[Talk] MATSUDO AWARD｜Lina Uchida “Kind Neighbor Project”

The first MATSUDO AWARD winner, Uchida Lina, held a solo exhibition at the Matsudo Start up Office. This exhibition presented the work-in-progress, focusing on drawings and three-dimensional objects made by Uchida in Matsudo through research related to her grandmother. At the MATSUDO AWARD award-winning talk event on Tuesday 17 December, Uchida gave a detailed account of her project in Matsudo, together with explanations of the individual exhibited works.

ーー

This year’s MATSUDO AWARD, which seeks out artists “associated with Matsudo”, has chosen Lina Uchida, who started her career as an artist after attending an art preparatory school in Shin Matsudo, and is now based in Tokyo and is active internationally.

The work-in-progress is currently underway with the aim of completion in spring 2020. This is exhibited at the Matsudo Start-up Office. The contents of the exhibition will gradually change as the work progresses. Please visit the exhibition when you stop by Matsudo.

 

Lina Uchida “Kind Neighbor Project”

Date: Until April 2020  held on weekdays
Time: 10:00-17:00
Venue: Matsudo Startup Office
Address: 1307-1, Matsudo, Matsudo Shi, Chiba Ken, 271-0092 MAP
Admission: Free

 

[artist’s note]

About the project “Kind Neighbor Project” ver00.

Accidental (unreasonable) encounters with art. An updatable project.

Talking. Kneading clay. Making sculptures. Reproduced. Going to market. The clay is used as an intermediary in communication with the people encountered. The clay is handed over to the artist Uchida, observed, reproduced and marketed. These are the steps of what is generally called art. In the reproduction part, three editions of the ceramic statue are made: one to the person who kneaded the clay, one is preserved by Uchida and one goes to the market in some way. The person who kneaded the clay accidentally becomes an artist and collector at the same time. On the market, the original creator and story are not revealed, only the sculpture is sold with the details sealed like a cocoon. Only the buyer hopes to create a mechanism where simple information is revealed.

“Kind Neighbor Project” was born out of my acceptance that my grandmother was becoming dementia and what I could do in communicating with her. When language becomes impaired, the hands are certainly trying to grasp something, and clay is given shape. And being an artist, I thought that my role is to think and use art in communication with others.

 

How will these statues continue to exist in 30 or even 100 years’ time? Folklore, myths, gossip, legends, memories. They may be displayed in cupboards. They may no longer be anonymous. How will these statues, scattered around the world like parts of my body, stand? I can’t stop thinking about this project now.