Gogyoshi Art Project : My Hometown Fukushima
An exhibition with Dutch artists inspired by Taro Aizu a Japanese poet from fukushima.
‘Gogyoshi Art Project’ is a Dutch art exhibition, initiated by Ed Hanssen and Fred van Welie. The exhibition is inspired by the poems (Gogyoshi) of Taro Aizu. These poems, called ‘My Hometown Fukushima’ tells us about the nuclear disaster after the tsunami of March 2011 (see: https://www.facebook.com/taro.aizu).
At first, The Japanese artist Chiyuky Itoga was inspired by Aizu’s poems. She created her project “100 artworks for Fukushima” (https://www.facebook.com/100ArtworksforFukushima). It was this combination of beauty, precision, death and wonder that Ed Hanssen -at the time in Japan urged to start The Gogyoshi Art Project.
Ed Hanssen translated the poems of Aizu for this project and invited artists from all provinces of The Netherlands to get inspired. In the poems writes Aizu about the people of Fukushima, his love for his hometown, his wonder, and the meltdown of the nuclear reactor in March 2011.
The Gogyoshi Art Project, In short ‘GAP’, is a gap indeed. Aizu’s poems try to inspire Dutch artists to reduce the gap between East and west. The project brings social media and real life closer, together. The project touches the social consciousness of the artists and visitors and creates understanding for each other’s situation; for a situation in a country far from here: Japan.
In Europe, the disaster is quickly forgotten. However, in Fukushima the problems still persist. The Gogyoshi Art Project is not just one exhibition: it is ‘traveling and growing’. The first one, with 36 of the now already 90 participating artists was held in November 2012 in Lelystad. In January 2013 the second exhibition was at the University of Wageningen and in the Junuss theater in the centre of the city. In February 15, the third exhibition is in “The Snake” exhibition room in Amsterdam. From March 3, the artists were at POST in Kerkrade (Limburg) and in October it’s Friesland’s turn (Expomeer – Grou).
For the other provinces we are eagerly looking for suitable locations. There has been interest from abroad. Artists from Spain, France and Brazil, Sweden and Poland are also getting inspired by Aizu’s poems.
In the mean time, some A4-sized personal stories/drawings by the artists, made especially for the the exposition in Lelystad, also are exposed now at “100 artworks for Fukushima” in Fukushima.
For more information:
Gogyoshi Art Project - Fukushima 