Local creators propose a new way to enjoy the coast: wave and light installation "NIGHT WAVE"

"Media art" that gets people in the city involved

-- Mr. Ishita, you have been involved in art events such as Mediaarts Zushi, but what prompted you to start working in Zushi?

I used to live in Tokyo, then spent some time in the UK, and after returning to Japan, I started living in Zushi, which has a natural environment and is easy to get to from Tokyo. After returning to Japan, I had always wanted to work in projection mapping, and by chance, I met the principal of Zushi Elementary School, who asked me if I wanted to do a project that could be shown to children at school, and that was how I got started.

Projection mapping at Zushi Elementary School

Since Zushi has no art museums and few galleries, we thought it would be more interesting to have creators incorporate their ideas into the city, so the following year we changed the format to a media art festival.

At first, the locals didn't really understand what projection mapping was, but it gradually became a hot topic, and both the locals and the government recognized that people were gathering. In addition, we came up with some ideas for PR so that the people in the shopping district would participate in a positive way. We created individual posters for each shop, with copy related to art. We asked a copywriter to create them in a semi-awesome way, but the people in the town found them quite interesting, and it even became a mechanism for people to travel around the town just to see the posters.

"Media Arts Zushi's Word Poster Exhibition" is posted all around the shopping district.

I think that if we don't get the understanding of the local community, it will be difficult to have a successful local event, so I put in the time and effort to work steadily. I think that because we had that foundation, the NIGHT WAVE project has been able to spread with a good sense of speed.