1st Lucent Art Festa

The first Lucent tower Art Festa - Feast of the Verdure
Three magical days on the lush art plaza

The Nagoya Lucent Tower greeted its first golden with by hosting an art event from April 27th to the 29th. This art event. entitled "the 1st Lucent Art Festa - the Feast of the Verdure," was produced by Toshio Shimizu Art Office and sponsored by Nagoya Lucent Tower.

invited a number of - artists to enliven the ordinary office space.

The main - was the exhibition "Green Art," presented by Mr. Makoto Azuma. Mr. Azuma, though young, is an accomplished florist and owns an haute couture flower shop in Ginza. - flower art in - brands flowers in the Movie Sakuran - exhibition in the Cartier foundation in Paris. At Nagoya Lucent Tower, he presented an installation work using grasses and flowers. He created an plaza of green grasses in the main office entrance of the Lucent Tower.

Along with the exhibition, various art performances took place on the green art plaza during the festa: jazz concert by MITCH & HIS ALL STARS, dance performance by Strange Kinoko Dance Company, art talk between Takenobu Igarashi and Toshio Shimizu, art school by minim++…

Great Art, green, dance, music, and conversation enlivened the office space of the Nagoya Lucent Tower during the golden week holiday.

©Photo by Hirofumi Tani		©Photo by Hirofumi Tani

The 1st Lucent Art Festa - Feast of the Verdure-
Date: April 27, 2007(Fri) -April 29, 2007(Sun)
Place: Nagoya Lucent Tower (Ushijima-cho 6-1, Nishi-ku, Nagoya)
Admission: Free
Seating: Jazz Concert, Dance Performance, Art Talk = 250 seats
Art School= 15 seats for adults, 15 seats for children
Artists: Azuma Makoto, MITCH & HIS ALL STARS, Strange Kinoko Dance Company, Takenobu Igarashi, minim++
Sponsor: Nagoya Lucent Tower
Art Director: Toshio Shimizu / Toshio Shimizu Art Office

Program
Exhibition "Green Art" by Makoto Azuma
4/27 (Fri) - 4/29 (Sun) 11:00 - 23:00 (Until10:00pm on Sunday)
Makoto Azuma, a flower artist who was in charge of flower art in the movie "Sakuran," created a lush art plaza in the office building. A 2.5 meter tall grass object and the flower artworks was displayed on the 20 by 3 meter wide real grass carpet. The extraordinary greenness of this installation refreshed and entertained all the passers-by.

©Photo by Hirofumi Tani		©Photo by Hirofumi Tani

4/27 (Fri) 19:00 - (opens at 18:30) Jazz Concert featuring MITCH & HIS ALL STARS
MITCH & HIS ALL STARS is a Jazz band based in Osaka. Trumpeter MITCH and his cheerful friends completely transformed the Lucent Tower with their joyful sound.

©Photo by Hirofumi Tani

4/28 (Sat) 14:00 - (opens at 13:30) Dance Performance
Features Strange Kinoko Dance Company
Starting from the underpass of minim++, the female dance company gave a dashed to the green art plaza and gave a fantastic dance performance.

©Photo by Hirofumi Tani		©Photo by Hirofumi Tani

4/28 (Sat) 16:30- (opens at 16:00) Art Talk
Takenobu Igarashi, a sculptor who created the main artwork of the Lucent Tower, and Toshio Shimizu, Art Director of the Nagoya Lucent Tower, had an inspiring conversation on their take on public art, career and philosophy.

©Photo by Hirofumi Tani

4/29 (Sun) 14:00- (Meet at 13:30) Art School
minim++ , artists duo who created art of the subway concourse of the Lucent Tower, gave a workshop to kids and older citizens and helped participants to create new additions to the artwork at the subway underpass.

©Photo by Hirofumi Tani		©Photo by Hirofumi Tani

4/29 Grass Art Giveaway
The grass rolls used in Makoto Azuma's Artwork were cut into little pieces and given to the lucky Nagoya citizens. They were delighted to received free flowers and grasses for their garden.



Artists
Makoto Azuma
Mr. Makoto Azuma was born in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1976. Fascinated by flowers, he has pursued his way toward the ideal flower artist. This young artist has exhibited his flower works in the well-known venue such as Ginza Sony building, Collette in Paris and Cartier Foundation, and gained wide public attention in Japan with his flower works in the movie "Sakuran."

MITCH & HIS ALL STARS Member: MITCH(Trumpet, Vocal)
MITCH was born in Tokyo in 1974 and started playing trumpet at the age of thirteen. He continues giving dynamic performance both in Japan and New Orleans, America.

Strange Kinoko Dance Company
Strange Kinoko Dance Company is a group of female dancers, famous for their unique and original performance. Their dance, which integrates the audience and the performers, attracts a lot of fans both in and out of Japan.

Takenobu Igarashi
Mr. Igarashi is a sculptor born in Takigawa, Hokkaido in 1944. He graduated from Tama Art University, and UCLA. In the seventies, he left his successful career as a designer to become a sculptor.

minim++
Minim++ is a duo of Motoshi Chikamori(Born in Tokyo, in 1971) and Kyoko Kunoh (Born in Tokyo, 1972). Their works mainly involve interactive art using computer.

Toshio Shimizu
Prof. Toshio Shimizu is an art critic and independent curator based in Japan. He is also an academic, teaching at Gakushuin University. He was born in Tokyo, in 1952 and studied in Paris in his twenties and thirties. After working with various museums and galleries, he is now devoted to making good public artworks in order to provide high-quality art to ordinary people. His major public art projects include the Nagoya Lucent Tower, Muza Kawasaki and Tokyo Midtown, among many others.

©All Photos : Photo by Hirofumi Tani