Chiba’s Hyakunengo Art Festival Plans Unveiled: Takashi Kobayashi Produces Live Show and More

The plan for the “100 Years Later Art Festival – Environment and Desire – Uchiboso Art Fest” has been announced.

The event will be held in five Uchiboso cities of Ichihara, Kisarazu, Kimitsu, Sodegaura, and Futtsu in Chiba Prefecture as part of the 150th anniversary of Chiba Prefecture’s birth from September 2023, with the “artwork exhibition period” from March 23 (Saturday) through May 26 (Sunday). The event will feature “LIFE ART,” directed by Fram Kitagawa, and mainly featuring art, and “LIVE ART,” produced by Takeshi Kobayashi, and mainly featuring music.

“LIFE ART” invites about 80 up-and-coming contemporary artists from Japan and abroad to exhibit paintings, sculptures, videos, installations, and other artworks at various locations in the five cities of Uchiboso. Participating artists include Yayoi Kusama, Olafur Eliasson, Chim↑Pom from Smappa!Group, Sebastian Masuda, Tetsuya Umeda, Motohiko Kotani, SIDE CORE, Hiraki Sawa, Michihiro Shimabukuro, Kohei Nawa, Lina Banerjee/Peggy E. Reynolds, Yoshio Tamotsu, Din Q. Re and others have been announced.

For “LIVE ART,” the company has announced four different special live performances at four different venues, each with the title “Tsushoku-en-geki/tsushokuon-geki,” inspired by French poet André Breton’s book “Tsushoku-ki” (The Passage to the Bottom of the World).

On April 6 (Sat), an art performance live “Mysterious Love Cape Futtsu” featuring Aina the End will be held at Futtsu Park Jumbo Pool in Futtsu City (planned); on April 20 (Sat) and 21 (Sun), “super” featuring Kazutoshi Sakurai and Sugashikao at Crookfields in Kisarazu City; “super On May 4 (Sat.) and 5 (Sun., national holiday), “dawn song” featuring Koji Miyamoto will be held at Kimitsu Shimin Bunka Hall, and on May 12 (Sun.), “Chanoma Universe” featuring Yoko Oginome and MOROHA will be held at Sodegaura Civic Hall.

At the presentation held on Friday, February 9, the mayors of Kobayashin, Kitagawa, the five Uchiboso cities, Sakura City, and Yamatake City took the stage. They explained the project, introduced their cities, and expressed their enthusiasm for the project.

A message from Kobayashi was also announced.

When considering environmental issues, it’s impossible to separate them from desires,” I spoke these words 16 years ago in 2008 during the “Tokyo Environmental Conference,” an event organized by ap bank. As someone involved in the expression of music, I felt it was impossible to continue pursuing ideals while suppressing desires.
Desires, meaning self-interest, and the environment, meaning considering the interests of others (although each can be reversed), thinking about the harmony and coexistence of these two elements is what I believe will create the future.
Time passes. After establishing Croque Fields in Kimitsu City, Chiba Prefecture in 2019 and contributing to the creation of a sustainable platform for an art festival, we decided to launch the festival. In collaboration with “Ichihara Art x Mix,” directed by Flam Higashigawa, which had already been taking place in Ichihara City since 2014 (Flam Higashigawa taught me the importance of local activities and connected them to various aspects of art), we are opening a new door.
We chose to name it the “Centennial Art Festival” because we wanted the concept to resonate with the coexistence of “art” created from within oneself and the environment of “one hundred years later” when we ourselves do not exist—a true alignment of “environment and desire.”
As for the significance of holding this art festival in Chiba, it is not only because we are involved with Chiba and the Boso Peninsula but also because it serves as a counterpoint to Tokyo. It is an area that provides a counterbalance to various counterparts, such as city and nature, materiality and spirituality, art and business, self-interest and altruism, present and future, environment and desire, in this festival that contemplates various counterpoints.
In a time where entrusting the future only to cities heavily influenced by economic rationality is precarious, I hope the Centennial Art Festival becomes a catalyst and fulfills a role for the future that lies ahead.

Takeshi Kobayashi

Ticket prices and sales dates will be announced on the official website on February 20 (Tue).