Exhibition
Housing in Amplitude Onomichi

Art in the Countryside

Fri, 01.11.2024 -
Sat, 02.11.2024
LLOVE HOUSE ONOMICHI

This co-production aims to move art and artists beyond the confines of urban festivals, museums, and galleries. In Japan, as in many post-industrial countries, a pressing question is how social interactions and technological advances are reflected in everyday life—through work, leisure, community engagement, and with colleagues and ageing family members. And, conversely, how does daily life affect the technical-digital development? The dynamics of these interactions differ significantly in rural and urban environments.

In 2021, the Goethe-Institut Villa Kamogawa and the Yamaoka Memorial Foundation launched a ‘Lab for Contemporary Art, Design, and Crafts`. This initiative brought together artists—mostly residents of Villa Kamogawa—and craftsmen from Western Japan to explore contemporary timber construction, re-usable bamboo theatre stages, and the use of Urushi lacquer in design.

Olaf Holzapfel, a painter and sculptor residing at Villa Kamogawa, and his “Housing in Amplitude Onomichi” is another outcome of this initiative. With over 15 years of focus on intercultural exchange with artists and artisans, and using traditional techniques, Holzapfel´s projects are collaborative and process-oriented, emphasizing knowledge sharing among participants. He has collaborated with weavers from the Wichí community in the Argentine Gran Chaco and with carpenters from Lower Saxony, who use local and natural materials such as wood, straw or natural fibers. His project with shrine carpenter Kohei Yamamoto, featured at LLOVE HOUSE ONOMICHI, marks a new chapter in his expanding network of collaborators.

Martin Germann, a curator in Germany and adjunct curator at Mori Art Museum (Tokyo), hosts the event together with the LLOVE HOUSE ONOMICHI including architect Jo Nagasaka. All are eager to meet you: neighbors, friends, experts, and those interested in sustainable living models.


Programs:

November 1
Open Talk:  4:00 PM
    "Art in the countryside"
    Speakers: Olaf Holzapfel, Jo Nagasaka, Martin Germann
    Moderator: Natsuko Matsui
Dinner Together: 6:30 PM

November 2
Personal interviews with the artists available upon request.



A co-production by Studio Olaf Holzapfel, Goethe-Institut Villa Kamogawa, and Martin Germann

Co-workers and partners:
Somakosha (Kohei Yamamoto)
Yamaoka Memorial Foundation (Logo)
LLOVE HOUSE ONOMICHI (Jo Nagasaka, director; Suzanne Oxenaar, curator; Masami Nakata & Natsuko Matsui, realizer)
Schemata Architects
Seven New Things
studio basket
The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Japan

Special thanks to S. Tanaka and David Sell