Life, Life as a Metaphor for Never-Ending Life at RAN
Written by: le crocodile vert
This year I attended Roppongi Art Night (RAN) for the first time. At the beginning I had no idea what to expect — luckily as a participant of the workshop organized by Keio University Art Center and RAN 2019, I had a chance to get well-prepared for the event.
Preparation Before RAN 2019
My first presumption was that RAN will be something similar to the Gallery Weekend that is happening in many European cities, where majority of the galleries in cities and others specially set up for this occasional projects or usually not-so-institution-based groups, artists or even yet art university students organize special events, shows, openings, or happenings. They are rather approachable, so the crowds, or rather groups of people interested in contemporary art start to wander between places enjoying the evening. In my mind it also seemed to be something similar to the opening night at the New York Lower Side galleries, happening usually on the same day each month that results in spreading art into city space as, yet again, people wander between places, enjoying different shows and chatting over favorite seasonal drinks about works they had chances to see. Another possible option was an accumulation of projects concerning local community and public space that are often seen not as an artistic intervention but rather socially involved projects.
Looking at the websites of past RANs, my amazement had grown. Seeing big names of the contemporary art scene as the main artists of the event, mixed with other groups and projects, I started to be rather puzzled, having already learnt that some things in Japan are made in Japanese ways, that is, somehow different from what you might expect from something similar in the West. I was not sure if I should be prepared for a traditional matsuri festival, where the main role of the omikoshi will be played by an installation; or a music-concert-like festival, where you get to see visual artists instead of different bands; or even something much more different. The explanation of the concept is that it is inspired by Parisian Nuit Blanche which aims at spreading art through different districts of the city each year, but in case of RAN, it happens in the same Roppongi District every year.
The Project Evaluation Report of RAN from 2018 filled with statistics and interviews allowed me to slowly ease into what was going to be happening. As the event lasts only one weekend with main focus on Saturday night, the number of visitors, in hundreds of thousands each year, seemed as a guarantee of the crowds. In the city of Tokyo, where waiting an hour or even more to get into popular museum exhibitions on weekends or queuing to see each artwork should be expected, the idea that art needs to be promoted among wider public seemed quite unbelievable. I was wondering if Roppongi, where Mori Art Museum, National Art Center and Suntory Museum — all very popular and well-known institutions — are located in less than 10-minute walking distance from each other, really needed further promotion. In my mind, the image of this district was already strongly connected with art, as I usually go there only to visit exhibitions, leaving the area as the museum doors close, glimpsing at crowds more interested in clubbing in the area. So could it be an event aiming at popularization of contemporary art, which quite often gets so involved in itself? The “high-art” created now, which draws from avant-garde and modernist heritage, does not always care to be aesthetically pleasing. Instead, a simple object or action is often accompanied by explanations using many difficult words, way too much terminology from philosophical writings, and they do not always make sense. In my view, this makes contemporary art not so approachable by the general public. Lack of reviews of past RAN events in contemporary art literature puzzled me even more.
Thanks to the meetings with the organizing committee of RAN as part of the workshop, I got to learn that image of Roppongi area I had in my mind was a result of not only construction of the Roppongi Hills by Mori Building company — most visible and graspable effect, but also a series of projects, actually including the annual celebration of Roppongi Art Night. All in all, the district, previously not so popular or modern, has now been reshaped into the popular, chic and international place with several cultural institutions and trendy hang-out spots. RAN is created by the organizing committee with members from the National Art Center, Tokyo, Suntory Museum of Art, Tokyo Midtown, 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, Mori Art Museum, Mori Building, and Roppongi Shopping District Association, supported by their institutions and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Arts Council Tokyo (Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture), and Minato City. It is part of the rebranding of Roppongi Area that aims at recognition by the public on the nation-wide scale. And it is safe to say it is very successful: the image of Roppongi in my head was already as intended by the powers involved.
RAN 2019 — Let the Night Journey Begin!
Having arranged to meet with friends, I was ready to enjoy the festival and to see how this magic would be happening before my own eyes. Almost the first project that I ran into was Life, life by Choi Jeong Hwa — a large cage-like rectangle being decorated with long, multicolored balloons by participants. We could blow the balloons, band them in funny shape (or not) and hang them on all sides making a vivid installation that moved with each blow of the wind creating a funny and joyful view. People of all ages could join, and looking for a free pump or lining up to be the next to use one got people to interact with each other (yet, it’s difficult to say if that was the original intention). All well, but is it just a nice way to decorate the space before Tokyo Midtown?
I wandered off to meet with a friend with intention to come back and take part in it with somebody, with whom I could share the joy. As some space was still free and it looked as more balloons where necessary, my human inborn need for completion was pretty strong at that point. It was already after 5 p.m. when we got back and, to our disappointment, there were no more balloons! As the explanation of the artwork referred
to overconsumption, it seemed as a great lesson — there is already so much: do you really need to add even more to it? The end line may not be what you expect from it, but if there is nothing to do about it, why fight for it? As RAN was just beginning for us, we went to see other installations and exhibition projects, because when one thing ends, another one is waiting just behind the corner (or on the opposite side of the street).
After meeting with some more friends at SEL Octagon, literally under the sea by Akita Wakita x AKIBA, and chatting about this installation, we concluded that after checking out projects around (at Tenso Shrine and Blue Bottle Coffee), we will go back to the balloons, as hearing about something and seeing it in pictures is quite different from seeing it with your own eyes.
Prepared to see airless remains of balloons imprisoned in the cage and guarding its empty space inside, I could have not been more astonished when we noticed that balloons were back! Just waiting on the table to be picked up, blown and hanged. Pure joy was also to be ours! Taking time to select colors, finding a pump and then figuring out how it works — not as easy as it may seem! — we made our contribution and strolled away after our photo session.
In my mind I was done with Life, life — I was not expecting it to be mentioned during the Artist Talk: Choi Jeong Hwa x Fumio Nanjo. The artist said that this installation was also showing the state after: when balloons wither, they may seem to be dead, but they are just in another form. The objects do not end their existence when they are not in the primary use, but they are witnesses to our way of life, and big question arises when we think about what to do with them afterwards. Choi Jeong Hwa used some of such items in the installations around Roppongi district, but before you start thinking about it, they were just funny and colorful. Ready-mades were innovative and changed the approach towards the art in the first half of the 20th century. Pop-art redefinition of this gesture gave it a new life, but since then it was repeated so often to the point that we consider, “if artists does that, it is an art; and if I do that, it is just me putting e.g. ballpoint pen on a table.” When I first looked at thousands of balloons, I didn’t really think of it as something having a smart symbolic meaning. The „life” from the title as I understood it at a time, was the state of coming alive when the wind was blowing and balloons where moving, and symbolizing consumption and excess of goods by showing accumulation of items of one type could not also be called the most innovative one. Yet, remembering the different stages of how I approached this installation, it so suddenly grew on me as being really, really great and also as something that can be a metaphor for my RAN: “night journey and daydream” which was the main theme of the event this year.
Roppongi Art Night looked like a mass-directed joyful event to get people involved, let them have fun and go back home with pleasant memories of Roppongi District. Just with Life, life, people came, hang their balloon and were back on their way, probably with a nice photo of what they did. Given a right “kick” that makes you consider things more consciously, remembering your experience and states of mind before and after it, you can see a more complicated or “next level” meaning, or let’s say “wake up from a dream.” Quite the same happened to my image of RAN: when you look more closely, you could find more than it seemed at first sight.
le crocodile vert is a simple keychain that got set free from its native island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and now travels the world wandering and wondering. It can be seen in some of the photos here, but most of the time it accompanies one exchange student from Poland studying at Keio University, Tokyo about traditional Japanese Art that in free time explores museum.
