The project "Encounters" was started in 2011 on the occasion of the celebration of the anniversary year "150 years of friendship Germany - Japan" as an international joint exhibition in Cologne, Germany. It was highly appreciated on a regional level and participates as an international exchange project Encounters – Japan and Germany in the art festival "Artwalk in Okayama" (film trailer and report TV Setouchi).
Extract from the preface of the accompanying catalogue:
The German-Japanese group exhibition "Encounters - Germany and Japan", which was held for the first time in Cologne in 2011 as part of the anniversary year "150 years of Friendship Germany - Japan", was a great success for all the artists involved. It met with a considerable response from the visitors and provided all participants with a wide range of new experiences.
The desire to hold the exhibition again in Japan matured and can now be realised thanks to the generous commitment of the Okayama Prefecture, which invited this exhibition and exchange project to this year's "Okayama Art Tour". As a result, it is now possible to deepen these experiences and expand them with new encounters.
We are pleased that all artists have once again agreed to participate and have made selected works available. The traditional Japanese architecture of the exhibition house Yumikobo in Kurashiki-Tamashima gives this presentation a special aura. Works of art of different genres meet, artists with different cultural backgrounds meet, modernity meets tradition, and yet the similarities are also astonishing and diverse.
In addition, however, this year's "Encounters - Japan and Germany" will provide ample opportunity for direct contact with the "artist in residence" artists invited to Tamashima, who will be inspired to create new works in new surroundings and in direct encounters with visitors and residents.
We sincerely hope that this will contribute to a diverse and enriching exchange between people and cultures. This is also the aim of the film documentation, which is intended to be a stimulus and motivation for people interested in culture to take the initiative and seek encounters.
Our heartfelt thanks go to all participants and supporters of this enterprise, who have been personally committed to its success.
"Encounters" organisation team
Tomoko Sato, Andreas Hentrich, Yuki Asano
back: Ursula Werner
front: Kiyonori Kado
back: Tomoko Sato
front: Heri Gahbler
back: Herbert Linden
front: Akihiro Isogai
back: Andreas Hentrich
front: Ayuko Matsui
back: Yuri Brodsky
front: Chiharu Koda