Happy New Year!

明けましておめでとうございます！

Gelukkig nieuw jaar!

Some of you have seen already and must have wondered what it is about. Mediamatic, which we make projects with, has printed posters of each artst’s portrait with very simple info;

Kyoko(34) Kyoko Inatome 160cm 50kg Japan Mediamatic.net/Gastarbeider/Dating week7 13…17 feb 08 PostCS A’dam

If you don’t get it I ‘ll tell you a connection here.

“Gastarbeider Dating” project; A lot of artists move around the world, looking for inspiration, money or success. Many of them come to Holland, attracted by its internationally-oriented creative scene, high level art schools and broad government support of culture. Some stay forever, others only for some time.
Among these migrants, there are several star artists representing the Netherlands on biennials, and numerous local underground scenes, known only to a small circle of their expat friends. In a universe called “Dutch culture”, unknown objects are flying in and out from all possible directions, at different speeds. To stay on the orbit, they have to reinvent themselves. While theorists talk of art as a global place on every corner, artists-“gastarbeiders” – creative labour migrants – lead their invisible and manifold struggle to live and work professionally.
The goal of the current project is to reflect on today’s state of the world where migrant artists are confronted with their background on cultural, social, political, artistic and economic level;
to see what impact creative labour migration has on the society in general, as well as on individual producers of culture; to research and represent strategies of immigrant artists in dealing with their identity and environment.

Japanese week during the exhibition starts from 13 till 17 feb with the theme ” Japan, New & Old, In & Out”. We create a meeting point of Japanese old and new culture for Japaese and Japan lovers.

My friend Harold Naaijer, who lives in Portugal at this moment, is launching an “International Photo Festival” in Estremoz, Portugal. I am joyning the festival with my portrait-like video and photography too. The festival is from 28 October till 10 November.

international photo festival 2007 estremoz, portugal

なんだ〜日本語もいけるのか！と今日気がつく。このブログでは主に私のオランダでのアート活動やヨーロッパのアートシーンをお知らせしていきたいと思います。なるべく英語と日本語両方で書きます。。。下の写真はW139で展示中（５月２７日まで）の「House/Home」のパフォーマンス風景です。これは家の形をした袋状のものに空気を送って膨らませたもので５分ごとに膨らんだりしぼんだりします。しぼむと真空パック状態になり中に入っているものが透けて見えるようになっています。家の中に置いている物は最低限の生活用品、本や毛布や食べ物など。パフォーマンス中は外の様子がみれないので後から写真をみて人々の反応がわかるわけですが、こんなに人に囲まれていても全く気配を感じなかったりするんです。この家の中にいる時は自分一人だけなのです。

Kyoko is finally online! Over the following days, weeks and months I’ll gradually put images and videos of my work here. I’ll also post news of events and happenings in the Amsterdam art scene, as well as interesting related work elsewhere in the world.

Inflatable “home” from performance series at W139 in Amsterdam