"Art Your Life" 〜life and death〜

A group exhibition by 15 visual artists in collaboration with AYANO

An art event held at “The Artcomplex Center of Tokyo” with fifteen participating artists.
The theme was “life and death,” which is also central to AYANO’s work. The exhibition brought together artworks—each expressed through the artists’ own interpretations, means, and methods—alongside AYANO’s music.

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Afterword

If music is one mode of artistic expression, we wanted to stand alongside artists who work in other media. That desire led us to realize this event. In fact, this project began when a staff member at The Artcomplex Center of Tokyo (A.C.T.) listened to AYANO and kindly said, “Would you like to do something at A.C.T.?”

For AYANO, the art world was entirely new. Following its customs, we wanted to situate ourselves within that context. While we served as the organizer, we shaped the content in close collaboration with A.C.T. staff.
We recruited artists through an open call, but with no prior connections in that field, it was a challenge to gather exhibitors. We visited many exhibitions to meet and speak directly, wrote to artists online to share our intentions, and received introductions from musician friends. Some resonated with our concept; others were understandably cool to it. Through all those encounters, we were ultimately blessed with truly wonderful artists, and the event came to life.

Unlike an exhibition—open for viewing anytime—music can only be heard while it is being played. To make it accessible, we performed four times per day, about once every ninety minutes.
Among the artists we met was Maeda Toshiyuki, who suggested, “Shall we try a live painting session together?” and this collaboration came to fruition. We were also contacted by belly dancer Noiri (now Noilly) about presenting dance as a form of exhibition; we proposed performing live together on stage, and the collaboration took shape.
This was likely the event in AYANO’s history with the greatest number of people involved. Thanks to everyone’s efforts, we were able to bring this new undertaking into reality.