NEIGHBOURS


The Japanese artists Kazue Monno and Takeshi Nagata, who make up the duo TOCHKA, are specialised in light painting animations. They regularly organise educational projects including workings in light painting at schools or public spaces. In collaboration with Stichting Juf op Straat, they worked with children from 30 classes in Amsterdam to create light painting animations for their artwork 'Neighbours'. 

The subject of this work of art is the communication that we have with people in regular home environment, such as family members, roommates, and neighbours. With these people, we send and receive numerous messages on a daily basis, with all of our senses playing a role in that process. In small groups, the schoolchildren came up with different 'activities' to represent this theme: lighting the candles on a birthday cake to wish your father or mother a happy birthday, singing a song because you're happy, or banging the ceiling to stop the noise from the upstairs neighbours. The children painted these scenes using small light sources. Every time, twelve short recordings were made, showing the scene change bit by bit. Played back in succession, these images together form a short animation. The children could watch the results live on a screen, making it immediately visible that light, in addition to paint, chalk and pencil, could be used as a 'medium'. This way, they had the chance to experience what it’s like to be a real artist. 

Monno and Nagata combined the children’s eight domestic scenes from each school class into one big ‘house’, projected on the quay of the Schippersgracht using special, analogue projectors built by the duo. This type of projector, that plays the individual images (or light paintings) in a loop, is known as the theâtre optique and was invented by Émile Reynaud in 1888. The result is a simple, nostalgic animation that contrasts with our modern (HD or 3D) films. 

Those who watch 'Neighbours' will never see the same thing two nights in a row. Each night the animations from a different class are projected, making the night a ‘premiere’ of sorts that the children can celebrate with their classmates during a boat tour along the festival.


NEIGHBOURS IS SUPPORTED BY: AMVJ Fonds | Juf op Straat | Nut Amsterdam

Profile

Filmmaker, creative duo “TOCHKA” that formed by Nagata Takeshi and Monno Kazue since 1998. Invented a method of making animation called “PiKA PiKA”, which is the combination of long exposure photograph and stop motion animation technique. It enables everyone to make animation with drawings by penlights in the air. Area of activity is from experimental animations to contemporary art

Awards

2016 "TRACK", Grand prix at the Holland Animation Film Festival2015 "TRACK", Grand prix at the Animafest Cyprus2010 "UNIQLO CALENDAR", BRONZE in the Cyber Lotus at Cannes Lions (joined as a hooting director)2009 "OGRE YOU ASSHOLE pinhole", Recommended Works in the Entertainment Division at the Japan Media Arts Festival2008 "PIKA PIKA Lightning Doodle Project", Grand prix in the Lab Competition at the International Short Film Festival, Clermont-Ferrand"PiKA PiKA×So-net project", SILVER in the Cyber Lotus at the ADFEST"PiKA PiKA×So-net project", YouTube Video Awards Japan 20082007 "PiKA PiKA 2007", Recommended Works in the Animation Division at the Japan Media Arts Festival2006 "PIKA PIKA Lightning Doodle Project", Excellence Award in the Animation Division at the 10th Japan Media Arts Festival2006 "PIKA PIKA Lightning Doodle Project", Honorable Mention at Ottawa International Animation Festival

Exhibitions

2019  [group] Festival tweetakt 2019 Utrecht, the Netherlands2018-19  [group] Amsterdam light Festival 2018/19 , the Netherlands2017 [solo]  “TOCHKA PLAYGROUND“, Higashine City, Yamagata, Japan2017 [group] "Light/Electricity/God: Thunderbolts and Art", Gunma Museum of Art, Tatebayashi, Japan2016 [group] “Rokko meets Art ", Rokko garden terrace, Kobe, Japan,2015 [group] "Oita toilennale 2015 ", Wakakusa Park, Oita, Japan2015 [solo] "HIKARIASOBI ", Kurobe city art museum, Toyama, Japan2014 [group] “Art Line Kashiwa Screen Project VISIONS 2014", JR Kashiwa station, Chiba, Japan2013 [group] "DAYDREAMS ", Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Kagawa, Japan2012 [solo] "TOCHKA Exhibition", Kawasaki City Museum, Kanagawa, Japan2012 [group] "Project to Support the Nurturing of Media Arts Creators ", The National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan,2012 [group] "Artists and the Disaster / Documentation in Progress ", Contemporary Art Center, Art Tower Mito, Ibaraki, Japan2011 [group] Japan Media Arts Festival in Miyazaki ", Miyazaki Art Center, Miyazaki, Japan 2011 [solo] "ReBuild", Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto, Japan2011 [group] "pre Sapporo biennale", Hokkaido Museum Of Modern Art, Sapporo, Japan2010 [group] "Aichi Triennial 2010 Arts and Cities ", Chojamachi Site, Aichi, Japan2010 [group] "Japan Media Arts Festival in Kyoto - Parallel world, Kyoto “, Kyoto Art Center, Kyoto, Japan2009 [group] "UNIQLO JAPAN EXHIBITION : See the New Japan ",2009 World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland ( Also exhibited in France, China, and Japan )2009 [group] "Aichi Triennial 2010 Pre-event : Choja-machi project 2009 ", Choja-machi Area, Aichi, Japan2008 [group] "11th Japan Media Arts Festival ", The National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan,2008 [group] "KITA!!:Japanese Artists Meet Indonesia ", Selasar Sunaryo Art Space, Bandung, Indonesia2008 [solo] "TOCHKA Super Living - PiKA PiKA in YAMAGATA ", Ruupa, Yamagata, Japan2008 [group] "Akasaka Art Flower 08 ", Shimazaki (Former Japanese restaurant), Tokyo, Japan2006 [group] "10th Japan Media Arts Festival ", Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan
Takeshi Nagata
mob +81(0) 90 2046 4178 (Japan)nagata.takeshi@tochka.nl