{"id":4386,"date":"2016-05-03T13:51:07","date_gmt":"2016-05-03T13:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artzealous.com\/?p=4386"},"modified":"2016-05-03T13:51:07","modified_gmt":"2016-05-03T13:51:07","slug":"wanderlust-inducing-country-of-dreams-art-festival-as-social-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wanderlust-inducing-country-of-dreams-art-festival-as-social-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Wanderlust-Inducing Country of Dreams: Art Festival as Social Change"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On Wednesday, April 27 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.japansociety.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Japan Society<\/a> hosted Country of Dreams: Art Festival as Social Change, a presentation and discussion with contemporary artists Marina Abramovic, Cai Guo-Qiang, Emilia Kabakov, and Midori Yamamura. The discussion was moderated by Yukie Kamiya, Gallery Director at Japan Society with an opening video message from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.artfront.co.jp\/en\/about\/fram-kitagawa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fram Kitagawa<\/a>. The artists discussed their respective works for the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial, a festival in an area known for the exceptional rice it produces. In addition to providing insight into time-based artwork in public spaces, Country of Dreams provoked substantial wanderlust for the tradition-steeped Japanese countryside.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/IMG_0762-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_0762\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mai-hudson.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Marina Abramovic<\/a> presented on her installation \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.tsumari-artfield.com\/dreamhouse\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dream House<\/a>,\u201d a renovated minka structure that provides guests in the four-room house the opportunity to participate in a dream incubating experience. Completed for the 2000 Triennial, \u201cDream House\u201d is still open seasonally to guests, though Abramovic noted that the waiting list is quite substantial. If donning a primary-colored hazmat-inspired sleeping suit and drifting off to dreamland in a coffin-like box is your jam, &#8220;Dream House&#8221; is the perfect getaway.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/IMG_0765-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_0765\" width=\"299\" height=\"224\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Chinese artist <a href=\"http:\/\/www.caiguoqiang.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cai Guo-Qiang<\/a> brought a piece of his heritage to the 2000 Triennial in the form of a Dehua kiln, deconstructed and transported from the artist\u2019s home city in Fujian Province, China. Rebuilt on site in Echigo-Tsumari by the local villagers, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.caiguoqiang.com\/projects\/dmoca-dragon-museum-contemporary-art-everything-museum-no-1-2000\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dragon Museum of Contemporary Art<\/a> is both an installation and a museum. Hosting other art-world heavy hitters including Kiki Smith, DMoCA should technically deteriorate over time due to the harsh winter conditions in the Echigo-Tsumari region, but the villagers take such good care of it that it\u2019s still functional to this day.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Drawing on their socialist histories, Russian-American artists <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ilya-emilia-kabakov.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Emilia and Ilya Kabakov<\/a> activated a rice field with poetry, landscaping and sculptures of traditional rice farmers in their work \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.echigo-tsumari.jp\/eng\/artwork\/the_rice_field\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Rice Field<\/a>\u201d (2000). Viewed from a platform on the opposite bank, viewers see a cohesive portrait. The duo returned to the Triennial in 2015 with the sculpture \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.echigo-tsumari.jp\/eng\/artwork\/the_arch_of_life\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Arch of Life<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Country of Dreams was an academic treat for anyone with a moderate to severe obsession with contemporary art-stars. Couple that with bringing public\u00a0art projects to picturesque rural areas and the perfect evening of intellectual titillation ensued.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Wednesday, April 27 Japan Society hosted Country of Dreams<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":4390,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4386"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}