View of the framework for Tadashi Kawamata’s “Tokyo in Progress” observation tower at Shioiri Park in Tokyo’s Minami-Senju neighborhood, looking inland from the west bank of the Sumida River. Photo ART iT.
Artist Tadashi Kawamata celebrated the raising of the framework for his “Tokyo in Progress” structural intervention at Shioiri Park yesterday, Feb 19, with ceremonial speeches and mochi pounded rice cakes for community participants. Sited along the banks of the Sumida River near the Minami-Senju neighborhood of residential apartment blocks rising among the contours of a Japan Rail depot, the project is intended to reevaluate the urban and communal space of Tokyo through the construction of a wooden observation tower with a view opposite the sky-scraping Tokyo Sky Tree tower, itself still under construction. The design of the “Tokyo in Progress” tower began in earnest with a series of collaborative workshops with local schoolchildren and residents beginning in October 2010, and construction will continue for the next month with the participation of volunteer workers.
Both: Community participants reach for celebratory mochi rice cakes being tossed from the “Tokyo in Progress” structure by artist Tadashi Kawamata and officials. Photo ART iT.
Kawamata told ART iT that he was thrilled to have such a strong turnout of community residents for the raising ceremony. Although he is currently based in France, he will be on site for most of March 2011 working on construction. The project is primarily supported by the Tokyo Culture Creation Project, also behind events such as the Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions and Roppongi Art Night.
Construction of the “Tokyo in Progress” tower continues through March 20, with information on volunteer registration available here (JP only).
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