News

The “Spirit of North” project has been held 14 times until 2021.
The project has been held on a large scale, including museums in Japan and Finland, multiple warehouses in the Aizu region, and simultaneous events in Japan and Scotland.
From now on, we will not only hold large scale events, but will also emphasize the importance of a small number of participants facing each other in-depth, interacting with people in the host region, and experiencing the local sensitivities.

As a realization of this, Vol. 15 in 2025 will aim for a deep understanding and exchange between three women artists who live far away from each other on the globe.

Artist/
Elisa Pritzker: Born in Argentina,  lives in New York
Helena Junttila: Born and lives in Finland
Yoshiko Maruyama: Born in Fukushima,  lives in Tokyo

To get to know each other, we had the first Zoom conversation with these three of us.We met across a huge time difference: 9:00 am in New York/16:00 pm in Sodankylä, Finland/ 22:00 pm in Tokyo.

What have these three women artists, who have had life experiences beyond their 60th birthday, been thinking and expressing in three different places on earth?
They also are aware of the existence of three indigenous peoples: the Emishi of Japan’s Tohoku region, the Sami of Lapland in northern Finland, and the Selk’nam of Patagonia in southern Argentina. What can we see in respecting their culture and spirituality?
The three of us will create a theme for the event through dialogue over time.

In 2025, we will hold a residency and exchange event in Aizu, and present the results in an exhibition in Tokyo.

 

2023.07.29

The “Spirit of North” project has been held 14 times until 2021.
The project has been held on a large scale, including museums in Japan and Finland, multiple warehouses in the Aizu region, and simultaneous events in Japan and Scotland.
From now on, we will not only hold large scale events, but will also emphasize the importance of a small number of participants facing each other in-depth, interacting with people in the host region, and experiencing the local sensitivities.

As a realization of this, Vol. 15 in 2025 will aim for a deep understanding and exchange between three women artists who live far away from each other on the globe.

Artist/
Elisa Pritzker: Born in Argentina,  lives in New York
Helena Junttila: Born and lives in Finland
Yoshiko Maruyama: Born in Fukushima,  lives in Tokyo

 

To get to know each other, we had the first Zoom conversation with these three of us.We met across a huge time difference: 9:00 am in New York/16:00 pm in Sodankylä, Finland/ 22:00 pm in Tokyo.

What have these three women artists, who have had life experiences beyond their 60th birthday, been thinking and expressing in three different places on earth?
They also are aware of the existence of three indigenous peoples: the Emishi of Japan’s Tohoku region, the Sami of Lapland in northern Finland, and the Selk’nam of Patagonia in southern Argentina. What can we see in respecting their culture and spirituality?
The three of us will create a theme for the event through dialogue over time.

In 2025, we will hold a residency and exchange event in Aizu, and present the results in an exhibition in Tokyo.

2023.07.29

For more than a year, the Earth has been covered with the novel coronavirus, and we humans are all trying to overcome common difficulties. Covid-19 is a warning that we should reconsider not only the disaster for humankind, but also the coexistence of humankind with other living things. It also highlighted the disparity and discrimination between humans.
Now is the time for the “Spirit of North” activity to understand each other’s situations and differences to elicit deeper spiritual resonance.

In this year’s project with Scottish artists, we are being hindered from “meeting in person” by Covid-19, and within that constraint we are trying to find a possible way of interacting.
Four Japanese artists who are closely related to Tohoku region and northern countries and four artists from Scotland, which is north of the UK, will form one-on-one pairs and continue communication for half a year. Beyond the distance between the eastern and western edges of the Eurasian continent, we try to find resonance between each other and reflect to art. The expression will show the result of communication that faces each other.

The exhibitions, which connects Scotland and Fukushima prefecture, will show the works of eight artists from both countries. Introducing the expressions of the artists who boldly take on the challenge of finding new ways to connect with the world, overcoming the hurdle of Covid-19.
As a highlight of the exchange, there are four events that connect venues in both countries or between the venue and the artist’s studio online.

Spirit of North: Confluence

Artists/

Japan: MARUYAMA Yoshiko, TAKIZAWA Tatsushi, ASAI Mariko, MARUYAMA Tokio
Scotland: Su GRIERSON, Gillian Adair MCFARLAND, Kyra CLEGG, Inge PANNEELS

Outline of the project/

◆ June 1-27 / Spirit of North vol.11 / Perth Creative Exchange, Perth, Scotland

◆ September 4-11 / Spirit of North vol.12 / Gaada, Isle of Burra, Shetland, Scotland

◆ October 3-17 / Spirit of North vol.13 /
Murato Misegura, Minami-mach 2850, Ehon no kura, Nijuken-gura, Kitakata, Fukushima, Japan

◆ October 22-29 / Spirit of North vol.14 /
NishiAizu International Art Village, Nishiaizu, Fukushima, Japan

⇆ Exchange: Oct. 23- Nov.6 / Spirit of North vol.15 /
An Lanntair, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, Scotlan

Link/

“Spirit of North” in 2021 are cooperating each other with “Confluence of North” project in Scotland.
CONFLUENCE OF NORTH

 

Grant/

-We appreciate these support-
The Kao Foundation for Arts and Sciences,  Asahi Shimbun Foundation

 

 

2021.04.14

Spirit of ‘North’ vol.10: Sensing Faint Resonances

Rovaniemi Art Museum, Rovaniemi, Finland
21 Sep. 2019 ~ 26 Jan. 2020

“Is there a shared spirituality amongst groups of people who live in northern regions of the globe, outside of race and nationality?”

With this question as the driving force, art project Spirit of ‘North’ has continued to explore the spirituality of northern peoples by creating a platform for artists from Tohoku (the northern region of Japan including Fukushima) and from other northern regions of the world to interact with each other and exchange ideas. The 10th project started at Rovaniemi Art Museum in Lapland region, Finland, that region is closely related to this project.

We are certain it will allow us to deepen our connection and understanding of each other as fellow northerners. Lapland, with its similarities to Tohoku, makes it a perfect site for this exhibition to reflect on the project’s journey thus far. Getting immersed in the land and the community of Lapland, we hope to deeply contemeplate northern spirituality and our northerner identity.

It will hold performance and artist talk events in November 2019 and January 2020.

【Exhibition Period】

 21 September 2019 ~ 26 January 2020

【Venue】
Rovaniemi Art Museum (Korundi House of Culture: Lapinkävijäntie 4, 96100 Rovaniemi, Finland)

【Organiser】
Rovaniemi Art Museum
Spirit of “North” Executive Committee

【Sponsor & Cooperation】
Pola Art FoundationThe Asahi Shimbun Foundation
Japan Foundation
Wihuri Foundation
Laplands Culture Foundation
Fukushima Museum

【Artist】
Japan //
MARUYAMA Yoshiko（Curator of the exhibition）
ISHIKURA Toshiaki
NAKATSUGAWA Hiroaki
MARUYAMA Tokio
CHIBA Naoko

Finland //
Helena JUNTTILA（Curator of the exhibition）
Mia HAMARI
Jukka TARKIAINEN
Titta COURT
Auri AHOLA

Sweden //
Amanda BILLBERG

 

      

     

 

2019.10.13