Experience the Fusion of Historic Culture and Contemporary Art

Okayama City's “Okayama Future Creation Project” aims to evolve the city into a world-renowned hub of art and culture. As one of its main initiatives, the “Imagineering OKAYAMA ART PROJECT” exhibits contemporary art from the “Ishikawa Collection,” gathered from around the world by Yasuharu Ishikawa, President and CEO of Cross Company Inc., who serves as the project representative. The project seeks to create a space where families, children, and all citizens can imagine and create through encounters with art that emerge in daily life.



Among the artworks exhibited this time are pieces making their debut in Japan. The work titled “Half the air in a given space,” which uses balloons to visualize invisible air (pictured left), expresses how a new worldview can be gained by slightly shifting one's perspective. Furthermore, “untitled 2012” (pictured right) consists of 14 mirrored stainless steel ping pong tables (12 are displayed at this event) and allows visitors to actually play ping pong on a special stage set up in the plaza in front of Okayama Castle's main keep. Through the act of playing ping pong on these tables, which are themselves artworks, the piece blurs the boundaries between the viewer and the viewed, questioning the very nature of art.

This project brings together diverse people from both Japan and abroad, transcending generations and nationalities, to deepen their connections. It also aims to foster high sensitivity in children by exposing them to world-class art.

“Imagineering OKAYAMA ART PROJECT”
Dates | Sunday, November 2nd – Thursday, December 25th
Time | 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Venue | Okayama Castle, Former Site of Kōraku-kan Tenshin School, Yanagawa Rotary, and various other locations in Okayama City
Admission | Free (Special Art Train “KURO” is ¥500 each/tax included)
http://okayama-mirai.jp/imagineering/