HOKUTO ART PROGRAM ed.1 – The Past as Seen from the Future| EXHIBITION

Art Festival

HOKUTO ART PROGRAM ed.1 – The Past as Seen from the Future

Oct 16, 2021 (Sat) － May 08, 2022 (Sun)

Venue 2: Nakamura Keith Haring Collection
Akira Wakita: For Alan and Keith
　Dates: Saturday, October 16, 2021 – Sunday, May 8, 2022
SIDE CORE: IC1 (Imaginary Collection 1)
　Dates: Saturday, October 30, 2021 – Sunday, May 8, 2022

Set against the natural backdrop of Hokuto, this program explores the future through a multidisciplinary lens, ranging from Picasso and architecture to cinema, bio-art, and graffiti. Crossing boundaries of time and genre, participating artists challenge the question: What is art?
From Saturday, October 30, to Sunday, December 12, HOKUTO ART PROGRAM ed.1 was held at various venues, including Kiyoharu Art Village, Nakamura Keith Haring Collection, Hirayama Ikuo Silk Road Museum, Megami Forest Central Garden, and Misogi Shrine. Organized by the City of Hokuto and the HOKUTO ART PROGRAM Executive Committee, the event merges the elements of art and tourism to enhance the value of a journey to this unique locale.Building on the success of the previous HOKUTO ART PROGRAM ed.0, which integrated themes of “art,” “architecture,” “live performance,” “food and sake,” and “starry skies,” the program continues to evolve, aiming to uncover the true potential of Hokuto’s tourism resources. With ed.1, the HOKUTO ART PROGRAM reaffirms its commitment to blending these elements while expanding its impact.
Official Website

ARTISTS

Venue 1: Kiyoharu Art Village

Naomi Kawase, Shohei Shigematsu, Yo Shimada, Atsushi Tadokoro, Makoto Tanijiri, David Douglas Duncan, Yu Nagaba, Yuko Nagayama, Ai Hasegawa, Go Hasegawa, Ryuuji Fujimura, Shohei Fujimoto, Sohen Yamada, HUMAN AWESOME ERROR, and others

Venue 2: Nakamura Keith Haring Collection

Akira Wakita, SIDE CORE

INSTALLATION VIEW

Photo by ©︎Tsushima

Photo by ©︎Tsushima

Photo by ©︎Tsushima

I envisioned creating a space for a timeless dialogue between two geniuses who lived in different eras as sexual minorities: Alan Turing (1912–1954, British mathematician, cryptanalyst, computer scientist, and philosopher) and Keith Haring. My work incorporates a mathematical reinterpretation of Haring’s drawings and secondary messages about the evolution of diversity discussions, from homophobia to LGBTQ+ inclusion.

“The book of nature is written in the language of mathematics.”
— Galileo Galilei

SIDE CORE

The artist group SIDE CORE has been organizing exhibitions for over 10 years. Their first exhibition, held in Harajuku in 2012, featured historically significant artifacts symbolizing the early days of hip-hop and street art. These included a video of Keith Haring, who, during his visit to Japan in January 1988, drew in chalk on the pavement of Yoyogi Park’s pedestrian area, inspired by breakdancers like CHINO and AOP. Also displayed was a baseball shirt worn by a dancer during the performance, onto which Haring had drawn. These items are now part of the collection at the Nakamura Keith Haring Collection.
Over the years, SIDE CORE has engaged with nearly 100 artists of various ages, genders, and nationalities, acquiring works through gifts, exchanges, or purchases. Each piece in this collection is deeply meaningful and significant. For this exhibition, a special collection room has been created at the Nakamura Keith Haring Collection, showcasing a selection of these works. Unlike the collections of museums or private collectors, an artist’s collection serves a unique purpose—it is a repository of memories, a reference for creation, and material that enriches art history with new narratives.
The exhibition features an imaginary room modeled after the homes or studios of SIDE CORE members. Visitors can step into this private space to view the works, which are arranged to evoke different meanings depending on the viewing angle or combination of pieces.
As SIDE CORE’s practice is rooted in street art research and projects, the collection includes not only historical works by Keith Haring and artists from subsequent generations but also pieces by contemporary teenage artists active in street spaces, much like Haring once was. This collection weaves stories that transcend time and place. At the Nakamura Keith Haring Collection, a museum that offers a glimpse into Haring’s mind, SIDE CORE invites visitors to explore “the stories that came after.”

BIOGRAPHY

Akira Wakita

Akira Wakita traverses the boundaries between science and art, creating works—spanning video, installations, sculptures, and live performances—that reveal landscapes invisible to the naked eye. His work has been showcased at institutions including Ars Electronica Center, WRO Art Center, Mutek, Red Bull Music Festival, Kiyoharu Art Village, National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan), Media Ambition Tokyo, and 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT. Key exhibitions include Takahashi Collection: Faces and Abstraction – With the Kiyoharu Shirakaba Museum Collection (2018) and the video installation NEW SYNERGETICS – NISSAN LEAF x AKIRA WAKITA (2017). Wakita holds a PhD in Policy and Media and is a professor at Keio University’s Faculty of Environment and Information Studies.
http://akirawakita.com/

SIDE CORE

Founded in 2012, SIDE CORE comprises members Sakie Takasu, Toru Matsushita, and Hirotaka Nishihiro. The group develops various art projects rooted in street culture, with the theme of “disrupting the landscape with noise.” Their work is grounded in urban and regional research and involves action-oriented creations. In addition to exhibitions in galleries and museums, they organize outdoor activities such as mural projects and exploratory “Night Walks.” All their projects aim to shift perspectives and thought in public spaces, expanding expressions and actions.
Recent exhibitions include alternative kyoto (2021, Kyotango), Ripple Effects of Water: From Disappearing Landscapes to New Ones (2021, Watari-um Museum of Contemporary Art), and the solo exhibition SIDE CORE/EVERYDAY HOLIDAY SQUAD under pressure (2021, Aomori Contemporary Art Centre).
Instagram: @side_core_tokyo