How art could expand the possibilities of collective intelligence? The exhibition includes 4 new commission works.

"Collective intelligence", a concept that has come into the spotlight with the development of today's network society as symbolized by SNS, wiki and Linux among others, is at once the key idea behind this international group exhibition. "Collective intelligence" not only means knowledge and information that is organized via the Internet, but refers to a general form of knowledge that integrates elements produced by nature and other human beings to form complex intelligence. Artists incorporate the idea of collective intelligence in the process of creating works, and include parts that are produced or updated during the exhibition period in order to share/reflect the behaviors and viewpoints of us viewers in their individual works and in the exhibition at large. Through the works on display, the exhibition inspires the visitor to think about how artistic expression in the future will be related to society, environment, thinking and communication, and what kind of innovation it may bring.

Artists: Tarek Atoui, contact Gonzo, Haque Design + Research, Norimichi Hirakawa, David Link, MOON Kyungwon
Date/Time: July 6 (Sat) – September 29 (Sun), 2013 10:00-19:00　(closed on Tuesdays)
Location: YCAM Studio B, 2F gallery space, Dojomonzen Parking Lot roof top
Admission: free

The community, transformed by media

With such concepts as "shared", "nomadic" or "mobile", ways of life and lifestyles keep changing in recent years. Now how is "life" going to shape up in the future against a backdrop characterized by an increased integration of media in daily life? Winners chosen by way of an impartial screening from among submitted proposals based on this question will be implemented at various locations across the city of Yamaguchi. The 2011 earthquake generated dramatic disparity and diversity in personal information acquisition and editing skills, which at the same time can be considered as an occasion for us to redefine our own positions and relationships within local communities. The question then is what kind of renovation such concepts as "media" and "information" can initiate in the local community. This program introduces ideas that may function as continuous platforms for addressing such issues.

LIFE by MEDIA website

Awarded works: Yoshinari Nishio "PUBROBE", Takafumi Fukasawa "Tokuino Bank Yamaguchi", Hiroshi Inukai + Ryoko Ando "Sports Time Machine"

Artists: Yoshinari Nishio, Takafumi Fukasawa, Hiroshi Inukai + Ryoko Ando
Date/Time: July 6 (Sat)– September 1 (Sun) / November 1 (Fri) – December 1 (Sun), 2013 10:00-19:00 (closed on Tuesdays)
Location: Yamaguchi Central Shopping District
Admission: free

Judges: Ryuichi Sakamoto (musician), Jun Aoki (architect), Koichiro Eto (media artist), Kosuke Tsumura (director, FINAL HOME), Ryo Yamazaki (community designer), Yoshihiro Kanematsu (editor-in-chief, greenz)

Yoshinari Nishio "PUBROBE"
"PUBROBE" is a project creating a public wardrobe with personal belongings collected for use by anyone, inspired by marketplaces in Nairobi. In addition to clothing and accessory rental, the project embraces cleaning, repair and display design workshops aimed to establish vibrant communication using "clothing" as media.

Takafumi Fukasawa "Tokuino Bank Yamaguchi"
The "Tokuino Bank Yamaguchi" collects and saves "specialties" of local residents as intangible assets. Those who entrusted their "specialties" to the bank can withdraw (=use) any other clients' "specialties" kept by the bank. Such kind of bank dealing with "specialties" instead of money was launched in order to draw up a various projects based on individual "specialties".

Hiroshi Inukai + Ryoko Ando "Sports Time Machine"
"Sports Time Machine" is a device for actually racing against images of past records projected onto a screen. Users can challenge not only their own records, but also those of family members, friends or animals. Records are stored and updated with each race. This time machine is a device designed to set up continuous body communication traversing past, present and future by way of sports, as a project that is to be carried out carefully by everyone over a long period of time.

Film starting with music – award winning works + commissioned works

The majority of film soundtracks were composed for existing movies. However, there also exists music that for various reasons hasn't got heard, or in other words, "soundtracks composed for imaginary movies that don't actually exist." Now what kinds of films could be made if, in reverse, directors were asked to produce movies to music composed for such films that don't yet exist? For the "Film Competition for Imaginary Film Music", Masahiro Miwa, Koji Ueno and Ichiko Aoba were first commissioned to compose "soundtracks for imaginary movies", after which we asked for submissions of videos and films inspired by this music. Entries that passed an impartial screening are shown at YCAM and in the city of Yamaguchi.

FILM by MUSIC official site

Judges: Ryuichi Sakamoto (musician), Yasuhito Higuchi ("boid" label owner, movie critic), Mitsuko Okamoto (producer / professor at Tokyo University of the Arts, Department of Animation), Koichiro Tsujikawa (filmmaker), Tetsuya Mariko (filmmaker) and Kazunao Abe (chief curator / vice director of YCAM)

Composers: Ichiko Aoba “Sakana”, Koji Ueno “music for imaginary film”, Masahiro Miwa “The New Era for movies”

Award winning works:
“grooming”
Directed by Nao Yoshigai
Music by Ichiko Aoba

Since its launch in March 2010, DOMMUNE has been broadcasting a variety of talk programs and live performance around the world, and gained overwhelming popularity and a massive viewership also outside Japan. For YCAMDOMMUNE, contents selected from an archive of more than 2,000 programs (amounting to a total of 5,000 hours) accumulated from the start of DOMMUNE up to the present are shown for the first time in the form of an installation utilizing a vacant building in the city's shopping district. The venue will be equipped with YCAM's trusted sound system, to function as a "Yamaguchi satellite studio" that broadcasts live music and talk sessions from Yamaguchi to the world.

Artist: Ukawa Naohiro
Time: July 6 (Sat) – September 1 (Sun) / November 1 (Fri) – December 1 (Sun), 2013 (closed on Tuesdays) Mon/Wed/Thu 13:00-22:00 Fri/Sat/Sun/Hoidays 12:00-22:00
Location: DOMMUNE Building (1-2-31 Dojomonzen, Yamaguchi City）
Admission: free

A mechanical "nature" filled with the noises of myriad things

The protagonists in leading contemporary composer/director Heiner Goebbels's "play without actors" – also to be considered as a "multimedia installation" – are light, sound, voice, fog, wind, water, ice, paintings, and five pianos piled up. Manipulated by machines or human hand, these things (Dinge) are all parts of a performance that progresses through various changes. Inspired by 19th century author Adalbert Stifter, the piece inspires viewers to listen – just like the readers of Stifter's novels – to the sounds of an artificial "nature" that spreads before their eyes, and take their time to pay attention even to the tiniest details.
Interweaving voices from various eras and cultures, including readings of Stifter's texts, an interview with cultural anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss, and music recorded in Papua New Guinea, "Stifters Dinge" raises questions about human activities in relation to nature. These voices create harmonies and rhythms while overlapping with the sounds and noises of all kinds of recorded and live music. This elaborately designed sound space is one of the main features of this piece that, in this sense, can be considered as a "concert without musicians".
This will be the first ever performance in Japan of Goebbels's exciting masterpiece that questions even the audience's experience of a theater performance.

Artist: Heiner Goebbels
Date/Time:
　　July 13 (Sat), 2013 19:00
　　July 14 (Sun), 2013 14:00/19:00
　　July 15 (Mon), 2013 14:00
Venue: YCAM Studio A
Tickets: Advanced general: 4,000 yen; "any" members and special discounts: 3,500 yen; under 26: 3,300 yen; door: 4,500 yen (no discounts available)
Tickets on sale from May 11 (from May 4 for "any" members)

This special screening event features movies selected by musician Ryuichi Sakamoto with a particular focus on sound and music. On the program are about 30 titles including Jean-Luc Godard's " Histoires Du Cinema", Kenji Mizoguchi's "Ugetsu monogatari" and Andrei Tarkovsky's "Nostalghia", and in addition, a lecture by Yuichi Kishino on film music.

YCAM's media studio "tecpot" was launched for people of all generations, from children to elderly, to engage casually in creative work utilizing media technology. In 2013, features were expanded to include next to on-screen audio-visual production, design, programming, graphics and other handling of data also physical work with wood and acrylic materials. The studio provides an environment for users to share laser cutters, 3D printers, cutting machines, digital sewing machines, and other devices that are rather difficult to line up at private homes. Also offered are workshops and gallery tours designed to train museum educators, for which interns also from outside Yamaguchi are accepted.

Date/Time: July 20 (Sat) – September 29 (Sun), 2013 13:00-19:00 (closed on Tuesdays)
Venue: YCAM workspace
Admission: free (material costs partly self-paid)

The architecture studio "assistant" upgraded the Korogaru Koen, a "park" themed work that enjoyed great popularity among children when unveiled at YCAM in 2012, into an outdoor pavilion. Various "media" such as speakers, microphones and LED lights are embedded in the park's uneven floor surface. Visitors are free to enjoy the setting without any specific rules, whereas the simple mechanisms allow children to create individual rules of play while touching and combining them according to their own ideas. Frequently added to the lineup are mechanisms worked out by children and members of the YCAM InterLab team at the “Kid’s Meeting for Playground”, held during the exhibition period. As opposed to "learning" fixed rules for enjoying play equipments at amusement parks for example, the Korogaru Pavilion provides an environment for visitors to "create" new rules using their bodies' senses.
"Media" with such characteristics as input/output, system-based automatization and remote control as featured in the Korogaru Pavilion will become more and more indispensable elements in the environments that our children are going to grow up from now. For the children of tomorrow, the question will be how to react and come up with ideas when facing "situations never seen before." In order to reinforce such abilities, the "Korogaru Pavilion" was set up based on the desire to let children get in touch with media quite naturally while playing, and inspire them to think about their bodies in connection with media

Pavillion design: assistant
Date/Time: July 13 (Fri) – December 1 (Sun), 2013 10:00-18:00 (closed on Tuesdays)
Location: Yamaguchi Central Park
Admission: free
(Closed August 19 (Mon) – 21 (Wed), September 17 (Tue) – 19 (Thu) for maintenance/updating. Open on October 22 (Tue).

For Ryuichi Sakamoto, who has developed a deep interest in forests and trees, the recent Tohoku earthquake marked a major turning point as well. One vehicle for Sakamoto to communicate his concern through art is this "Forest Symphony" project. The "Forest Symphony", created with the intention to focus on forests and other human living environments, will be further developed at YCAM, where data of the minute electrical potential circulating in trees are translated into music following certain rules. Next to presenting the results in the form of an installation, a tool kit developed with the aim to obtain such electrical data from trees at places around the globe is made publicly available by open-source license.

"Trees are geniuses that catch electromagnetic waves to convert sunlight into energy through photosynthesis. My idea is to try and translate that cyclic nature into music." Ryuichi Sakamoto

Come and see what kind of music the trees of Yamaguchi play.

Artist: Ryuichi Sakamoto, YCAM InterLab, Shiro Takatani, Kenji Yasaka
Date/Time: July 26 (Fri) – December 1 (Sun), 2013　10:00-19:00 (closed on Tuesdays)
Venue: YCAM Foyer
Admission: free
*Open on October 22 (Tue)
*Occationally closed when events are held.

Immerse yourself in the splendid musical talents of YCAM 10th Anniversary Program’s Artistic Director Ryuichi Sakamoto and special guests at THE OPENING LIVE CONCERT.
The night will start from Ryuichi Sakamoto’s “Forest Symphony” performance, an installation of digital music based on bioelectric potential of trees and the symbol of the 10th Anniversary theme,“Art, Environment, Life.” The event will also feature medley session of Sakamoto and Koji Ueno and ensemble, and jam session of Sakamoto, Taylor Deupree and ILLUHA.

Performers: Ryuichi Sakamoto, Koji Ueno (Piano: Koji Ueno/Flute: Rie Sasaki/Clarinet: Kaede Akiyama/Sax: Hiromi Koike/Violin: Yu Manabe/Cello: Tomoki Tai/Soprano: Mayako Shimizu), Taylor Deupree, ILLUHA

Date/Time: July 26 (Fri), 2013 18:30 open / 19:00 start
Venue: YCAM Studio A
Tickets: General: 6,000 yen; "any" member/special discount/under 25: 5,300 yen
Door: 6,500 yen
Set ticket THE OPENING LIVE CONCERT + YCAMDOMMUNELIVE (July 27)
General: 10,000 yen; "any" member/special discount/under 25: 8,500 yen
Tickets on sale from June 1
*Preschool children not admitted.

One night after the Opening Live Concert, the Internet live streaming station DOMMUNE presents a talk and live music event with illustrious guests. Part One, Reiko Yuyama's "Bakuon Classic", is a club style concert of classical music to be listened to at a high volume. Special guest is Ryuichi Sakamoto, artistic director for the YCAM 10th Anniversary Program. The sonic shower and talk session on highly personal experiences embracing classical, contemporary classical and electronic music – styles that have influenced Sakamoto's own work – will be especially attractive for audiences with club-trained ears rather than listeners of "sophisticated" classical music.

Part Two focuses musician/researcher Yann Tomita, who founded the music research facility Audio Science Laboratory in 1989, and has been introducing his research results in concert format ever since. With Mind Expansion by Music as theme, electronic music creator Tomita converts unconscious and subconscious biosignals into music during the session featuring Keigo Oyamada as test subject providing brain waves and Compuma, attending to him. The program further includes A Pluralistic Examination of Music and Light, with performer Robochu.

Program:
Part 1: Bakuon Classics – Ryuichi Sakamoto, Reiko Yuyama

Part 2: Yann Tomita Live "Zen, Living Organisms and Cosmic Rays"
Featuring Yann Tomita (bionic music system, space beam search gun, electronics)
Special guests: Robochu (voice), Keigo Oyamada (test subject / brain waves), Compuma (test subject's caretaker)
Date/Time July 27 (Sat), 2013　19:30 open 20:00 start
Venue: YCAM Studio A
Tickets: [Free searting] General: 5,000 yen; "any" member/special discount/under 25: 4,300 yen
Door: 5,500 yen
*Preschool children not admitted.

Held in 2012 with great success at places across Japan, "Metamorphose – Animation All Night" comes to Yamaguchi for the first ever all-night screening event at YCAM! A number of short animations with an impact strong enough to etch themselves into the memory of those who watch them, are introduced with witty comments by animation artist Mirai Mizue and animation researcher Nobuaki Doi. Enjoy the extra fun of watching movies together, with the added tension of a late-night event.

Supervision: Nobuaki Doi, CALF
MC: Mirai Mizue, Nobuaki Doi
Date/Time: July 27 (Sat), 2013 23:55-
Venue: YCAM Studio C
Tickets:
Advanced general: 2,000 yen; special discount for "any" members and under 25: 1,500 yen.
Door: 2,500 yen
*Under 18 not admitted.
*No entry after AM1:00.

Held again this year is the annual YCAM summer favorite featuring "Film Competition for Imaginary Film Music" winners and other movies to enjoy with friends or family members on the grass in the cool evening air. On the program this time are three titles.

August 9 (Fri) “Bringing Up Baby” Directed by Howard Hawks.
August 10 (Sat) “Moonrise Kingdom” Dirested by Wesley Anderson
August 11 (Sun) “Royal Space Force Wings of Oneamis” Directed by Hiroyuki Yamaga

Time: August 9-11, 2013 19:30-
Location: Yamaguchi Central Park (YCAM Studio C in the case of rain) (MAP: XXX)
Admission: free

A new creative movement around so-called "Maker Movement" is the latest DIY trend in the USA. The "Maker Faire" is the world's largest DIY festival for such institutional, corporate and individual makers to present and exchange about their creations. Previously held also in Tokyo and Gifu, this time YCAM hosts the "Yamaguchi Mini Maker Faire" as part of the Center’s media education program. The event will not only be an opportunity for sharing ideas and know-how about electronic engineering and other cutting-edge technologies, but also for families and children to casually enjoy the beauty and creativity of making things.

Yamaguchi Mini Maker Fare

Date/Time: August 10, 2013 12:00-18:00
August 11, 2013 10:00-18:00
Location: YCAM Studio A
Admission: free

Co-hosted by O'Reilly Japan, Inc.

The Bakuon Film Festival, organized by movie critic and "boid" label owner Yasuhito Higuchi at Kichijoji Baus Theater and venues across Japan, is staged for the first time at YCAM. By screening movies in a high-volume sound setting centering around live performances, the event is designed to examine the heart and soul of soundtracks used in the respective films. The program includes seven titles including Nicholas Ray's "We Can't Go Home Again", as well as two sessions by musicians performing live film music. Enjoy blasting movie screenings at YCAM, a facility with one of the best audio systems in the world.

“Django Unchained”
2012/165min/US/35mm/R15+
Directed by Quentin Tarantino

“Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives”
2010/114 min/UK, Thailand, France, Germany, Spain/35mm
Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul

“Soigne ta droite”
1987/81min/France/Digital
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard

“Convoy”
1987/110min/US/35mm
Directed by Sam Peckinpah

“We Can’t Go Home Again”
1973/93min/US/Digital
Directed by Nicholas Ray

“Dawn of the Dead”
1978/139min/US, Italy/Digital
Directed by George A. Romero

“Route 20”
2007/77min/Japan/dDigital
Directed by Katsuya Tomita

“RAP in TONDO” + Kuzoku talk event
2011/60min/Digital
Planned by Katsuya Tomita
Shot by Katsuya Tomita, Kentaro Kawakami
*Free entry with a ticket of any YCAM bakuon screening events.

YCAM and contact Gonzo, a group of artists advocating the "philosophy of pain and technique of contact," propose a unique participatory outdoor tour. Through the body's physical experience of crisscrossing the mountains of Yamaguchi while using a system for sharing physical data in the form of images etc. as a medium, participants discover/develop new ways of dealing with their respective surroundings. The keyword is "trail". Together with contact Gonzo, participants explore the conduct of animals and humans forging paths and habitats in natural environments, on a tour pursuing the connection between the body and media while previewing the information society of tomorrow.

Artist: contact Gonzo
Date/Time: August 24 (Sat), 25 (Sun), 26(Mon), 2013 15:30 meeting at YCAM
Location: Yamaguchi, former 21st Century Forest
Admission: 3,000 yen
*Number of participants limited to 25 each.
*Target group: over 14
*Apply via email or fax with your name, address, date of birth, phone number, email address.

FAX: 083-901-2216
email: reserve@ycam.jp

How art could expand the possibilities of collective intelligence? The exhibition includes 4 new commission works.

"Collective intelligence", a concept that has come into the spotlight with the development of today's network society as symbolized by SNS, wiki and Linux among others, is at once the key idea behind this international group exhibition. "Collective intelligence" not only means knowledge and information that is organized via the Internet, but refers to a general form of knowledge that integrates elements produced by nature and other human beings to form complex intelligence. Artists incorporate the idea of collective intelligence in the process of creating works, and include parts that are produced or updated during the exhibition period in order to share/reflect the behaviors and viewpoints of us viewers in their individual works and in the exhibition at large. Through the works on display, the exhibition inspires the visitor to think about how artistic expression in the future will be related to society, environment, thinking and communication, and what kind of innovation it may bring.

Artists: Tarek Atoui, contact Gonzo, Haque Design + Research, Norimichi Hirakawa, David Link, MOON Kyungwon
Date/Time: July 6 (Sat) – September 29 (Sun), 2013 10:00-19:00　(closed on Tuesdays)
Location: YCAM Studio B, 2F gallery space, Dojomonzen Parking Lot roof top
Admission: free

Film starting with music – award winning works + commissioned works

The majority of film soundtracks were composed for existing movies. However, there also exists music that for various reasons hasn't got heard, or in other words, "soundtracks composed for imaginary movies that don't actually exist." Now what kinds of films could be made if, in reverse, directors were asked to produce movies to music composed for such films that don't yet exist? For the "Film Competition for Imaginary Film Music", Masahiro Miwa, Koji Ueno and Ichiko Aoba were first commissioned to compose "soundtracks for imaginary movies", after which we asked for submissions of videos and films inspired by this music. Entries that passed an impartial screening are shown at YCAM and in the city of Yamaguchi.

FILM by MUSIC official site

Judges: Ryuichi Sakamoto (musician), Yasuhito Higuchi ("boid" label owner, movie critic), Mitsuko Okamoto (producer / professor at Tokyo University of the Arts, Department of Animation), Koichiro Tsujikawa (filmmaker), Tetsuya Mariko (filmmaker) and Kazunao Abe (chief curator / vice director of YCAM)

Composers: Ichiko Aoba “Sakana”, Koji Ueno “music for imaginary film”, Masahiro Miwa “The New Era for movies”

Award winning works:
“grooming”
Directed by Nao Yoshigai
Music by Ichiko Aoba

YCAM's media studio "tecpot" was launched for people of all generations, from children to elderly, to engage casually in creative work utilizing media technology. In 2013, features were expanded to include next to on-screen audio-visual production, design, programming, graphics and other handling of data also physical work with wood and acrylic materials. The studio provides an environment for users to share laser cutters, 3D printers, cutting machines, digital sewing machines, and other devices that are rather difficult to line up at private homes. Also offered are workshops and gallery tours designed to train museum educators, for which interns also from outside Yamaguchi are accepted.

Date/Time: July 20 (Sat) – September 29 (Sun), 2013 13:00-19:00 (closed on Tuesdays)
Venue: YCAM Studio E
Admission: free (material costs partly self-paid)

The architecture studio "assistant" upgraded the Korogaru Koen, a "park" themed work that enjoyed great popularity among children when unveiled at YCAM in 2012, into an outdoor pavilion. Various "media" such as speakers, microphones and LED lights are embedded in the park's uneven floor surface. Visitors are free to enjoy the setting without any specific rules, whereas the simple mechanisms allow children to create individual rules of play while touching and combining them according to their own ideas. Frequently added to the lineup are mechanisms worked out by children and members of the YCAM InterLab team at the “Kid’s Meeting for Playground”, held during the exhibition period. As opposed to "learning" fixed rules for enjoying play equipments at amusement parks for example, the Korogaru Pavilion provides an environment for visitors to "create" new rules using their bodies' senses.
"Media" with such characteristics as input/output, system-based automatization and remote control as featured in the Korogaru Pavilion will become more and more indispensable elements in the environments that our children are going to grow up from now. For the children of tomorrow, the question will be how to react and come up with ideas when facing "situations never seen before." In order to reinforce such abilities, the "Korogaru Pavilion" was set up based on the desire to let children get in touch with media quite naturally while playing, and inspire them to think about their bodies in connection with and media.

Pavillion design: assistant
Date/Time: July 13 (Fri) – December 1 (Sun), 2013 10:00-18:00 (closed on Tuesdays)
Location: Yamaguchi Central Park
Admission: free
(Closed August 19 (Mon) – 21 (Wed), September 17 (Tue) – 19 (Thu) for maintenance/updating. Open on October 22 (Tue).

For Ryuichi Sakamoto, who has developed a deep interest in forests and trees, the recent Tohoku earthquake marked a major turning point as well. One vehicle for Sakamoto to communicate his concern through art is this "Forest Symphony" project. The "Forest Symphony", created with the intention to focus on forests and other human living environments, will be further developed at YCAM, where data of the minute electrical potential circulating in trees are translated into music following certain rules. Next to presenting the results in the form of an installation, a tool kit developed with the aim to obtain such electrical data from trees at places around the globe is made publicly available by open-source license.
"Trees are geniuses that catch electromagnetic waves to convert sunlight into energy through photosynthesis. My idea is to try and translate that cyclic nature into music." Ryuichi Sakamoto Come and see what kind of music the trees of Yamaguchi play.

Artist: Ryuichi Sakamoto, YCAM InterLab, Shiro Takatani, Kenji Yasaka
Date/Time: July 26 (Fri) – December 1 (Sun), 2013　10:00-19:00 (closed on Tuesdays)
Venue: YCAM Foyer
Admission: free
*Open on October 22 (Tue)
*Occationally closed when events are held.

A collaborative stage performance by Sakamoto/Takatani with Mansai Nomura and other leading figures in the contemporary Noh scene is shown in the space where a new version of "LIFE – fluid, invisible, inaudible…" by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Shiro Takatani is on display. The piece is themed around Irish poet/playwright W.B. Yeats, whose work has been influenced by Noh, as well as elements like water and trees that correspond with the philosophy behind the oher work Ryuichi Sakamoto presents here. A performance of classical material, and a session of experimental improvised music, classical performing arts and video, will highlight a new type of art that emerges out of the relationship between nature and civilization, against a backdrop spanning from ancient times to the present.

[YCAM will be open on October 22 (Tue) for visitors to view the "LIFE-WELL" installation.]

Data/Time: Oct 22 (Tue)
Venue: YCAM Studio A
Tickets: Advanced general: 7,000 yen; "any" members and special discounts: 6,500 yen; under 26: 6,300 yen; door: 7,500 yen (no discounts available)
Tickets on sale from: Sep 7 (Sat) (from Aug 31 for "any" members)

A collaborative stage performance by Sakamoto/Takatani with Mansai Nomura and other leading figures in the contemporary Noh scene is shown in the space where a new version of "LIFE – fluid, invisible, inaudible…" by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Shiro Takatani is on display. The piece is themed around Irish poet/playwright W.B. Yeats, whose work has been influenced by Noh, as well as elements like water and trees that correspond with the philosophy behind the oher work Ryuichi Sakamoto presents here. A performance of classical material, and a session of experimental improvised music, classical performing arts and video, will highlight a new type of art that emerges out of the relationship between nature and civilization, against a backdrop spanning from ancient times to the present.

[YCAM will be open on October 22 (Tue) for visitors to view the "LIFE-WELL" installation.]

Data/Time: Oct 22 (Tue)
Venue: YCAM Studio A
Tickets: Advanced general: 7,000 yen; "any" members and special discounts: 6,500 yen; under 26: 6,300 yen; door: 7,500 yen (no discounts available)
Tickets on sale from: Sep 7 (Sat) (from Aug 31 for "any" members)

Exhibition of Ryuichi Sakamoto's work wrapping up the YCAM 10th Anniversary Program
Three installations by Ryuichi Sakamoto + Shiro Takatani concurrently on display

The exhibition "ART ― ENVIRONMENT ― LIFE" by musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, the artistic director for the 10th Anniversary Program, opens as part of the Anniversary Program at the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM].
The exhibition introduces three installations realized in collaboration between Sakamoto, artist Shiro Takatani, and the YCAM InterLab team, as a result of Sakamoto's and Takatani's stay in Yamaguchi.

In "LIFE – fluid, invisible, inaudible... Ver.2", sounds coupled with visual projections onto fog open up the visitor'sperception of the environment.The "Forest Symphony" is composed of sounds generated from biological data of trees around the world, and in "water state 1", the newest piece, new spatial environments are created from the complex state variations of water. Each of these works reflects Sakamoto's particular awareness of issues related to the 10th Anniversary Program's keywords "ART", "ENVIRONMENT", and "LIFE", and evokes chains of thoughts from the past into the future while causing subtle fluctuations of the viewer's inner sensitivity.

Date / Time: November 1 (Fri), 2013 - March 2 (Sun), 2014 10:00 - 19:00
Closed on Tuesdays (the following day if Tuesday is a national holiday), 29 December – 3 January
Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM] Studio A, Studio B a nd Foye
Admission: free (material costs partly self-paid)

* The duration of the "Forest Symphony" exhibition has been extended due to great popularity.
* Please note that the "LIFE – fluid, invisible, inaudible... Ver.2" exhibition will be closed for special events on January 4 and 5.

Exhibit 1: Ryuichi Sakamoto + Shiro Takatani "LIFE – fluid, invisible, inaudible... Ver.2"
Exhibit 2: Ryuichi Sakamoto + YCAM InterLab "Forest Symphony"
Exhibit 3: Ryuichi Sakamoto + Shiro Takatani "water state 1"

Press Release

"LIFE – fluid, invisible, inaudible...", an installation piece resulting from a collaboration between Ryuichi Sakamoto and artist Shiro Takatani, was produced and unveiled at YCAM in 2007. After its first presentation at YCAM, the piece toured around Japan and other countries, and now returns as a new version with significantly revamped and newly added contents.

Nonlinear "symbiotic systems"

For this installation, the artists de-/recomposed the opera "LIFE" (1999), in which Ryuichi Sakamoto summarized the 20th century as an age of conflict and disruption, and proposed visions of coexistence for the 21st century.

Suspended from the venue's ceiling are nine water tanks filled with artificial fog, which serves as a screen for successive projections of visuals used in the opera. The piece further incorporates sounds raining down on the audience in concert with the ever-changing imagery, in complex interactions of repeated synchronization and variance. Visitors surrender to the fleeting scenery of lights and sounds, while gradually opening their perception toward the environment.

Introduced in this exhibition is a new version of the piece with additional sounds and visuals illustrating new visions regarding the coexistence of man and nature after the Great Tohoku Earthquake. Also shown at this occasion is video footage of the opera, the original installation version from 2007, and the October 22 performance of "LIFE – WELL".

Press Release

LIFE - fluid, invisible, inaudible...

Data/Time: Nov 1 (Fri) - Mar 2 (Sun) 2014 10:00-19:00　(closed on Tuesdays)
Location: YCAM StudioA
Admission: free

Made in collaboration between Sakamoto and Takatani, the installation
"water state 1" is shown for the very first time in this exhibition.

The varying states of water distilled through media technology

Water takes on different states depending on the temperature, freezingto ice or condensing to vapor. Such water-based natural phenomena as rain, clouds, fog, snow, oceans, rivers, lakes, waterfalls, icebergs and glaciers all have in common that I never get tired of looking at them.Water is the source of life that covers 70% of the earth's surface, and that the human body consists of to 70%.
Ryuichi Sakamoto

Water is a fundamental, life-supporting substance that changes its appearance depending on the situation. Ryuichi Sakamoto has been expressing his fascination with water for a long time, but at the same time also emphasizes the difficulty he has always felt when choosing water as a motif for his work. While laying out the concept for this new work, he began to focus on the possibility of using water as an actual material. The YCAM InterLab team eventually developed a device that can be used to let large amounts of water rain down in droplets, which allowed Sakamoto to work with actual water rather than depicting its different appearances in an indirect manner.
The device is used in this work to cause complex transformations of droplets and water surfaces, and at once translate these into sounds. The harmonic and contrasting aspects of the work's visual and acoustic elements call forth a wealth of memories in the viewer's mind.

Press Release

Data/Time: Nov 1 (Fri) - Mar 2 (Sun) 2014 10:00-19:00　(closed on Tuesdays)
Location: YCAM StudioB
Admission: free

Forest Symphony Official Site

"Forest Symphony" is an art project based on joint technical development in collaboration between Sakamoto and the YCAM InterLab team. Prior to the opening of this exhibition, an installation and web contents derived from the project's concept have been on public display since July 2013.

A symphony performed by the forest

Following the Great Tohoku Earthquake, Ryuichi Sakamoto conceived an art project in which he would compose music based on the bioelectric data of trees, with the aim to direct our attention to trees and forests as supporting pillars of human living environments. With the further involvement of the YCAM InterLab team, the project eventually developed into the installation and web contents that are now presented as "Forest Symphony". For this project, the YCAM InterLab team developed a sensor device for measuring the biopotential of trees, and collecting the measured data on a server via a network. The device is installed on trees at different locations around the globe to measure their respective bioelectric data, which Sakamoto used to creates sounds that envelop the venue along with visuals made under the direction of Shiro Takatani, visualising the changing biopotential and information of the respective environments the device is installed in. These elements are spatially integrated into a "forest-like environment" in the form of a sound installation that continuously transforms in response to seasonal and climatic changes With the opening of the exhibition, bioelectric data and sounds from the actual exhibition space have been made accessible via the exhibition's dedicated websites.

Date/Time: July 26 (Fri) – December 1 (Sun), 2013　10:00-19:00 (closed on Tuesdays)
Venue: YCAM Foyer
Admission: free
*Open on October 22 (Tue)
*Occationally closed when events are held.

Korogaru Pavilion PV

The architecture studio "assistant" upgraded the Korogaru Koen, a "park" themed work that enjoyed great popularity among children when unveiled at YCAM in 2012, into an outdoor pavilion. Various "media" such as speakers, microphones and LED lights are embedded in the park's uneven floor surface. Visitors are free to enjoy the setting without any specific rules, whereas the simple mechanisms allow children to create individual rules of play while touching and combining them according to their own ideas. Frequently added to the lineup are mechanisms worked out by children and members of the YCAM InterLab team at the “Kid’s Meeting for Playground”, held during the exhibition period. As opposed to "learning" fixed rules for enjoying play equipments at amusement parks for example, the Korogaru Pavilion provides an environment for visitors to "create" new rules using their bodies' senses.
"Media" with such characteristics as input/output, system-based automatization and remote control as featured in the Korogaru Pavilion will become more and more indispensable elements in the environments that our children are going to grow up from now. For the children of tomorrow, the question will be how to react and come up with ideas when facing "situations never seen before." In order to reinforce such abilities, the "Korogaru Pavilion" was set up based on the desire to let children get in touch with media quite naturally while playing, and inspire them to think about their bodies in connection with media

Pavillion design: assistant
Date/Time: July 13 (Fri) – December 1 (Sun), 2013 10:00-18:00 (closed on Tuesdays)
Location: Yamaguchi Central Park
Admission: free
(Closed August 19 (Mon) – 21 (Wed), September 17 (Tue) – 19 (Thu) for maintenance/updating. Open on October 22 (Tue).

Since its launch in March 2010, DOMMUNE has been broadcasting a variety of talk programs and live performance around the world, and gained overwhelming popularity and a massive viewership also outside Japan. For YCAMDOMMUNE, contents selected from an archive of more than 2,000 programs (amounting to a total of 5,000 hours) accumulated from the start of DOMMUNE up to the present are shown for the first time in the form of an installation utilizing a vacant building in the city's shopping district. The venue will be equipped with YCAM's trusted sound system, to function as a "Yamaguchi satellite studio" that broadcasts live music and talk sessions from Yamaguchi to the world.

Artist: Ukawa Naohiro
Time: July 6 (Sat) – September 1 (Sun) / November 1 (Fri) – December 1 (Sun), 2013 (closed on Tuesdays) Mon/Wed/Thu 13:00-22:00 Fri/Sat/Sun/Hoidays 12:00-22:00
Location: DOMMUNE Building (1-2-31 Dojomonzen, Yamaguchi City）
Admission: free

The community, transformed by media

With such concepts as "shared", "nomadic" or "mobile", ways of life and lifestyles keep changing in recent years. Now how is "life" going to shape up in the future against a backdrop characterized by an increased integration of media in daily life? Winners chosen by way of an impartial screening from among submitted proposals based on this question will be implemented at various locations across the city of Yamaguchi. The 2011 earthquake generated dramatic disparity and diversity in personal information acquisition and editing skills, which at the same time can be considered as an occasion for us to redefine our own positions and relationships within local communities. The question then is what kind of renovation such concepts as "media" and "information" can initiate in the local community. This program introduces ideas that may function as continuous platforms for addressing such issues.

LIFE by MEDIA website

Awarded works: Yoshinari Nishio "PUBROBE", Takafumi Fukasawa "Tokuino Bank Yamaguchi", Hiroshi Inukai + Ryoko Ando "Sports Time Machine"

Artists: Yoshinari Nishio, Takafumi Fukasawa, Hiroshi Inukai + Ryoko Ando
Date/Time: July 6 (Sat)– September 1 (Sun) / November 1 (Fri) – December 1 (Sun), 2013 10:00-19:00 (closed on Tuesdays)
Location: Yamaguchi Central Shopping District
Admission: free

Judges: Ryuichi Sakamoto (musician), Jun Aoki (architect), Koichiro Eto (media artist), Kosuke Tsumura (director, FINAL HOME), Ryo Yamazaki (community designer), Yoshihiro Kanematsu (editor-in-chief, greenz)

Yoshinari Nishio "PUBROBE"
"PUBROBE" is a project creating a public wardrobe with personal belongings collected for use by anyone, inspired by marketplaces in Nairobi. In addition to clothing and accessory rental, the project embraces cleaning, repair and display design workshops aimed to establish vibrant communication using "clothing" as media.

Takafumi Fukasawa "Tokuino Bank Yamaguchi"
The "Tokuino Bank Yamaguchi" collects and saves "specialties" of local residents as intangible assets. Those who entrusted their "specialties" to the bank can withdraw (=use) any other clients' "specialties" kept by the bank. Such kind of bank dealing with "specialties" instead of money was launched in order to draw up a various projects based on individual "specialties".

Hiroshi Inukai + Ryoko Ando "Sports Time Machine"
"Sports Time Machine" is a device for actually racing against images of past records projected onto a screen. Users can challenge not only their own records, but also those of family members, friends or animals. Records are stored and updated with each race. This time machine is a device designed to set up continuous body communication traversing past, present and future by way of sports, as a project that is to be carried out carefully by everyone over a long period of time.

Film starting with music – award winning works + commissioned works

The majority of film soundtracks were composed for existing movies. However, there also exists music that for various reasons hasn't got heard, or in other words, "soundtracks composed for imaginary movies that don't actually exist." Now what kinds of films could be made if, in reverse, directors were asked to produce movies to music composed for such films that don't yet exist? For the "Film Competition for Imaginary Film Music", Masahiro Miwa, Koji Ueno and Ichiko Aoba were first commissioned to compose "soundtracks for imaginary movies", after which we asked for submissions of videos and films inspired by this music. Entries that passed an impartial screening are shown at YCAM and in the city of Yamaguchi.

FILM by MUSIC official site

Judges: Ryuichi Sakamoto (musician), Yasuhito Higuchi ("boid" label owner, movie critic), Mitsuko Okamoto (producer / professor at Tokyo University of the Arts, Department of Animation), Koichiro Tsujikawa (filmmaker), Tetsuya Mariko (filmmaker) and Kazunao Abe (chief curator / vice director of YCAM)

Composers: Ichiko Aoba “Sakana”, Koji Ueno “music for imaginary film”, Masahiro Miwa “The New Era for movies”

Award winning works:
“grooming”
Directed by Nao Yoshigai
Music by Ichiko Aoba

As a pre-opening event of the YCAM 10th Anniversary Program, YCAM presents a sound installation version of the "walking around surround" workshop focusing on the act of hearing sounds, originally held in summer 2012. Together with elementary students from Yamaguchi City, we carry out field recordings in the streets, mountains and along the coast, as well as at various other additional locations. The collected soundscapes are played back via freely rearrangeable wireless speakers installed in the streets of Yamaguchi.

Data/Time: Nov 1 (Fri) - Dec 1 (Sun) 13:00 - 18:00　(closed on Tuesdays)
Location: Harihari (2-3-8 Dojomonzen, Yamaguchi City)
Admission: free

YCAM's media studio "tecpot" was launched for people of all generations, from children to elderly, to engage casually in creative work utilizing media technology. In 2013, features were expanded to include next to on-screen audio-visual production, design, programming, graphics and other handling of data also physical work with wood and acrylic materials. The studio provides an environment for users to share laser cutters, 3D printers, cutting machines, digital sewing machines, and other devices that are rather difficult to line up at private homes. Also offered are workshops and gallery tours designed to train museum educators, for which interns also from outside Yamaguchi are accepted.

Date/Time: July 20 (Sat) – September 29 (Sun), 2013 13:00-19:00 (closed on Tuesdays)
Venue: YCAM workspace
Admission: free (material costs partly self-paid)

This special screening event features movies selected by musician Ryuichi Sakamoto with a particular focus on sound and music. On the program are about 30 titles including Jean-Luc Godard's " Histoires Du Cinema", Kenji Mizoguchi's "Ugetsu monogatari" and Andrei Tarkovsky's "Nostalghia", and in addition, a lecture by Yuichi Kishino on film music.

Due to various reasons, YCAM had to reschedule the International Symposium that was supposed to take place on Sunday, December 1st, as part of our 10th Anniversary Program.

At present, the parties involved are working toward the realization of the symposium in summer 2014. We sincerely apologize to all those who were planning to visit or attend, and ask for your kind understanding.

During the ten years that have passed since the opening of YCAM, the position of art in society has changed significantly, whereas framing visions that lead into the future through artistic activities has become increasingly meaningful. Against this backdrop, the agendas of art centers are getting more and more complex and individualized in that they reflect regional characteristics. This symposium aims to reconsider the role of art while introducing examples of revitalizing local communities through artistic practice mainly at relatively new bases of art in Asia.

Data/Time: Dec 1 (Sun) 14:00 -
Location: YCAM Foyer
Admission: free
*Japanese−English simultaneous interpretation available