There have been lots of reports and photos from the Naruto Graduate Students Exhibition, “Kamiyama-ten” posted on the Japanese side of “in Kamiyama” but instead of translating everyone’s else’s entries, I think I’ll just post my own report for some exclusive English-only content!

The show ends today, so if you are in the neighborhood, this is your last chance to check it out! The title photo is of Taisuke Hayabuchi’s piece in Yamani House, made of postcards painted by elementary school students using only primary colors, which they mixed to make their own original colors.

This piece is called “Tsumoru” meaning “to build up” or “to pile up” like leaves, or like time. Hayabuchi used copies of old Kamiyama photographs to line the top of an old wooden chest, and lit it with a low hanging bare lightbulb. The use of a dirt-floored basement of an old, empty house for this installation made it all the more poignant. Truly site-specific art!

Chan posted some more pictures of this piece on the Japanese blog, including a close-up of the blackboard. Take a look if you want to examine the piece in finer detail. This piece is situated in one of the rooms in Shimobun Atelier, which used to be a daycare. I believe the blackboard was already part of the space.

There were some blank windows in the ceiling of Yorii-za, so three participating artists took the opportunity to use it as a display space. The piece pictured above is called “Blue” and it was done by Maiko Kumazawa. The other two, called “Nest” and “Nest II” by Hiromi Atsushiba, featured a three-dimensional element with bits of tangled thread attached to the panels. Now who gets the scary job of taking them down??

The unique and interesting venues add an extra layer of enjoyment and context to the work. I found this old chair at the sake warehouse.
There are six venues in total, and the only one I missed was Oawa-yama mountain, since it was raining pretty hard when Nikishima-san and I went around to see everything on Friday afternoon. Everyone I spoke to who had seen the show was rather embarassed to admit that the calibre of the work far exceeded their expectations! I can’t wait to see what the Naruto University graduate students come up with next.