TOKYO FRANK

Laptops in the "Orange Tree" pub.

2006-04-04T08:23:00.000-07:00

Alain (Nottingham) Meets Christophe (Tokyo)

2006-04-04T08:20:00.000-07:00

For the first time.

First meeting

2006-04-04T08:18:00.000-07:00

First meeting of Collaborators

2006-04-04T08:15:00.000-07:00

Emma Lewis outlines the plan of action.

Start of the second leg of the exchange

2006-04-04T08:09:00.000-07:00

Tokyo students arrive in Nottingham for the start of their two week exchange making work at Nottingham Trent University and exhibiting and performing in Nottingham and London.

2005-07-07T08:14:00.000-07:00

Hey Ho

here are some juicy pics from the trip, i normally employ a herd of midgets to do my documentation for me - but alas they couldn't come with so these are my somewhat less than clear stills

Michael Lomon+Cheryl Heng

The Wandering Fool/The Blundering Womb - Sound installation

Not sure whose this was, but isnt it pretty!

The one on the left is actually the only british tourist in the photo

Wow look at jemima's photos; oh you can't really see tham from that angle, oh well

Johnnys cumbersome forray out of performance into the world of fine art - stunning

Kids dance every night infront of mirrors and windows in the train stations - just to see themselves. Literally, this is all they do, dance at their reflection - as good as the moves are, you can't help but wonder, does to much jigging mangle the brain?

Hopefully you'll get some photos from the others soon

lurve mike

From Frank in Nottingham

2005-07-03T12:56:00.000-07:00

Good to see you are keeping the standards up, Mike.
Knickers and Karaoke!!
I have had some excellent peaches since arriving back in Blighty.

KAMPAI

2005-07-02T02:19:00.000-07:00

Greetings all, now that Frank Abbot-san has departed, the burden of the blog falls to another Brit abroad - thank your lucky stars it was someone as dependable and sober in mind and body as i.

As our time in japan comes to an end, it seems important to attempt some explanation of just what kind of madness went on here - what do we know now that we didn`t before? How did this cultural exchange add to the work of students on both sides? Unfortunately, Having spent last night singing karaoke (free drink included) till seven in the morning, it may be of more use to tell of some of the adventures we have had in this vast megopolis.

Perhaps the funniest and downright filthiest part of our excursion occured just a few days into the trip - when Rosie and Jemima, having washed their clothes for the first time in japan -innocently hung their clobber out to dry. Now There`s nothing wrong with that is there?? Well, apparently that`s not quite the case - as the next morning, when our gals went to bring their clothes; there were no knickers left! Not one. You can leave a laptop outside here for a week and no-one would touch it, but when hanging out underwear you`d better lock protect the bastards.

One of my favourite aspects of our time here, has been the communication issues between students. The progression from the tentative first steps of a `konichiwa` bawled out with typical english clumsiness to the now often lengthy dialogues that are happening all over the place. Most japanese students have great patience when attempting an explanation of terms or ideas - it stands in great contrast to the regular babble of communication between two people.

Some terms have now been immortalised in musabi folklore...
orange balls - Some form of salmon egg used in various japanese dishes, johnny struggled with these and now just to mention the name is enough to arouse laughter all round.

Facking delicious - My attempt to translate cho oishi to english

Fresh Fruit - Fruit in general has now become a great humour lynchpin - mainly due to franks quite bizarre and not a little distressing obsession with the stuff.

Unfortunately, Rosie has gone missing with her camera, so this blog is picture-less, i will however upload plenty of images over the next few days so check back soon.

Now i must hurry back as it seems our karaoke escapades have had some rather serious repercussions and certain bad creases must be smoothed out.

Sionara
mike lomon

2005-06-30T15:54:00.000-07:00

Ken Chiba at Yokohama

2005-06-30T15:53:00.000-07:00

Yokohama reception

2005-06-30T15:52:00.000-07:00

Emma and Professor Charles at Yokohama

2005-06-30T15:50:00.001-07:00

Close up of Rosies work

2005-06-30T15:50:00.000-07:00

Liz's work for Yokohama

2005-06-30T15:49:00.000-07:00

The Gallery owner in his flowershop with his motorbike

2005-06-30T15:48:00.000-07:00

Mikes video and Rosie and Liz's work at Yokohama

2005-06-30T15:47:00.001-07:00

Jemimas Photos at Yokohama

2005-06-30T15:47:00.000-07:00

Ollies piece at Yokohama

2005-06-30T15:46:00.000-07:00

Yokohama Performance filkmed by Yuichi.

I go - I come back again.

2005-06-30T14:23:00.000-07:00

Just a chance to mention the reception at Gallery Jin in Yokohama. We were pleased to see Ken Chiba once again and the artist he shares his Ginza gallery with, Keiko Kamma.The man who runs the gallery, (from the flower shop round the corner) made us very welcome and the little reception spilled out onto the streets. Yuichi, a graduate from Trent two years ago and now living in Yokohama, came along. He has a show at the gallery next year.
Johnny and Koyangi did a noise piece with their gear scattered across the floor of the minute gallery. Remarkably everything had stayed on the wall for the previous two days of the show. Someone was interested in purchasing Rosies piece of work about Nottingham and Tokyo. Professor Charles and his wife came along and we said cheerio as I headed off across Tokyo for the last time to pack for the flight today.
The project has got off to a good start. We have laid the basis for further co-operation and development of collaborative work between Nottingham Trent University students and Musabi students. It is really now up to the students to develop the creative work which will give rthe project its meaning. In the area of sound and noise there is already an international common culture around certain shared approaches to production and technology, and it was perhaps in that area that the most direct collaborative work was immediately prodced. Performance work seems to be at different points within the two countries and there may also be a difference in approach between fine art performance which comes from a visual position and performance which derives from a more theatrical and music based tradition. But there was much to like and learn on both sides and I can see stronger collaborative developments emerging there. In photography and visual arts, where the work is often internally directed, collaboration does not necessarily come natural and requires an explicit effort on the part of the artist to open up their thinking and create and engage in collaborative structures. It is there that perhaps the slowest emergence of new exchange practices and collaborations will happen-but they could be ome of the most interesting.
Finally, one of the things it as been useful to observe from this project is how misleading it often is to generalise about one particular culture or approach. As soon as you start to get into formulating strategies around ideas like `this is the way the British think` or `the Japanese approach is so and so` you come a cropper when you try and apply it to individual work. Obviously there are different cultural contexts which both countries have, but one can easily exaggerate the way that these determine the actual production of work.

Farewell Blog

2005-06-29T10:07:00.000-07:00

This is probably the last blog I do as I go back to UK on Friday. The students are staying for 2 more days and I have handed the blog over to them to finish. I am sure they will do it very nicely.
Cheers Frank

2005-06-29T10:06:00.001-07:00

Plan of Musabi show

2005-06-29T10:06:00.000-07:00

Tutorials around work in show.

2005-06-29T10:05:00.000-07:00

Tutorials around work in show

2005-06-29T10:04:00.001-07:00

Labels for Musabi Show

2005-06-29T10:04:00.000-07:00

Musabi Show. Rosie`s piece in the Foreground, Kego's in the distance.

2005-06-29T10:01:00.000-07:00

Musabi show

2005-06-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

Musabi show

2005-06-29T09:58:00.000-07:00

Musabi show

2005-06-29T09:57:00.002-07:00

Musabi Show

2005-06-29T09:57:00.001-07:00

Musabi Show

2005-06-29T09:57:00.000-07:00

Clark performing at Musabi show

2005-06-29T09:56:00.001-07:00

Musabi show

2005-06-29T09:56:00.000-07:00

Musabi Show

2005-06-29T09:55:00.000-07:00

Musabi Show

2005-06-29T09:54:00.000-07:00

Performance opens Musabi Show

2005-06-29T09:53:00.000-07:00

Mike and Cheryl create The Wandering Fool and The Echoing Womb interactive piece in a corridor at Musabi.

2005-06-29T09:51:00.000-07:00

DAY TEN. We allow ourselves a short period of relaxation.

DAY TEN Opening the Musabi Show

2005-06-29T09:24:00.000-07:00

After last nights show at Superdeluxe we get in to finish the installation of the Musabi show. I take part in assessment tutorials all day with Professor Charles and Professor Nakajima. Its reassuring to find we seem to agree on most aspects of the strength and weakness of individual students work. And I don't think they are just being kind or accomodating -I think that there is the possibility to agree ,or disagree, on art and design issues within an international context and if people are honest and explicit about where they are coming from then a valuable dialoue can take place. The students seem to be finding this aswell. When they talk about work, despite the language difficulties, they can have quite complex exchanges. When they just talk pleasantries the conversation soon dies and the effort to understand becomes too much.
The Musabi show opens on time and looks pretty good. We have some posh pics taken of it, not like my efforts on the blog. A series of performances kick off the show, and it is a shame that we have o turn the sound off on the exhibits to allow the pewrformances to take place. As I leave on Friday it means I will not see the whole how running with all the sound at the same time. (thats perhaps a good thing, it could be a complete mess)

2005-06-29T09:20:00.001-07:00

Superdeluxe - exterior.

2005-06-29T09:20:00.000-07:00

Superdeluxe -window

2005-06-29T09:18:00.001-07:00

Superdeluxe-Musabi laptop lads

2005-06-29T09:18:00.000-07:00

Superdeluxe-performance

2005-06-29T09:17:00.000-07:00

Superdeluxe -Performance

2005-06-29T09:16:00.001-07:00

Superdeluxe-performance

2005-06-29T09:16:00.000-07:00

Superdeluxe -the final piece.

2005-06-29T09:09:00.000-07:00

Tuesday morning, the state of progress on the Musabi show. Opens wednesday

2005-06-29T09:06:00.000-07:00

Koyangi installing his tape loop device at Musabi.

Image put in because my family say there are not enough photos of me.

2005-06-29T09:03:00.000-07:00

Me on the shore of the PACIFIC OCEAN at Kamakura.

2005-06-29T09:01:00.000-07:00

Preparing Musabi Show

2005-06-29T08:59:00.000-07:00

The Picture out of my bedroom window.

DAY NINE Musabi set up and live at the SUPERDELUXE

2005-06-29T08:28:00.000-07:00

As we start to set up the Musabi exhibition more elements of exchange and collaboration come into focus. Some students who initiated a collaboration because they thought it was the right thing to do are starting to realise that maybe, if it doesn't serve the idea behind the work, then its not such a good idea. Maintaining an understanding of what the work is trying to do and producing something which you can stand by -become the major issues as the deadline for the exhibition advances. Also there are a variety of students from Musabi whom we haven't been able to meet and whose work we have not seen, so the overall context and look of the show will emerge over the next 2 days.
After a morning of negotiation and set up we head for Superdeluxe -about 90 minutes away by train- to set up the live show. Struggle through Japan Railways and the subway with bags full of laptops, hats and blankets (Mike), sacks and electronic devices (Emma) and odd little boxes with knobs on(Johnny).
Musabi students already there wiring up lines of latops. Japanese electricity is kind and doesn't kill you in the way that English electricity does so they can be alot freer with the use of cables and lights than we can in the uk.
Musabi fills up with lots of people, friends we have made over here. The artist from Kens gallery in Ginza and a critic. Kumiko and others from the Musabi international office. Some visitors from the British Council event, students and staff from Musabi and other artists.
Mostly goes great. Fantastic range of stuff. Superdeluxe is one of the venues which caters for work by artists. If you can pull enough people in you can get the venue at a reasonable cost. We pull enough people in -Professor Charles is relieved.

DAY EIGHT

2005-06-27T20:44:00.000-07:00

Johnny Scarr performs at the British Council

2005-06-27T20:43:00.000-07:00

Emma speaks at the British council show, and is translated by our excellent translator who was present at all our events.

2005-06-27T20:39:00.000-07:00

Some visitors to the British Council show

2005-06-27T20:38:00.000-07:00

Waiting to kick off the British Council show

The British Council Gig

2005-06-27T20:31:00.001-07:00

Well, we weren't sure what to expect. I mean, who goes for a night out at the British Council? As it turned out it was a good event. A range of interested people turned up and we felt we made a good account of ourselves and our project. The highlight was a sound performance by Johnny Scarr which was wellliked by the audience but unlikely to be the sort of thing the British Council usually hosts. Went for snack and drink around to Professor Christophe Charles apartment. Got back late and exhausted. Yokanagi left a bag on the train with all his work in. He phoned up the following morning and it was waiting for him to collect at the station. That's Japan.

2005-06-27T20:31:00.000-07:00

Preparing Musabi Show

2005-06-27T20:30:00.001-07:00

Preparing Musabi Show

2005-06-27T20:30:00.000-07:00

Preparing Musabi show

2005-06-27T20:29:00.000-07:00

Preparing Musabi show

2005-06-27T20:28:00.000-07:00

Preparing Musabi show

2005-06-27T20:27:00.000-07:00

The `final` layout for Musabi show.

2005-06-27T20:26:00.000-07:00

Sorting spaces for the Musabi Show

DAY EIGHT Installing the MUSABI show and gig at the BRITISH COUNCIL

2005-06-27T20:19:00.000-07:00

Big meeting at 9.00 to decide the final layout for the Musabi show in the amazing space. We get an overall agreement and draw it up on a blckboard. The show will hopefully hold together as a coherent whole, but that relies on getting everything in and tweaking it for sound and light. Some interesting collaborations are emerging, not only in this show but also at the superdeluxe event. Also some collaborations are not going ahead because sometimes they seem to have been devised because people felt they `ought` to collaborate and there was no realunderlying aesthetic reason for it.

2005-06-27T20:18:00.000-07:00

Building the Show. Images of the Yokohama show will be on a later blog of the reception on Thursday

2005-06-27T20:17:00.000-07:00

Building the show

2005-06-27T20:16:00.001-07:00

Building the show

2005-06-27T20:16:00.000-07:00

Building the show

2005-06-27T20:15:00.000-07:00

Shop in street where Gallery Gin is. Yokohama

2005-06-27T20:14:00.000-07:00

Shop in street where Gallery Gin is. Our packed exhibition of mixed media stuff worked wellin this context

2005-06-27T20:13:00.000-07:00

Shop in the street where Gallery Jin is. A stylish area with small boutiques and cafes.

2005-06-27T20:11:00.000-07:00

Jemima filming in Chinatown, Yokahama

2005-06-27T20:09:00.000-07:00

Gallery Gin in Yokohama

DAY SEVEN AND EIGHT THE STORM

2005-06-27T19:55:00.000-07:00

So much has been happening have missed putting up the blog. Sunday we installed the show at the small Gin Gallery In Yokahama. Long journey there and a visit to Kamakura to see the temples and the Big Buddha, but we were anxious about the Yokohama show and the sites were so crowded with people that we really did not get alot out of it. We should have taken the advice of Ken, Makoto and Manya, who accompanied us, and taken their tour of alternative Tokyo.
The Gin Gallery s minute and we had lots of new work, mainly by Nottingham students but some from Musabi. We had 3 hours to install the show and we knew it was short, so we hung out at a cafe near the gallery and swooped in as soon as the previous show was taken away. See the photos of the installation. We left Yokohama with the show virtually there at 10.00 and just got back to Tokyo before the last train.

PROGRAMME FOR THE SUPERDELUXE EVENT

2005-06-25T08:53:00.000-07:00

The programme is at http://home.att.ne.jp/grape/charles/superdeluxe_event.html

END OF DAY SIX

2005-06-25T08:39:00.000-07:00

Makoto and Manya are taking myself and all the students that manage to get up in time, to Kamakura tomorrow. It is near Yokohama where we need to set up the show, so we can spend a few hours in this religious city of old Japan with its large Buddhas and temples then head back toYokohama to set up the show from 6pm to 9pm. Ken is a little concerned that we may not have enough time to set up the show, but I am sure the students have made their preparations. The gallery is really small, a total contrast to the Musabi show. Things are getting really busy now with a show set up on Sunday, a performance at the British Council on Monday, Superdeluxe on Tuesday and the setting upof the Musabi show to open on Wednesday.
Gallery Gin, Yokohama is at http://homepage2.nifty.com/flower-kobayashi/

2005-06-25T08:37:00.001-07:00

The shops are massive....

2005-06-25T08:37:00.000-07:00

The Galleries are minute.

2005-06-25T08:35:00.000-07:00

We tour the Galleries of Ginza. The shops are feast for the eyes.

2005-06-25T08:32:00.000-07:00

Ken's gallery is showing 'Made in Occupied Japan' by artist and critic Taisuke Morishita. A reflection on the process of occupation. Fascinating mixture of video, archive images, and objects and paintings.

2005-06-25T08:27:00.000-07:00

There are over 200 small galleries in Ginza.Kens' is one of them. Artists usually pay quite a bit to be exhibited.

I meet ex-Trent students at Ken Chib (and Keiko Kamma's) Gallery in Ginza.

2005-06-25T08:20:00.000-07:00

Ken Chiba,Makoto Morimura and Manya Kato.

2005-06-25T08:13:00.000-07:00

DAY FIVE I recce the British Council where we are to perform on Monday and have a lovely meal with Professor Christophe Charles and family.

2005-06-25T08:10:00.000-07:00

DAY FIVE Putting together the bits purchased in Akihabara -Electric City for the Yokohama Show.

Working Towards the show

2005-06-25T08:08:00.000-07:00

DAY FIVE Johnny and Yago finally meet up and set a rehearsal time for the Superdeluxe show

Working Towards the Show

2005-06-25T08:05:00.000-07:00

DAY FIVE Rosie building Tokyo for the Musabi Show

2005-06-25T08:04:00.000-07:00

DAY FOUR Planning the Superdeluxe Show

2005-06-25T08:01:00.000-07:00

Musabi Tour. It has its own pond with Koi in.

2005-06-25T07:58:00.000-07:00

Musabi Tour -Woodcarving Studio- we don't do this at Nottingham any more.

2005-06-25T07:57:00.000-07:00

Musabi Fine Art Studio -Students work until the late evening.

DAY SIX I found my cable and went to see some old friends

2005-06-25T07:44:00.000-07:00

I found my cable so below and above are some images from the last two days.
Today is Saturday and the students dressed up as Robin Hood and his merry men and went off to do a childrens art workshop in Tokyo. I look forward to the photos. Robin Hood is well known here in Japan, but often gets confused with Peter Pan. I suppose they both represent freedom and escape from the bounds of society.

I went to see three of our graduates from Nottingham Trent who are now making their way as artists in Japan.

2005-06-25T07:43:00.000-07:00

Nottingham Trent Exchange Student Liz in Musabi for 6 months. Will be performing at Superdeluxe.

2005-06-25T07:19:00.000-07:00

Nottingham Trent student,Ollie, on 6 months exchange at Musabi. Contributing work to Yokohama show.

2005-06-25T07:14:00.000-07:00

DAY FIVE Shimizu attempting to shoot the installation she is working on with Clark.

2005-06-25T07:06:00.000-07:00

Musashino Arts University -we work on the fourth floor of the building.

2005-06-25T07:05:00.000-07:00

DAY FOUR Advertisement for lecture

2005-06-25T07:03:00.000-07:00

DAY FOUR -Plan for the Superdeluxe Event

Trent International Office advertises the British Council Event.

2005-06-23T19:53:00.000-07:00

Have a look at
http://www.ntu.ac.uk/international/ntu_and_your_country/7072gp.cfm?country=16

DAY FIVE A Bit of a Lull (before the storm?)

2005-06-23T06:33:00.000-07:00

Everybody is off all over the place picking up bits and pieces for the show and failing to meet up at appointed times. Mike sailed past his station 4 times on trains which unaccountably failed to stop. (at least that's why he said he missed my lecture). Then he caught Jemima and Rosie shopping -sorry searching for materials for the show.

Rosie is constructing Tokyo out of cardboard and needs to collect lots of it. Rosie is looking for quiet and neglected spaces to photograph.(PS Tokyo is probably the busiest and most densly packed city in the world)

Johnny, on the fourth time of trying, has at last found his record shop , only to discover the legendary bloke who runs it, his only music contact in Tokyo, is residing in hospital. Still, he is now free to create some inaudible sound through the combination of the positive and the negative.
Emma has been purchasing small motors at the remarkable electronics area of Akihabara-a city of Maplins shops.
The students are starting to look at their meagre reserves of cash. This new technology art does not come cheap.

Clark and Shimizu were looking concerned in the corridor as they tried to shoot their window piece.
Yago wanders around looking for Johnny (lost in Shinjuku station -he cannot find which entrance to leave by)
I've got photos of all this but I have lost my lead to download them onto the blog. I need to go to Akihabara.

DAY FOUR THE DANCE PROFESSOR AND THE WHISTLING ARTIST

2005-06-22T08:07:00.000-07:00

Began with missed alarm clock and a dash through the rain. Everyone in Japan has an umbrella except us.
Workshop down in the exhibition space.Professor Nakajima, choreographs a dance piece involving Izumi Noguchi, a "eurythmics dancer" performing with cameras attached to her arms and legs. We set up a webstream of the rehearsal on Active Ingredients ` Make TV ` and webcast about 15 minutes of dance. It looked very good.
When we came to webcast the actual performance for some reason the webcast stops after 3 seconds. Which is a shame. We are really testing this system for the first time so we expect problems. Messages are winging their way to Nottingham at this very moment.
Lunchtime -A meeting is convene around the childrens workshop to be delivered on Saturday. In their absence it is decided that for the children Johnny will dress up as Little John and Michael as Robin Hood. They are not happy. (Emma will be Friar Tuck)
Afternoon. Big meeting about our show at Superdeluxe on Tuesday night. 14 Acts in three hours. Performances, collaborations, videos, music and webcasts. Phew -quite a night. We rustle it into shape in a bi-lingual meeting. The real problem about these meetings is that the jokes never get translated - so one half of the meeting laughs whilst the other looks glum-then vice versa.
Another sushi reception tonight -for a visiting Korean artist. As the party draws to a close the visiting artist suddenly launches into a whistling rendition of what I can only imagine is a popular Korean song. To universal acclaim he finishes off whistling an electrifying version of Danny Boy.
Home to write this damn blog.