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Ronald van der Meijs

Odoshi Cloud Sequence
A symbiosis between nature and culture is created against the backdrop of the Japanese garden in the pond of the Amstelpark. This artwork explores new possibilities to generate sound and composition that are controlled by slow, unpredictable and unexpected elements of nature which are highly respected in Japanese culture. The diversity of natural sounds gives the work an almost meditative character, while the dependance on natural factors evoke a tension between longing and acceptance. This sound installation engages, as a natural sequencer, in a dialogue with the water, sun wind and clouds. It refers to Japanese garden culture by using the principle of the Japanese bamboo water tumbler.

Nelo Akamatsu

Chijikinkutsu
“Chijikinkutsu” is a coinage, specially created for the title of this work by mingling two Japanese words: “Chijiki” and “Suikinkutsu”.”Chijiki” means geomagnetism: terrestrial magnetic properties that cannot be sensed by the human body but that exists everywhere on earth. Since long before the Age of Discovery, people have traveled with navigation using compasses employing geomagnetism. In recent years, various devises that utilize geomagnetism have even been incorporated into smartphones[…] “Suikinkutsu” is a sound installation for a Japanese traditional garden, invented in the Edo period. The sounds of water drops falling into an earthenware pot buried under a stone wash basin resonate through hollow bamboo utensils. The concept of the work “Chijikinkutsu” does not derive from experimentalism of science and technology on which media arts rely, nor from architectural theory of western music upon which some sound arts lay their foundation. While utilizing the action of geomagnetism normally treated as a subject of science, this sound installation expands the subtle sounds of “Suikinkutsu” in the context of Japanese perspective on Nature.

Tanabe Chikuunsai

Vuslat
Tanabe was born to one of Japan’s most prestigious bamboo pedigrees and is the fourth generation of his family to take the artist name Chikuunsai, meaning “master of the bamboo clouds.” Tanabe works hard to keep his family’s legacy alive by mastering the styles and techniques that the Tanabe family is known for, while also establishing his own original artistic voice.

Steven Chilton Architects

wuxi taihu show theatre design
The building’s appearance is composed of three primary elements, the columns, the shade canopy and the building envelope. Representing an abstract impression of a bamboo forest, the slender white columns are positioned around the perimeter of the building in such a way as to provide a screen between the building façade and surrounding landscape. The ‘bamboo’ columns clear around the various entrances to help frame the accesses into the building.

Melanie Bonajo

梅拉妮·柏娜桥
Nocturnal Gardening

Photographs of painted people, tinted by sunlight flooding in through colorful tissue paper, are interspersed with delicate ferns and towering bamboo sticks. A lithium drone within the gallery’s white walls is broken up by Night Soil – Fake Paradise, an experimental documentary film by Melanie Bonajo in which women from Brooklyn candidly discussion their deeply personal experiences with ayahuasca. Some of the revelations are blissful and mystic while others turn completely horrifying, melting the psyche down into utterly submissive goo — Bonajo’s way of reminding us of the immeasurable power of psychedelic substances.