The Creative City Yokohama project is celebrating two decades of harnessing art, culture and creativity for the good of the local community with this three-day programme of symposiums, workshops and miscellaneous artsy events that take over the ground-floor atrium of Yokohama City Hall from May 23 to May 25.
On Thursday May 23 (1.30pm-3.40pm), Mika Kuraya, executive director of the Yokohama Triennale organising committee and director of the Yokohama Museum of Art, will highlight things to keep an eye on during the ongoing Yokohama Triennale and discuss the relationship between contemporary art, the city and its people as part of a keynote talk. Kuraya will also engage in conversation with representatives from Yokohama City University's Minds1020Lab on the value and effects of appreciating art.
Friday May 24 will see a kick-off event (2pm) for the Creative City School, a series of symposiums organised by Yokohama City University and featuring academics and artists involved with shaping and implementing the Creative City policies. Also on the day, ‘The Future of Creative City Yokohama’ (6pm), a talk and workshop put on by three local universities, will highlight the results of Creative City-related research and practice conducted by the city of Yokohama together with Yokohama City University, Yokohama National University and Kanagawa University.
The third and last day, Saturday May 25 (10.30am-7pm), is the highlight of the forum, not least because of a massive 5m-tall, 12-by-18-metre dome in the atrium. Walk inside this 'Yokohama Meeting Dome', an interactive attraction by artist Michiyoshi Isozaki, and you'll find the semi-translucent walls decorated with artworks and life-sized cutouts of local Yokohama artists. You can even create an avatar of yourself to add to the installation.
Complementing the art dome is the Artist Video Relay, a compilation of video messages from prominent artists and creators whom Isozaki has worked with in the past 20 years. This will play on the 270-inch screen in the atrium.
All talks and related events are free to attend.