D15Social Dive (Japanese)

MARGINAL: Hear Our Voice

Sanae Takahata & Creative Kids Club Ningyocho

Area
DAIMARUYU・Nihonbashi・Kyobashi・Ginza
Period
2021.07.10(Sat) - 08.07(Sat)
Hours
11:00-18:00 closed on Sunday
Venue
Jisshi Square
Others

Free Admission

<Open Call Project SOCIAL DIVE>

Tucked away on a quiet street in Nihonbashi-Kodenmacho, Tokyo, Jisshi Square & Park is located where once stood (during different eras) a prison, execution ground, elementary school, Buddhist temple and now stands a nursing home and kindergarten. From July 10th to August 7th, Jisshi Square will be the home for Sanae Takahata’s Tokyo Biennale Exhibition “MARGINAL: Hear Our Voices.” This exhibition will feature 21 oil paintings created after in-depth interviews with her subjects (1991-1995 and 2012-2021) and posters featuring answers received from global participants in a 42 part questionnaire. Also on display will be the interview records and photos that accompany the oil paintings. Symbolic of the artist’s “outsider” sentiments, the artwork will be exhibited inside (one room) and outside (in the hallways). Inside the room represents “acceptance & conformity” The hallways represent our “Marginal Identity.” The hallways belong to everyone and at the same time no one. VOICES past and present will emanate from Jisshi Square.

(As of June 2021)

1: 《MARGINAL: Hear Our Voice》 Project Image、2019、 Photo & Project Idea by: Sanae Takahata、Graphic Design by: Natsumi Hamada, Yuri Ohkuma
2: 《IntimateReflections 1991-1995: The Birth of a Self Portrait》1995、Sagacho Exhibit Space(Tokyo)、Photo by Masayuki Hayashi
3: 《Creation: My Birth》 1991-1993

Facebook: Creative Kids Club Ningyocho
Facebook: 高畑早苗 Sanae Takahata
Instagram: sanaetakahata creative_kids_club_ningyocho
Twitter: @sanaetakahata

Current Activities

[Tokyo Biennale “note” article] Talk: Min Nishihara, Sanae Takahata, Kaori Endo Trilogy

[Survey]
Since February 2020, we have been collecting the voices of people living in various parts of the world affected by the coronavirus pandemic through an online survey. We are planning to display the collected voices as “Our Voice” together with portrait paintings.
We hope you will take part in the survey!

[Stand FM Radio interview programme: Hear Our Voice]
The radio interview program “Hear Our Voice”, which brings us closer to the lives of diverse people, will be continally updated.

[Virtual Exhibition] “Marginal: Hear Our Voice”



Artist

Sanae Takahata & Creative Kids Club Ningyocho

A group composed of former members (currently high school and university students) of Creative Kids Club, a workshop led by Sanae Takahata since 2001, as well as friends living in various locations who are of mixed age, occupation, gender, and nationality. The term “marginal” in the project title signifies “being on the edge” and represents the shared identity of respective members. The team name “Creative Kid” signifies a “creative child” but also conveys the meaning of a “creative kid” in each of us, said to appear when people are recovering from unbearable suffering and trauma.
Members: Yuri Iwabuchi, Kenneth T. Morinaka, Eri Takada, Natsumi Hamada, Reiko Naito, Yuki Kamino, Yuriko Ohkuma, Takako Matsumoto, Naoko Ito, Oh Hei, Miyako Inoue, Yoshino Okada, Touya Fujita, Mayu Okuda, Naoko Eguchi, Hanako Okuda, Kazuko Nikaido, Chiaki Hongo, Samues Leung, Lisa Anthony, Alicia Crow, Paik Nak-sun, Dobrawa Bies, Sirus Fischbacher, Hiroko Wada, Lee Hoi Lam

Sanae Takahata
Artist

Born in Maebashi City. In 1977, Sanae Takahata moved to Paris using the savings made through part-time work after graduating from high school. She made her debut at a gallery in Paris at the age of 18. While based in the US in the 1980s, she made numerous portraits of women using friends and herself as models in various forms including oil paintings, fusamae (paintings on sliding doors), and terracotta, which were shown in exhibitions in Japan and internationally. Suffering from the symptoms of neurosis since her late twenties, for Takahata, painting is a life-affirming tool that serves as a place of self-exploration and self-help. After “Intimate Reflections” 1991-1995, an exhibition held at Sagacho Exhibit Space (1995) that featured a portrait series made while visiting and interviewing friends all over the world, she greatly extended the range of her activities and started to live. From 2001 she organized the Creative Kids Club, a place where children can express themselves freely. She still continues to make portraits. Past exhibitions include “WEAR MEーTenpenmujo” (Honenin Temple, 2006), Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology Krakow (2012), “Metamorphosis” (Mur Nomade, Hong Kong, 2014), “Medieval Delusion” (Sagacho Archives, 2015), and “Protect Life” (H.P France Window Gallery, Marunouchi 2016-2020). She is the co-author of “A na ta ta chi – jiga kara no iyashi (healing from the self)” (text by Chizuko Ueno, illustrations by Sanae Takahata, NHK Publisher. Inc., 1995).
http://www.sanaetakahata.jp/

Venue

Location

5-1 Nihombashikodemmacho Chuo-ku Tokyo

Access

・3 minutes walk from “Kodenmacho” Station on the Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line.

Others

Inquiries
tb2020.jp/en/contact-en
(Tokyo Biennale Executive Office)