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October 15, 2019
Two Exhibitions by SPREAD: The Installation 'Roppongi Color Valley' and the Solo Exhibition 'Ornamental Contrast' | SPREAD
SPREAD
Exploring the Essence of Colorscapes with Color and Concept: The Creative Unit 'SPREAD'
The creative unit SPREAD will hold two exhibitions this autumn. They have garnered significant domestic and international acclaim, receiving numerous design awards for their work that incorporates all forms of memory—environment, life, objects, time, history, color, text—and presents proposals to society through their "SPREAD" philosophy of expansion. What are the two exhibitions being staged by Hiromasa Kobayashi and Haruna Yamada, who have delved deeply into color through graphic design, product design, and exhibition direction?
Text by Satsuki Wakabayashi
An Installation Immersing You in Color and a Solo Exhibition Exploring the Essence of Colorscapes
DESIGN TOUCH, an annual design event held every autumn at Tokyo Midtown, centers around the theme of "enjoying design with all five senses."
The creative unit SPREAD is responsible for an installation titled 'Roppongi Color Valley' within the event's main content, 'Design Forest'.
With the concept of "immersing oneself in color and scenery," they will transform the garden area of Tokyo Midtown into a vibrant valley, covered with colorful fabric stretching over 1km in length.
For SPREAD, the 'Midtown Garden,' the venue for this installation, is a place they frequent and, in a good way, consider a "pathway."
It's not a place with a specific destination, but rather a space for pleasant passage. A place where one can walk without stress, allowing the mind to wander and the senses to open up.
Rather than imposing an expression that would detract from the existing plants and scenery in Midtown Garden, they aimed for something more abstract, an expression that would subtly reveal the inherent qualities and memories of the place. This led to the creation of the valley installation using mesh fabric.
To express this space, where many people pass and their memories overlap, without overlaying new memories, the use of translucent, layered mesh was ideal. Furthermore, while mesh appears as a single sheet from a distance, up close it reveals itself as an aggregation of small squares.
This difference in scale also contributes to the beauty of contrast. We invite you to immerse yourself in color and experience the opening of your senses as you walk through 'Roppongi Color Valley,' where the colors of people's movements, the small flowers blooming at your feet, and the tiny insects gathered there are brought out, revealed, and layered.
Concurrently, SPREAD will also hold a solo exhibition. Titled 'Ornamental Contrast,' this exhibition focuses on the "beauty of contrast"—a key consideration in their creative process alongside color selection and composition—and will feature works centered around the theme of "contemplating contrast."
The collection of works, created on steel plates of various sizes with textured surfaces and applied colors, is expected to awaken visitors' senses and inspire contemplation of what lies beyond color.
SPREAD has explored countless colorscapes. What is the essential nature of the color scenery they seek to uncover, by capturing the contrast between light and darkness?
The installation 'Roppongi Color Valley' and the solo exhibition 'Ornamental Contrast.' Both represent SPREAD's considerations and experiments, born from their deep exploration of color, expressed in two distinct locations. This will be a valuable opportunity to experience the energy of color and place through your five senses.
Tokyo Midtown DESIGN TOUCH 'Roppongi Color Valley' INSTALLATION BY SPREADPeriod: Friday, October 18, 2019 – Monday, November 4, 2019 (Holiday)
Venue: Tokyo Midtown (Roppongi) Midtown Garden
Address: 9-7-1 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo
URL:
https://www.tokyo-midtown.com/jp/event/designtouch/
SPREAD SOLO EXHIBITION 'Ornamental Contrast'Period: Thursday, October 31, 2019 – Saturday, November 23, 2019
Venue: (PLACE)by method
Address: Kaminito 14, 1-3-1 Higashi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
URL:
http://wearemethod.com/
