Public art in Japan

The Grass Bike needs a lot of water in the August sun. I went to the studio to water the grass as well as pull out a pile a weeds. At first I thought that the grass would have a hard time taking hold now it has taken hold and needs constant trimming and care. The inaugural ride into Nagoya is scheduled for the 19th of August after the inflatable suit performance.

The Grass Bike is actually a front-steering tricycle. The fence helps keep out robbers and an optional BBQ pit ensures any overly curious police officers can be quickly distracted with tasty grilled meat. One of the most fun things to do with the bike aside from ride it is to water it. It is very relaxing and a bit absurd at the same time. Many cyclists try not to get their bikes wet but I give mine a good daily dousing. Some students at the university called it an oxygen emitting vehicle.

One Day Sculpture performance in Nagoya, Japan on August 17, 2008. I will start at the Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art and then plummet through the downtown streets of Nagoya in a large meandering pattern. Big Red will be the star of the show. I will also have an inflatable installation on display at the museum.

The nylon taffeta is beginning to accumulate in the apartment as I begin a new inflatable project. The yellow is soothing compared to the bright red that I used for Big Red. The fabric has a creamy texture and feel. This project will be displayed at the Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art in August at the same time as my big performance run of Big Red on August 17th.

Buying thread from a retail store becomes quite expensive when using thousands of meters. Before I discovered a company in Nagoya called, Ozeki (オゼキ), I made this costly mistake many times. At a retail store one hundred meters of thread costs about 230 yen, but at Ozeki, a thread distributor, three thousand meters costs only 690 yen. At that price it make the high price at the retail store seem like a crime.

Early in the morning George and I began to haual all the parts of my exhibition down the street towards Yamaguti Station(山口駅) as it began to rain. We had accepted the fact that we would be wet when a large white car pulled up driven by a middle aged woman who offered us a ride. I thought that the luggage would not fit but after much insistance we graciously accepted the ride and because of it made the next train to Nagoya in order to catch a bus to Kyoto.

After a long journey we finally made it to galerie weissraum. The canned food bar had a few patrons in it sipping on beers and eating SPAM with chopsticks. During installation it seemed that everything that could go wrong did. First the locking pin of the large fan had falled out in transit requiring the fan to be disassembled. After a mad dash to the hardware store in the rain I repaired the fan. The fuse connection of the battery charger for the inflatable suit “Big Red” also broke in transit. After some solder and a new fuse holder it too came back to life. Besides these hiccups the installation went smoothly and George and I had time to have a couple of beverages and wander ove to a ramen shop for dinner.

Of course the first day of the exhibition in Kyoto with an outdoor public performance scheduled brought rain. After all it is the beginning of the rainy season in Japan. But this morning a reporter from the Kyoto branch of chyunichi shinbun had an appointment to meet me for an interview and to see the performance.

Ashihara-san showed up on time and after a brief interview about the work I headed out to the Kaomo River to keep the performance on schedule despite the rate
June 7th

We stayed the night in Osaka Prefecture at Kawanaka’s home. Because of the early morning the next day and the long day George and I went to sleep very quickly.