From January 10th (Sat) to 13th (Tue), Center for Art and Design Studies(CADS) at our university as part of a collaborative project with the Jun T. Lai Art and Culture Foundation, headed by Taiwanese contemporary artist Jun T. Lai.
Lai Chun Chun is a Taiwanese contemporary artist who uses light, color, and architectural space to visualize the relationships between people and society, as well as memories. At the Osaka-Kansai Expo, she exhibited the large-scale artwork "Flower of Hope" and performed the art performance "Beautiful Flowers."
Twelve students from Faculty of Art and Design Department of Fine Arts and Media Sciences and Graduate School of Fine Arts Art participated in this workshop. The students observed the elements of "light," "materials," "energy," and "place" at places around the university, such as Tachibanayama, Shibu Shrine, and Mitoma Beach, and then worked together to create installations using driftwood and other materials they brought back.
On the final day, the students held a final presentation in the same space as their finished works, viewing photographs and videos taken during their fieldwork. Reflecting on the three days, the students commented, "The mountains were welcoming and kind on the way there, but on the way back they were stern and fierce, like a living organism," and "The sea had a fleeting, pushing-away energy."
He concluded the workshop by saying, "I was moved by how seriously everyone worked. Art is about removing prejudice and stereotypes and seeing the world as you see it, and connecting with the world. Just as each of you had a memorable process from this workshop that was different for each of you, the impact you all have on the world is also varied. I look forward to the opportunity to work on a piece of art together again someday."
Participant Tokuchi Yuya (Kyushu Sangyo University Kyushu High School), a second-year master's student in the Graduate Graduate School of Fine Arts said, "This workshop wasn't aimed at a specific outcome, completion, or the acquisition of skills; it started with me questioning how I see, feel, and react. While collaborative creation is extremely difficult because it requires us to 'become' the light and materials without the aesthetic judgments and sense of completion that we normally use, it also allowed me to learn a new perspective. The installation was completed through a cycle in which someone changed the shape or location of something I had set up, and then I made further changes. I felt that this process was somewhat similar to a situation created by the accumulation of complex elements, such as when things become cluttered on a desk or when a city or nature changes."
[Center for Art and Design Studies(CADS) / Faculty of Art and Design / Graduate School of Fine Arts]
