About the artwork

After serving as the venue for the Interlocal Art Network Centre directed by Kawamata Tadashi in 2009, Shimizu Primary School has maintained a deep connection and has now evolved into an archive/library facility. In addition to showcasing new artworks, it will also house extensive documentation of the art festival, materials related to community-based art projects, and a vast art library, including approximately 30,000 books donated by the late art critic Nakahara Yusuke.

Inside the building, a site-specific archive will be open to the public, preserving all the documents from the past iterations of Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennales and materials from Kawamata’s activities between 1980 and 2005. These materials will be available for viewing. Additionally, Kawamata’s base of operations, his studio gallery, will be unveiled for the first time. This studio, constructed in the gymnasium space on the upper floor, will serve as the activity hub, while the adjoining art gallery will display maquette from past projects and records of his domestic and international activities.

■ 2024

“Apartment Project” 1982-1986 Document Exhibition ~ Centre on TETRA HOUSE~

The Apartment Project, which began after Kawamata’s return from the Venice Biennale in 1982, started at “Takara House 205” in Tokyo at the end of that year. It continued in Fukuoka and Tokorozawa the following year, and proceeded to “TETRA HOUSE 326” in Sapporo. (The project concluded in Japan when Kawamata moved to New York the following year with the support of the ACC.) The exhibition will compile documents up until the “Spui Project” held in The Hague in 1986.

The “Apartment Project” that led to his participation in Documenta in 1987 was a pivotal project that not only determined the direction of Kawamata’s subsequent activities but also served as a springboard into the art world. This exhibition presents a rare opportunity to view the compiled documentation of this significant project.

■Event in 2023
Kawamata Tadashi “Open Atelier in Tsumari Archive Center” (public production)