Tangerine Dialogue Vol 6 :’The Silme Mold at the End of the World’.

Sixth edition of Orange Dialogue, an online talk session that delves into the relationship between humans and nature through art, plants, micro-organisms and more!

Kinan Art Week is pleased to announce Kinan Art Week 2024 ‘Igoku, Tamaru: lives without boundaties’ exhibition from 20 September. Prior to the opening of the exhibition, Kinan Art Week 2024 will hold a talk session with exhibiting artist and Tanabe-based artist Kineimura Naoko and environmental activist Sakai Isao, who has been practicing a rethinking of the world around the issues of climate change and colonialism with a focus on slime molds/microbes, among others. The talk session will be held.

‘Microbes’, including slime molds, have in recent years attracted attention not only in the fields of biology, hygiene and other sciences, but also in anthropology, political science and philosophy. The reason for this is said to be that slime molds and micro-organisms have the potential to create new concepts of ‘nature’ and ‘society’ by shaking up and sometimes breaking away from the realms of culture, society, politics and science, and crossing these realms. This trend is sometimes referred to as the ‘microbial turn’. Incidentally, Minakata Kumagusu referred to the essence of the ‘microbial turn’ in the late 1980s, and one can only be amazed at Kumagusu’s comet-like eye.

Mr. Sakai is one of the notable young researchers emerging from this trend. We would like to ask him to introduce the details of his research and practice in relation to micro-organisms and the humanities, and to discuss how slime molds and micro-organisms can actually influence society, and how we should think about the importance of micro-organisms when considering the art of living in an uncertain contemporary age. We would like to ask you to discuss the following questions.

Ms. Kineimura is also the author of world-renowned anthropologist Anna Tsing’s major book ‘Mushroom at the End of World’. Through art, she has led us to the possibility of connecting the ideas of Mushrooms, Kumagusu and Kumano with the ‘knowledge’ of contemporary humanities. And what new works and questions will Kinan Art Week 2024 produce based on this concept? We would like to think together with our guests about what significance art about microbiology can have for contemporary society, while getting closer to the background and content of its production.

【talk overview】
　Date: 28 August 2024 (Wednesday), 20:00 to 21:30 hrs.
　Fee: Free of charge
　Venue: online
　Speakers: KINEMURA Naoko, SAKAI Isao
　Moderators: Manabu Shimoda, Yuto Yabumoto.
　Organiser: Kinan Art Week
　Contact: info@kinan-art.jp
　Application: https://mikandialoguevol6.peatix.com

【Guest Speakers】

Guest Speaker: Kinemura Naoko
Born in 1975 in Tanabe City, Wakayama Prefecture. Graduated from Musashino Art University, Department of Oil Painting. Solide; invited to participate in the “Mojike Exhibition” in Ueno, Tokyo (and annually thereafter); VOLANT Exhibition in Ginza, Tokyo (and annually thereafter); onjaku-group Exhibition in Ginza, Tokyo (and annually thereafter); Solo Exhibition in Ginza, Tokyo; Solo Exhibition at Gallery Moku in Tanabe; selected as a postcard for the Solide City Tourism Association; Serials 2007 All Nippon Airways “Tsubasa no Okoku” in-flight magazine, Five Windows / Ginza, Gallery Seikou-dou, 2008 The Way I See Things Exhibition / Aichi, Japan: House of Nagakute culture, Ekaki-no Tabi – Air Journey Exhibition, Ginza, Tanabe, Mojike Exhibition Returns Planning and Exhibition / Tanabe City, 永青文庫 Serialized in Quarterly Magazine, Tokyo, Mejiro, 2009 Travel to France, Returned to Japan in 2010, exhibited in 2012 at Thinking of Spring vol.1 (and every year thereafter until 2016), organized Art Tanabe 2012, solo exhibition at Gallery Azuma, Ginza, Organized Art Tanabe 2013, organized Kinokuni Trainart 2014 (and thereafter until 2019), Thinking of Spring in 2019 exhibited at vol.9.

Guest Speaker：Sakai Isao
Born in Tokyo, Japan. Isao Sakai is an environmental activist tackling the climate crisis from a cultural and philosophical approach through the lens of colonial history and the human-microbe relationship. He is a co-editor of “Decolonize Futures,” a ZINE project to discuss decoloniality/history of colonialism in Japan and East Asia. Isao joined Tokyo chapter of Fridays For Future, student strike for climate, in February 2019, and attended COP26 in Glasgow in 2021. He majors in Peace and Global Studies at Earlham College in Indiana, US. Selected for 2021 Forbes Japan 30 Under 30.