“Anjin 1600: Edo Wonderpark is a multi-room installation incorporating a re-imagining of the story of William Adams (1564-1620), a sea navigator known as the first Englishman to set foot in Japan in 1600. Appropriating and animating scenes found from Edo-era wood block prints, combining traditional technique with modern anime, Anjin 1600: Edo Wonderpark will use Adam’s story to form a complex meditation on colonialism, cultural tourism and identity.
Alongside the installation, providing a focus for a larger discussion about our relationship to our cultural heritage, Blandy will work with the local community to uncover ancestral stories of migration. These narratives will be retold in collaborative works where the historical journeys are transposed into epic space adventures.
Through a series of intensive workshops with local schools and community groups, a compendium of stories will be collected, forming an alternate social history of east London. The exhibition coincides with, and considers issues surrounding the 400th anniversary of Japan- British relations.
This installation will be exhibited in the Rose Lipman Building.
Create London Talk Series: Colonised Imagination: Urban constructions within the discourse of Japanese animation
Mon 16 Sept 6-8pm. Free but booking required.
This talk will consider socially engaged art in Japan and ask how it might contribute to an analysis of the current socio-political environment, national identity and the aesthetic of Japanese culture.
Artist David Blandy in conversation with curator and Japan Foundation Fellow, Keith Whittle, Dr Verina Gfader and Japanese animator Keiko Shiraishi. Co-hosted byJapan400 as part of Japan400 Week.
Tickets and booking information: Colonised Imagination: Urban constructions within the discourse of Japanese animation
Opening Times
Wed – Sat: 12-6pm
Thursday 3 October: late night opening till 9pm
For more information, please see the Create London Website here
Curated by Keith Whittle under his commissioning agency Fountain
Co-produced by Elizabeth Newell
Installations made in collaboration with Rhino Rock and AAS Group
Supported by Arts Council England, The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation and in association with The Graduate School of Film and New Media, Tokyo Geidai and Japan400.
This post is also available in: Japanese