Smart Illumination Yokohama 2017

You too can become a queen!? "Kaohame the World"

At the opening event, a second-grade elementary school girl from Yokohama tried her hand at "Kaohame the World," a game in which a person puts their face in a hole and their face is projected onto the 51-meter-tall Yokohama Customs House, a five-story building reminiscent of an Islamic mosque and affectionately known as the "Queen's Tower."

"Good evening! Am I the queen now? This is so fun," said the girl, blinking her eyes and spinning around, smiling cheerfully and appearing to be having fun.

The same work has also been installed in Shanghai, China, and the smiling faces of children in Shanghai were projected onto Yokohama Customs in real time, saying "Hello!"

"Kaohame the World" by Kyota Takahashi

Takahashi: "I like face-in signs because anyone can participate and have fun. I want to connect Yokohama with the rest of the world in real time, and create a unique international exchange through smiles. With the Tokyo Olympics coming up in 2020, I think the importance of international dialogue and exchange is growing, and there is a hole here for a smile to come out. I would like to use this work to send smiles out into the world and propose a new form of communication."
The power supply for this work is provided by Toyota's hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle, the MIRAI, which is also the official vehicle of Yokohama City.

"UVLS" by Takayuki Mori

This work is based on sculptures from Greek mythology, and resembles a plaster statue made of polygonized threads that glow in response to ultraviolet light. At first glance it looks like it was made digitally, but in fact it was made by hand using pins to create many triangular faces, with threads running between the pins.
Mori: "I wondered if it was possible to bring the two-dimensional digital world of computers and the like into a three-dimensional space, and created this piece with the hope that viewers would feel an ambiguous space between reality and imagination, something that seems digital but is actually analog."

"Kotatsu under the night sky" by Takahito Kimura

The kotatsu table is made from a curved mirror that you can see on the road, and it has a hot water bottle inside, so it is warm to sit on.
Kimura: "When you sit down, you can see the Yokohama scenery in 360 degrees, and when a plane flies in the sky, you can see it. This kotatsu is a table that you cannot put anything on or eat from. This makes people feel something is missing, and they will probably start talking to the person sitting next to them. This work creates a place to talk with people you meet while changing your perspective and sitting down to warm yourself up while looking at the Yokohama scenery that you normally look at while standing. The pattern on the kotatsu cover is the result of sunlight photography, where plants and other things are placed inside and exposed to sunlight. This work does not use light, but the cover is designed to trap the sunlight."

"Musical Chairs" by Naho Kawabe

Kawabe, who has his creative base in Hamburg, Germany, wanted to create a piece related to Zou-no-hana Park, and he noticed that when this port first opened to the public, Western chairs were made by shipwrights and then spread throughout the country.
Kawabe: "The title of the piece, Musical Chairs, refers to the game of musical chairs. Chairs have been used since ancient Egypt. I would like visitors to get a glimpse of the history of chairs that mankind has created by hanging colorful chairs."

"Magical Mixer Project" by Taira Ichikawa

Ichikawa has been working on mobile planetarium mixer trucks since his student days, and this is an upgraded version of a work he created about 30 years ago. It is a mixer truck equipped with a planetarium projection device that can be driven on public roads.
Ichikawa: "Normally, when you think of a planetarium, you think of something that you view from inside a dome, but we can jump out of the dome and do planetarium projections anywhere that a car can go. We want people to see the light art that is projected onto nearby buildings and other things, which can only be seen here."

"ON/OFF" by Liliane Bourgeat

This was made by Liliane Bourgeat, a French artist who creates giant versions of everyday objects. This giant light bulb can actually be turned on and off.
Power will be supplied by the plug-in hybrid vehicle "Prius PHV."

"The Primitive Projector" by Jaime Ibanez & Jorndo Duijkx

This project from the Netherlands involves working with light and shadow, with one person playing the sound and the other manually projecting the animation. Jaime Ibanez controls the screen, and Jornto Duijkx plays the instrument, spinning a fun story.

We asked Art Director Tsutomu Okada of Smart Illumination Yokohama 2017 about the highlights!

-This will be the seventh time the event is being held. What are some of the highlights this year?

The easiest to understand is "Kaohame the World" by Kyota Takahashi, which offers the world's largest face-in-the-face experience. Although it is an event in Yokohama, it can be connected to Shanghai, China in real time, so it can be said to be a work that can be enjoyed on a global scale. This year, we have invited five overseas artists from Ukraine, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Austria, and France, and you can enjoy a variety of works. I hope that while watching the works, we can think together with everyone about what they think the future should be, the state of light, the way we live, and the form of communication should be.

--Please tell us what kind of worldview you would like to aim for in the future.

On November 2nd, we held an international symposium on the theme of "The Effects of Art in Cities" at the Yokohama Port Opening Memorial Hall, inviting guests from Spain and Taiwan. We would like to tackle the impact of art on cities while making full use of energy-saving technology from a global perspective and utilizing the creativity of artists. It would be great if this kind of thinking spread worldwide and slowed down the rate of global warming.

From the Magcal editorial department
What we have introduced this time is the Core Festival, which will take place from November 1st to 5th, but from the 5th onwards, Smart Illumination Yokohama 2017 will continue in various locations around Yokohama until the end of the year.
Date: November 1st (Wednesday) - December 31st (Sunday), 2017
*The event period varies depending on the program, so please check the website for details.
Venue: Throughout Yokohama city
There will be illuminations, Christmas-themed art projects, and lighting up the Kanagawa Prefectural Government Office Main Building, so please make sure to dress warmly when you go out.