Japan Creative Centre (JCC), Embassy of Japan in Singapore, together with Dr. Simone Chung, will be holding an exhibition, The Art of Living: Creative Communities in the 21st Century - Tottori and Kamiyama from 2 to 12 March 2022 that features her fieldwork under the fellowship of The Japan Foundation Asia Center in 2019.

The exhibition explores how two communities in Tottori and Kamiyama - both impacted by depopulation and dereliction - have been driving art projects, community revitalisation programmes, and convivial gatherings in alternative spaces, as well as how unconventional individuals have chosen to live life on their own terms. It will be showcased through interview videos, visual documents of the spaces they occupy and original drawings arising from Dr. Chung’s fieldwork.

She will be available in person at the Japan Creative Centre (JCC) on Friday and Saturday afternoons, 2:30pm - 3:30pm, during the exhibition period for informal tours.

Set against the backdrop of severe depopulation, environmental and employment precarity, there has been a resurgence of internal migration to smaller cities and rural towns across Japan. The 2011 Tohoku Earthquake constituted a crucial social catalyst that prompted many Japanese, especially those of the millennial generation, to re-evaluate their expectations in life, and pursue fresh opportunities and new ways of living. They are often active participants, even agents, of art projects and community revitalisation programmes.

In contemporary Japan, art projects (アート.プロジェクト) encompass art-related initiatives held outside traditional museum and gallery spaces that engage a range of participants in the process of art-making and creative collaborations. The types of spaces and venues to support such activities are diverse, ranging from sustainably sourced newbuilds, adaptive reuse of decommissioned buildings, and even mobile structures.

This exhibition showcases two communities flourishing in very different geographical locations that are nonetheless equally impacted by depopulation and dereliction. In Tottori - Japan’s least populous prefecture - the meaningful placemaking activities of a group of resourceful young entrepreneurs link Tottori City with the nearby hot spring towns of Yurihama and Hamamura.

Meanwhile, grassroots regeneration initiatives spearheaded by a local NPO in Kamiyama in the eastern end of Shikoku Island, and the appeal of this verdant mountain town’s natural environment, continue to attract inventive in-migrants seeking to address, in their own ways, issues of environmental and food sustainability.

The eight short films produced for this exhibition profile key actors driving the art projects and convivial gatherings in alternative spaces in Tottori and Kamiyama, and unconventional individuals who have chosen to live life on their own terms. Complementing these interview videos are visual documents of the spaces they occupy and original drawings arising from Dr Simone Chung’s fieldwork in Japan.

Field research was supported by The Japan Foundation Asia Center fellowship, with research assistance from her Start-up Grant at the National University of Singapore

Dr. Simone Shu-Yeng Chung holds a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, and is currently Assistant Professor in the Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore. Recently, she served as a curator of the Singapore Pavilion at the 17th Venice Biennale International Architecture Exhibition. She also co-edited, with Mike Douglass, The Hard State, Soft City of Singapore (2020, Amsterdam University Press), and has published on urban and cultural phenomena, visual studies and immersive media.

In response to the evolving situation around COVID-19, we will ask for your cooperation in following the safety measures in place. We will have the SafeEntry. Public safety is our utmost priority, and we seek your understanding in cooperating with the following precautionary measures:

• If your temperature exceeds 37.5°C and/or any related symptoms
• If you have been in contact with a confirmed novel coronavirus (COVID-19) patient in the past 14 days
• If you are on SHN (Stay Home Notice) or quarantine
• If you are not fully vaccinated based on TraceTogether App

For the well-being of all visitors and staff, we will not be able to grant you access if you fall into any of the above-mentioned groups. Thank you for your understanding.

Is this your first time to Japan Creative Centre? Follow the map below to Japan Creative Centre now.

Getting to Japan Creative Centre
4 Nassim Road Singapore 258372
Tel: +65-6737-0434

By Public Bus:
Bus services: 7, 36, 77, 105, 106, 111, 123, 132, 174, 174E, 502, 502A, 502B (Alight in front of Delfi Orchard)
For latest information on bus routes and fares, please refer to SBS Transit.

By the MRT:
You may also take the MRT to the nearest MRT station, Orchard (NS22).
Train fares, travel times and route maps are available on the SMRT website.

Driving to JCC:
Nearest parking is at Orchard Hotel, Delfi Orchard and Orchard Rendezvous Hotel.