A total of 23 studios and over 100 artists took part in SUPER OPEN STUDIO 2019. The event is organized by the participating studios’ artists themselves, which includes Chiba and Oyama who belong to the studios LUCKY HAPPY STUDIO and REV, respectively. Under the theme of “Bringing the Creative Environment and People Together,” here we introduce the concept behind the open studio and hear from participating artists.

Chiba: Museum curators only introduce very specific artists, even to curators from overseas who come to Japan for research. We wanted people to also see what other artists are doing, and so the open studio concept was born in 2013. We want to bring in a diverse range of artists, so we haven’t limited participation in terms of setting limits on where participating studios must be located.

Oyama: A high school student who came to help with the production of past SUPER OPEN STUDIO events is now at art college and participates in our bus tours. And one of their classmates is now at another studio. The longer we do this, the more we see connections between different people, which is really interesting.

Chiba: We’ve also had landlords with an affinity for artists provide space for art studios, and students at nearby universities come by the studios, as well.

Chiba: In East Asia, the local art scene is driven by artists who graduated from art college, and everyone working together and inspiring each other is the norm. I hope SUPER OPEN STUDIO will become a channel for something similar.

And in the future, I hope a generation of younger artists like Oyama will continue our work.

Continue below for photos and introductions to participating artists and their ideas.

The open studio, it seems, gives younger artists a valuable opportunity to speak directly with a wide range of artists from different generations, genres, studios, and ways of working.

Japanese original text: Yasuna Asano
Photo: Shin Inaba