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What isSocial
Art Lab?

Social Art, often referred to as socially engaged art, is definedas art practice that engages with social issues and creates newrelationships between people. Social Art Lab has engaged inresearch, education, practice and advocacy since 2015 at Kyushu
University. The primary aim of this interdisciplinary laboratory isto find new directions for the potential of art in society today.

Co n t e n t sIntroduction

1Principles

2

Mission3

Fukuoka × Yame Remix

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Art Bus Tour Re-imagining Satoyama

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Art Festival Re-creating Tea Gathering7Adult Education Program10

Kumamoto Earthquake Recovery

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Spiritual Culture Revival131Principles

Mission

Art in the Modern Era was thought of as an autonomous expression of artists’inner world. However, today art is a form of mediation to reconnect our
inner world with society, as well as facilitate diverse relationships. Social
Art Lab draws upon interdisciplinary approaches of art, technology andenvironmental design to confront social issues while fostering interaction
among diverse communities. The laboratory will continue to promote newperspectives on art and society.

Social Art Lab undertakes research, education,practice, and advocacy in an interrelated way.

Research

Relationship of art and society
Evaluative methods for the effects of art
Assessment of project management
Consideration of future communities

Education

Critical awareness of social issues
Understanding of diverse values
Integrated learning programs
Practical learning opportunities

Practice

Engagement with social issues
Making art projects
Collaboration among diverse people
Raising public awarenessArt
Social issues

New perspectives

SocialArt LabTechnology2

Environment

Advocacy

Research

Advocacy

Education

Practice

Cultural policies in post-global society
Values for co-existence
Networking strategies for community design
Models for socially engaged art projects

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How cansocially engaged art
affect a region?

1 Art Bus TourRe-imagining Satoyama
October 15-16, 2016

Satoyama is a place where people and nature coexist. These places are woven together with many memories
of people and nature. Re-imagining Satoyama was a seven-hour bus journey from Fukuoka to Inner Yame, wherevisitors experienced art in the landscape.
In the gymnasium of former Kasahara elementary school,
visitors encountered Koutarou Ushijima’s work, Un-illuminatedPlaces. Domestic objects collected from the school and thelocal community were installed to float in space along with apoem written on the floor of the gymnasium (see cover).

Fukuoka × Yame Remix
Inner Yame is a rural area approximately sixty kilometers from Fukuoka recovering froma flood which occurred in 2012. The Social Art Lab made an art project linking these tworegions based on the concept of “remix.” With the goal of encouraging social interaction,
two art programs were implemented: a bus tour to Inner Yame and an exhibition in Fukuoka.

4Koutarou Ushijima
Un-illuminated Places
2016
Objects from former Kasahara
elementary school and the local
community, and vinyl lettering(lower left and right photos)

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2 Art Festival

While walking through a campground closed after the flood,
James Jack’s sound installation Eight Layers of Dirt can beheard. Through the open windows of four scenic cottages, thevoices of a woman from Yame and a woman from Fukuoka
fade in and out of the air. Inside of each cottage, life stories ofthese eight women unfold slowly from speakers above, to beappreciated while gazing at the landscape near and far.
Through diverse encounters along the journey, visitors reimagined the region together with local inhabitants.

Re-creating Tea Gathering
February 4-12, 2017
Yame is famous for tea. Utilizing artistic approaches to the “tea gathering,” Social
Art Lab experimented with juxtaposing the two localities of Yame and Fukuoka.

James Jack
Eight Layers of Dirt
2016
Kasahara River, four cottages, four local
soil samples, and four channel stereo
sound installation(upper four photos)

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Mamoru Fujieda
Tea Gathering at Shonankyo

James Jack
From Stone to Sand

Tea gathering unfolded on the stage of the historical building Shonankyo over thecourse of three lively days. Entertainment included a series of conversations, theplayful event “Tea Tasting Battle,” a live performance “Strumming Tea” with a rare
Japanese lute, as well as an artistic tea ceremony performance newly composed
and produced by artist Mamoru Fujieda.

Waterways flowing between Yame and Fukuoka were created in this historicalbuilding with stones and space. The footsteps of visitors took the shape of rivers,seaside, moats and surrounding islands as the stones were shifted by hand eachday of the exhibit. Amidst these changes, participants wrote a reflection on thestone of their choice. After the exhibit, the stones were returned to Yame for local
revival projects to insert positive energy into the future of the region.

James Jack
From Stone to Sand
2017
River stones, digital inkjet print,and walnut ink on paper

89What is the roleof curating inregional art
projects?

Adult Education Program
Social Art Lab conducted an adult education programs for art
management on the topic of “Curating Perspectives on the Region.”In the basic course eight lectures were held along with corresponding
workshops. In the practical course, management of the Fukuoka × Yame
Remix project was taught.

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How areart projects
linked withrecovery
movements?

12Kumamoto Earthquake Recovery
Mikako Tomotari
Survivors of the Kumamoto Earthquake in April 2016
were forced to live in shelters and sleep in their cars amid
repeated aftershocks. Tiny House Project was launched tobuild itakura cabins on the survivors’ residential land after
evacuation occurred in the village. Itakura, a traditional
Japanese method for building a cedar wood cabin which
provides fragrance of the wood and has a superior
earthquake resistance, both of which comfort survivors. It
can be built at a low cost, using forest resources (timber)from Aso district.
In June, an itakura community house was completed incollaboration with local carpenters and volunteers, using
donated cedar wood. A workshop was also conducted forchildren on building wood furniture and accessories using
the remnants of lumber and wood waste from damaged
homes. Finished products were then sent to the survivors
as presents. In this project, we have learned that people
can be empowered by recreating cabins from the remnantsof the earthquake.
It is our hope that these houses built using Kumamoto
cedar and art works made of the wooden remnants willserve to reinvigorate the life of the region.

How cantechnology
assist in thereconsiderationof local
culture?

Spiritual Culture Revival
Mikako Tomotari
After the Edo Period,
many cultural traditions
were persecuted by theMeiji Reformation acrossJapan. At Mount Hiko
(Hikosan) in Northern
Kyushu, religious objects
were destroyed andShugendō rituals werehalted for over a century.
Historically, Shugendō
was an ascetic practicethat combines Shintō,
Buddhism and mountainbeliefs. Today society does not fully appreciate thespiritual significance of customs from this local area.
Mikako Tomotari’s sculptures utilize digital technology
to recreate religious objects, thereby restoringhistorically marginalized religious culture. This work
revives philosophies based on the coexistence ofpeople and nature today.

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