Light art.

光のアート展 ("Light Art" exhibition) at the Chiba Prefectural Art Museum

The second I read the title of the exhibition, I just knew that I had to go. I love light and reflections, so as I read the poster ad explaining that it was all interactive artworks involving light, I couldn't wait for my next free weekend so I could go!

At the corner of the museum, with Chiba Port Tower in the distance.

After a very short drive from my home to the Chiba Minato Station area, I made it to the museum with no problems...and free parking! I felt a little lost wandering in - but the receptionist was very nice and quickly pointed me towards the entrance to my long-awaited exhibit.

Also, if you are wondering...photography is okay as long as you don't use your flash, so make sure you change your camera settings before going in (and certainly bring your camera along)!

Lanterns?

As I walked in, a man was huddled under the center of one of these and seemingly punching it (judging by the loud punching bag sound).

「光であそぶ ("Play with Light")」by Atelier OMOYA

With the encouragement of one of the staff nearby, I ducked under and found this!!

Yes....these are cloth lantern? things with tons of marbles inside! They gather at the center, but if you poke/punch it in just the right place with just the right amount of strength, the marbles will spread nicely like this :D

Marbles in motion.

Am I weird for thinking that I would really really like one of those to hang over my bed? It's the perfect amount of light, and lots of fun to boot.

「青の軌跡 ("Blue Miracle")」by Taro Suzuki

I didn't do a very good job of capturing this work, but basically if you lean over it, light tracks will rush toward you while going through all sorts of patterns. It looks like something is swimming back and forth underneath.

「Sound Round」by Ayano Soga

It may look like a lone table, but don't let it fool you! Somehow, if you place your hands on the table, a piano will sound. It has different chords and everything!

「Lake Awareness」by Hiroyuki Moriwaki

I'll admit, I made this photo black-and-white because I failed so badly at capturing this work too. It glows a really pale blue. But the cool thing is that each of the dots (actually they look like triangles if you look at them really closely) have sensors built into them! If you get near it, the lights will shine brighter! You can kiiiiinda tell that's what's happening in this photo.

Note the counter....

This work was tied with one other as my favorites of the exhibit. Can you tell what it is?

Everyone desperately tossing up huge handfuls of paper strips.

Yes...it's a garden! Basically, it is filled with scraps of paper (aka soil?), which you have to constantly toss into the air in order to make the flowers grow. If you stop for too long, the garden will go back to zero, so this means that you wind up with paper all over yourself! It's awesome though because you watch the garden grow in stages...meanwhile the museum staff has to desperately rake the garden as everything becomes a huge mess :3

「Garden」by Kohei Asano

The finished product!

「Kage's Nest」by plaplax

Kids loved the "Garden," but I think they loved this one even more.

「Air's song」by Kosei Komatsu

I couldn't capture this one correctly at all, but it's the same work pictured on the ticket (which you can see below). There are single, lovely feathers in each tube, and they go up and down in all sorts of patterns. It's a little strange, but I kinda like how this photo turned out...

Love the photo they chose for the tickets...

Okay, this post was supposed to happen last week...whoops!
The exhibit only has about one week left, so if you're interested, I hope you can make it! The 800 yen admission fee may or may not seem a bit pricey, but if you like interactive fun, I promise this exhibit will not disappoint you.

For your viewing pleasure, a set of photos taken by professionals:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.457651634258754.107739.247068255317094&type=1
(You can also check out my other favorite work of the exhibit in those photos...photos #10-13. Basically, it is a train with an extremely bright light attached to it. It runs around a literally pitch black room, with random objects from our daily lives (trash cans, colored pencils, clothesline pins, etc.) all over the place. The images the light and shadow reflect on the walls are amazing!

Link to the Chiba Prefectural Museum of Art website:
http://www.chiba-muse.or.jp/ART/english/index.html

If you are coming by car, it's a really easy drive - maybe just 5 minutes or so from Chiba Station, and like I mentioned before - free parking! If you are coming by train, it's an easy 10 minute walk from Chiba Minato Station (either the JR Keiyo Line or Chiba Urban Monorail). Enjoy!!