UENOYES was
launched in the autumn of 2018 as a community-based art project that hosts arts
and cultural events in the vicinity of Ueno Park under the banner of social
inclusiveness.
Amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, UENOYES 2020 made the leap to the digital world, inviting a diverse roster of guests to participate in a six-day series of talk events streamed online in mid-November.
Titled UENOYES
2020 “HOME & AWAY,” the program explored the new normal under a global
lockdown, tapping the internet to bridge social distance and continue to
connect participants quartered in their homes, both in Japan and abroad.
On Friday, November 27th, UENOYES General Producer Katsuhiko Hibino could be found leaving the Tokyo University of the Arts campus in Ueno, after finishing the first session of the fourth day of “HOME & AWAY.” We caught up with Hibino as he walked to Shibuya for the second session, live-streaming the route from Ueno with smartphone in hand.
20:25pm Organized under the overarching theme “Summit on new ways to appreciate art, feat. S/U/P/E/R DOMMUNE,” the day’s events were kicked off with the help of special guest Atsushi Mori of the University of Tsukuba School of Informatics. The first congenital deafblind person to attend a general university in Japan (Japan Lutheran College), Mori led a session titled “Seeing and unseeing: Appreciating the world with the deafblind.”Hibino joined in from a classroom at the Tokyo University of the Arts, where he serves as the Dean of the Faculty of the Arts.
20:48pm Hibino leaves the Tokyo University of the Arts campus after the first session.
20:49pm Walking toward Ueno Park on a street between the university’s art and music departments.
20:50pm Arriving at Ueno Park, Hibino passes the Keisei Electrical Railway Co.’s former Museum-Zoo Station. Although train service was suspended in 1997 and the station was officially retired in 2004, the station became the first railway-related structure to be selected as a Tokyo metropolitan government building of historical merit in 2018. The station was renovated and is now sporadically used to host UENOYES events and other exhibitions. The verdigris-colored doors were designed by Hibino.
20:57pm Hibino arrives at Takenodai Plaza in front of the fountain in Ueno Park. The day’s second session, “The art of conquering Covid — the beauty of an undivided world,” has already begun at SUMMER DOMMUNE studio inside Shibuya PARCO. Team Lab Representative Director Toshiyuki Inoko and contemporary artist Naohiro Ukawa ask Hibino to give a tour of the park. Hibino obliges as a diverse cast of students, dogwalkers, and senior citizens out for a stroll pass by in the background.
◆UENOYES2020 Archive: “The art of conquering Covid — the beauty of an undivided world ”https://youtu.be/1BDp7lDXafM
21:05pm Boarding a taxi outside the JR Ueno Station’s Park Gate.
21:16pm On the Shuto Expressway bound for Shibuya, with a stunning view of illuminated Tokyo Tower in the background.
21:35pm After arriving at JR Shibuya Station, Hibino pauses in front of the station’s famous Hachiko Gate to tell Inoko and Ukawa he will be at the SUPER DOMMUNE studio soon.
21:37pm Hibino is seen in the iconic “scramble” crosswalk in front of Shibuya station.
21:42pm Walking toward PARCO along Koen-dori.
21:48pm At the entrance to Shibuya PARCO.
21:50pm Hibino has a quick briefing with production staff as he arrives at the 9th floor SUPER DOMMUNE studio.
21:52pm Hibino sits down with Inoko and Ukawa in the studio for a lively discussion of new ways to experience and appreciate art that runs until 10:30 at night. After the panel discussion, the trio is joined remotely by physically disabled musical artist Yuta Itani, who calls in from Tottori Prefecture for a live DJ set. At 11:00 p.m., the participants sign off, closing the curtain on another inclusivity-filled day with UENOYES.
