Hiroshi Fuji – From the Useless Selection
July 18 (Saturday) – September 2 (Wednesday), 2015
Gallery B (Contemporary Art)
Hiroshi Fuji, Tz300Fk, 2015
Hiroshi Fuji and his family came up with the idea of the Kaekko Workshop Program to promote volunteerism among children. The basis of the program was the recycling of obsolete toys in an exchange system using “frog point” currency. Since its inception, the Kaekko workshop has been held at a variety of venues at more than 1,000 locations. The system is designed to be adapted according to the location and concern of the organizer and participants, for example, education, leisure, environment, recycling, economic revitalization, local activity or international exchange. As a result, it has taken on different forms. Last year, the program was held with great success at Hara Museum ARC. Simply speaking, the Kaekko-style has become Fuji’s lifework, as he advances the unique platform that gives expression to person-to-person communication and many kinds of new voluntary relationships. In recent years, the artist has been creating in his own studio various sculptural artworks using carefully selected materials that he calls “Useless Selection,” obtained from the ever increasing volume of toys (especially fragments and soiled objects) that do not get recycled through Kaekko.
For this exhibition, these sculptural artworks and the sketches made by Fuji on which they are based will be displayed at Hara Museum ARC. In addition, a “Kaekko Bazaar” will be held this summer on the grounds of the adjacent Ikaho Green Bokujo at a specially constructed site called the “Kaekko Station.” We invite you to visit the two venues and experience the creative world of Hiroshi Fuji.
Hiroshi Fuji (Artist, Director of the Towada Art Museum, Professor at Akita University of Art)
After completing a B.A. and M.A. at Kyoto City University of Arts, Fuji joined the Japan International Cooperation Agency and worked as a lecturer at the former Papua New Guinea National Arts School. He went on to join an urban planning group, and then later established the Fuji Hiroshi Design and Production Studio. He has carried out projects in numerous regions that involve dialogue and community experiments, such as the Vinyl Plastics Connection (Kaekko) and others. His work has been featured in Hara Annual V at the Hara Museum in Tokyo in 1985 and at Hara Museum ARC during an on-site project in 1989, the exhibition Art is Fun in 1990 and the solo exhibition Hiroshi Fuji and the Uncharted Land of Toysaurus in 2014.
[Related Event]
Kaekko Bazaar (Supervised by: Hiroshi Fuji; Planning cooperation: Hara Museum ARC)
July 18 (Saturday) – August 31 (Monday) Time: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Venue: Kaeru Station on the grounds of Ikaho Green Bokujo
Fee: free (Ikaho Green Bokujo admission separately required)
[Exhibition Details]
Title: Hiroshi Fuji – From the Useless Selection
Dates: July 18 (Saturday) – September 2 (Wednesday), 2015
Venue: Contemporary Art Gallery B at Hara Museum ARC 2855-1 Kanai, Shibukawa-shi, Gunma 377-0027
Tel 0279-24-6585 Fax 0279-24-0449 E-mail arc@haramuseum.or.jp
http://www.haramuseum.or.jp (official website) http://mobile.haramuseum.or.jp (mobile site)
https://www.art-it.asia/en/u/HaraMuseum_e (blog) http://twitter.com/HaraMuseumARC (Twitter)
Hours: 9:30 am – 4:30 pm (last entry at 4:00 pm)
Closed: Thursdays (except August and September 3) *Subject to temporary closure in the event of severe weather.
Admission: General 1,100 yen, Students 700 yen (high school and university) or 500 yen (elementary and junior high), Free for Hara Museum members, 10% discount for a group of 20 or more, Combination ticket for Hara Museum ARC and Ikaho Green Bokujo (except during Golden Week): General 1,800 yen; Students 1,500 yen (high school and university) or 1,400 yen (junior high), 800 yen (elementary), half price for those over 70, discount for groups of 20 or more
*Children must be accompanied by an adult.
*For residents of Gunma Prefecture: Free admission for elementary and junior high school children every Saturday during the school term/200-yen-discount on admission for up to five persons upon presentation of the Guchoki Passport.
Directions: By train: Take the Joetsu Shinkansen to Takasaki, change to the Joestu Line, and disembark at Shibukawa. From Shibukawa, ARC is 10 minutes away by taxi or 15 minutes by bus (take the Ikaho Onsen bus to ″Green Bokujo Mae″). By car: 8 kilometers (about 15 minutes) from the Kan-etsu Expressway Shibukawa Ikaho Interchange (in the direction of Ikaho Onsen).
[Concurrent Exhibitions]
Homage – Selections from the Hara Museum Collection
(Galleries A, B and C)
July 18 (Saturday) – October 12 (Monday, national holiday), 2015
Line and Space: Cy Twombly and East Asia (Kankai Pavilion)
May 29 (Friday) – September 2 (Wednesday), 2015
For publicity material, please contact: Hara Museum ARC 2855