
This time, through a strange coincidence, I have decided to hold an art fair in Hirono Town of Fukushima.
I am Seitaro Yamazaki, the director. I run a company called Seitaro Design in Tokyo that does design, branding, video production, etc. I usually call myself a creative director, but in places where I can introduce myself a little more politely, I call myself a creative director/artist. It has been six years since I stepped into the world of creating contemporary art.
I believe the first seeds of the art fair were planted in Hirono Town when Seitaro Design did the branding for the Solare Hotels and Resorts' Hatago Inn hotel brand. One of the three current Hatago Inns is located in front of Hirono Station.
Following on from the Hirono International artist-in-residence "TORIGOYA 2023-24" program, people of Hirono town were looking for the next step in branding the town through art, and they contacted me asking if I would like to take on an art project as the contemporary artist Seitaro Yamazaki, so I agreed to serve as the director of the art fair.
So, what kind of art fair should be held in Hirono town?
Looking back at history, it seems that it was once a very deprived area, where it was common for adults to go to work away from home in the winter. Then, during the period of high economic growth, several power plants were built along the coast of Fukushima, and the town began to develop as a commuter town for the neighboring city of Iwaki.
Then the Great East Japan Earthquake hit the town. The entire town of Hirono was also placed in an emergency evacuation zone due to the nuclear accident. But on September 30, 2024, it was 13 years since the evacuation order was lifted, and it is said that 90% of the town's residents have now returned to the town. Due to these circumstances, Hirono became a frontline base for the recovery from the disaster and has played a major role in the efforts to revive this region from the scars of the tsunami and nuclear accident. Many people will remember that J Village in the northern part of the town once attracted worldwide attention as a base for responding to the nuclear accident.
On the hill overlooking Hatago Inn Fukushima Hirono is Fukushima Prefectural Futaba Future School. This high school was established so that children who returned to Futaba County could continue their education while prefectural high schools in the county were forced to continue evacuating due to the effects of the disaster.
"A place full of yohaku for giving birth to the future."
That was my honest impression. The word "yohaku" was originally created as a translation of "margin" when Western bookmaking techniques were imported to Japan. It refers to the blank areas around the pages. Eventually, this word came to be used as a keyword when talking about Japanese traditional art. Originally, in Japanese art, there were many areas that were left blank without any elements, but this also came to be called "yohaku."
Yohaku in the Japanese aesthetic is different from the Western "blank space." It is not a place with nothing, but a place from which various things spring up whenever people look at it.
To be honest, I didn't know much about Hirono Town until the international artist in residence program conducted last year. However, when I actually looked there, it was a land that was not blank but like a margin, a land where various things spring up whenever I looked at it.
In the art world, there are works that are considered to be genuine contemporary art. They are at the center of the art world. And where there is a center, there is also a periphery. As Ernst Gombrich points out in the final chapter of "The Story of Art," the history of art is a repetition of things that emerge from the periphery being recognized as the center of the art of the next era. Baroque painting, Romantic painting, Impressionism, Cubism, Fauvism, Surrealism, Minimalism, Street Art, Photography, Film, Media Art. None of them were at the center of art from the beginning.
So, in this "marginal" art fair, we hope that not only works that are already at the center of art, but also many works that are still in the "margins of art" will participate. The Western word "margin" is the origin of the word "yohaku." The adjective of "margin" is "marginal." It means "on the periphery," "in the border area," or "belonging to two cultures but not fully assimilated into either."
This art fair will be held in Hirono Town, Fukushima Prefecture, as a place where "marginal" art will gather. I hope you enjoy "Marginal Art Fair Fukushima Hirono."
Director Seitaro Yamazaki