Kyoko Inatome, Japanese artist in Amsterdam

After a month maternity break I started working as an artist. This exhibition is the first one to work with a little baby. I had to leave the little one to my husband but he seemed to be ok without mama.

“The title of the exhibition Otenba is the Japanese word for tomboy. Supposedly it is derived from the Dutch word otembaar. Otenba presents the works of Japanese artists who currently reside in Holland. In their work we look for a reflection on the way a new and individualistic environment influences their creative behaviour. Holland being their new home, they have the chance to explore their own limits here without the direct binds of their original culture. They are somewhere in between cultures, one might say, and present new work at Roodkapje.”

ARTISTS:
Michiyo Kuramochi Hayes
Kyoko Inatome
Oyuki Hatazawa
Maki Ueda
Eiko Ishizawa
Nishiko
Haruna Kishi

12 september 2008 – 2 november 2008
Opening: Friday 12 september 2008 from 21:00 – 23:00 hrs.

ROODKAPJE
Witte de Withstraat 13A
3012 BK Rotterdam
Telephone no.: 010 24 39 800
Opening hours: Wednesday till Saturday 11.00- 18.00 hrs, Sunday 12.00- 17.00 hrs.
More info: www.roodkapje.org – roodkapje@roodkapje.org

Dutch pdf version
Otenba Dutch

9th August 2008 21:32 Pascal Yo was born in the hospital in Amsterdam. The rabour took the whole day because he was big (3730g 52 cm) for a little woman like me. This little/big baby boy is now a month old and we celebrated for his one month life together with Henry’s birthday. Pascal has got one candle on his cake. He weighs 4900g and 57 cm now.

Two weeks to the due day. Baby is not calling yet.

Here you can see belly photos from May to July. My belly exploded in the last month.

プロジェクトを早く終わらせるよう計画して、自分で決めた産休がはじまった。体にも精神的にも臨月のストレスは良くないので何もしないようにするのが目的。ぼーっとしたり本を読んだりゆっくり家事をしたりしてすごしてきたけど、２、３日経つとなんかむずむず。時間をもてあましてしまっている。こんなにゆっくりした事がないので、どうしていいかわからないらしい。

それでいろんな人に手伝いのオファーをしたりもしてみた。でも妊婦だからできない作業だったり、急に入ってきたキャスティングの仕事も撮影と出産予定日が近いという事でうまくいかなかったり。

なのでヘンリーの仕事を手伝うといっているのだが、私に仕事を説明する時間がない（！）という事で仕事くれなかったり。

こんなときこそ赤ちゃん用品をじっくり選んで買えばいいんだけど、妊婦中いろんな仕事をキャンセルしたので金銭的な余裕が全くなし。今までに最小限の物しか準備できてない。

そんなこんなで仕方なく家にある材料で赤ちゃんものを手作りしはじめた。はじめは１、２個作って終わらせようと思っていたんだけど、作ってるうちに乗ってきて今ではがんがんに作っている。ベットのデコレーションから日よけカーテン、シーツ、タオルケット、よだれかけ、ズボン、モビール、ベットの周りの壁紙とか。

赤ちゃん物は小さいからすぐに作れるし、端切れ布を使って作れるので溜まってた布の処分にもちょうどいい。あとふかふかしたオルゴールをつくったら編み物にはしる予定。人はお金がない方が創造的になれるという一例。

my belly in May and June

I have gained 6 kg in 8 months.

My belly looks small compare to Dutch pregnant women but in the Japanese kindergarten where I work everyone says ” You have a big belly!”.

You can see what other artists made on the WALL from this link.

Every work is so different!

Petersburg Project Space is having a grand opening on 24th May from 17:00~.

Tamar Frankкомпютри is showing her work inspired by the space.

Check it out!

I am in 7th month。Check the growth of my belly from April to May.

My one minute video “Public space1_street2″ will be shown in World One Minutes exhibition, 6th - 28th of June 2008 at Today Art Museum in Beijing, China. Does anyone go there?

very windy day. performers had to do in a tight space between the net and  white background.

someone commented that the white setting works better because it is more transparent.

you can see a video of the performance(4′30″) here: WALL=threshold#1 

I had a chance to give my performance with Petersburg project space. They created a WALL by the gushouder during Kunstvlaai 7 and invited artists to give a meaning to the WALL.

I was programed in 3rd and 4th day. 

There are performers behind the black window.

“Wall” often means a divide in many metaphorical examples as well as in my work series entitled ‘In/Out’. Inside a wall is your private space where you feel comfortable whereas everything else is outside/public. I have been creating such a private space in public space to question about ambiguousness and interchangeability of two opposed terms.

“Petersburg project space”, who organized this project, is creating a neutral meaning of WALL in public space. I wanted to play with “public” and “private” in my performance at the WALL.

WALL is not considered as a physical barrier there but it is more like a membrane that is soft, organic and biological. Maybe because I am pregnant I had images of a baby inside the womb very much.