New interactive installation to be produced by Japanese family in residence.
Japanese artists KOSUGE1-16 will present The Playmakers at mac birmingham this summer (Sat 7 Jul – Sun 9 Sep) for their first exhibition outside their home country. This playful and family friendly installation will be created during a month-long residency at the arts centre from Mon 11 Jun.
KOSUGE1-16 is comprised of husband and wife artists Chishino Kurumada and Takashi Tsuchiya and named after the district they live in on the outskirts of Tokyo. They will be in residence throughout June with their children Honomi and Kotaro, during which they will work with Birmingham children to make components of the exhibition, as part of local community art project Moonbeams.
The duo create work which is born from everyday activity and always has elements of interaction and fun; breaking normal gallery rules such as ‘don’t run’, ‘don’t shout’ and ‘don’t touch the art.’ KOSUGE1-16’s projects are aimed at getting children excited about art and encouraging adults to play through the use of mechanical kinetic ‘cause-and-effect’ elements and large-scale marionettes with which to interact directly. Previous shows have included a large-scale table football game (Athletic Club No. 4, 2005), cardboard monster sumo wrestlers (Don-Doko!, 2007) and miniature cyclists powered around a track by visitors’ own pedal power (Cycledrome Game DX, 2007).
KOSUGE1-16 have previously exhibited at Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo.
The Playmakers is the first signature piece of mac at 50 – a series of exhibitions and events to commemorate 50 years of providing arts for all. The show will take inspiration from the venue’s history as both an arts and sports centre, and its former existence as a theatre for experimental puppetry, featuring puppet versions of mac birmingham’s founders John English and Mollie Randle (also husband and wife), along with a replica of a bridge outside the centre and flocks of flying birds and animals.
The title reflects the physical and imaginative approaches to play, and also resonates with a film made about John English and Mollie Randle entitled The Pacemakers, which focused on their collective vision to engage and inspire children and young people.
The Playmakers is a mac birmingham commission and is curated by Debbie Kermode and Kaye Winwood, with support from the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, the Japan Foundation, the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation and Moonbeams.
KOSUGE1-16: The Playmakers
Sat 7 Jul – Sun 9 Sep
Main Gallery
Open Tue – Sat 12noon – 8pm, Sun 11am – 4pm, Closed Mon (exc. Bank Holidays)
(KOSUGE1-16 will be in residence at mac birmingham from Mon 11 Jun – Wed 11 Jul)mac birmingham, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, B12 9QH
www.macarts.co.uk
