 |
|
|
|
|
| ADVERTORIAL |
Forced to improvise in an era before widespread Internet use, Design Festa Gallery's organizers intrigued Japan's art world with the large bag of flyers that served as their only method of advertising their fledgling art event in 1994.
Open daily, admission-free and the first of its kind, artists and visitors alike had no idea what to expect of the result of such an entirely unique but untried vision. The overwhelming success of the venture shattered even the ambitious organizer's expectations, transforming Japan's art scene into something entirely unexpected. International Art Event Design Festa became a transformative cultural phenomenon, rivaled only by its Harajuku-based headquarters: Design Festa Gallery.
An average of 80,000 visitors a year descend upon Design Festa gallery for the highest concentration of the cute, the weird and the fantastic uniqueness that has made Harajuku famous worldwide.
Design Festa's revolutionary philosophy spawned a social phenomenon in the art world of Asia and beyond. Remove the labels, the critics and the boundaries to which artists of all genres had always been forced to conform, and see what happens.
What happened is one of the most diverse melting pots of artistic creativity on the planet.
Opened in 1998, the two, three-story buildings that Design Festa Gallery calls home was a very literal home. Now decorated with an instantly recognizable outdoor installation of black pipes, the 50-year-old Design Festa Gallery buildings are renovated apartments that once housed half a dozen non-Japanese students and young professionals.
The present day Design Festa Gallery now boasts 21 exhibition rooms, 50 unique, individual display spaces and a daily, weekly and monthy rotation of artists that find their voice here and no where else.
There are no regulations, no censorship, no screening or any kind of selection process at Design Festa Gallery.
Performers, photographers, painters, fashion designers, illustrators, crafters all exhibit and put their best foot forward at Design Festa Gallery on equal ground, with established companies displaying their work directly alongside elementary school students and everyone possible variation of artist in between.
The only requirement to become a Design Festa Gallery exhibitor is that an artist's work be original, promising visitors a one-of-a-kind, never-before-seen experience for their every visit, and giving artists a rare commission-free, non-judgmental environment from which to share, express and be themselves.
Directly in between the East and the West building of Design Festa Gallery lies Sakura Tei Restaurant, one of the top okonomiyaki restaurants for individuals seeking out a unique, unusual and altogether irreplaceable dining experience.
Up to 170 guests can enjoy both the fascinating traditional Japanese cuisine that is okonomiyaki and soak in the stunning atmosphere of the restaurant itself.
In collaboration with Design Festa Gallery, every room—and in several cases, individual walls—of the sprawling, two-story restaurant have been decorated by painters and illustrators from both Japan and overseas.
Sakura Tei's menu offerings are as unique as the restaurant's walls, with countless original creations you will be hard pressed to find anywhere else in Tokyo or beyond, as well as bilingual menus and cooking instructions. Prepared on an open grill in the center of every table, okonomiyaki is both a meal and a delightful, often exciting experience that can be enjoyed alone but also by friends and families.
In between Sakura Tei Restaurant and Design Festa Gallery's West Building you find Design Festa Gallery Café and Bar, an outdoor café with a relaxed, casual and artistic atmosphere.
Similar to Sakura Tei Restaurant, every surface that greets your eye is covered in the monochromatic illustration of one artist, the graffiti-style mural of another and the whimsical drawings of a third, fourth and fifth.
Also boasting a bilingual menu, the food and drink offerings at Design Festa Gallery Café and Bar are on a constant rotation, inspired by advice and ideas from the constant flow of visitors from all over the world that come to visit, unwind and interact.
The largest original art and performance event in Asia, International Art Event Design Festa is a biannual, two-day extravaganza of music, art, performance and self-expression.
Design Festa's live stage serves as host to 20 different metal, punk and rock bands, pop groups, and alternative artists, featuring a constant rotation of returning favorites and new sounds alike.
The theater hall, too, provides equal opportunity to all its performers, with independent films and animated shorts screened in between comedy duos and live music. Fashion shows, plays, recitals and dance performances are also a common sight in this dark hall, with participants free to set their own time slots from a mere 5 minutes to over 30 at a time and make use of the event's 300-inch projection screen as they wish.
Offering even more creative freedom is the second, indoor performance stage that extends down the full length of the central atrium, where fashion shows, stage fights, musicians, singers, belly dancers and more put on shows lasting anywhere up to an hour or no more than a minute, to the delight of 300 seated visitors and the never-ending flow of visitors straight from the main entrance.
A favorite of casual and devoted fans alike, clean white wall panels specially constructed exclusively for use by traditional artist surround the indoor performance stage as one of several Live Painting Areas. The sizeable canvases provide a rare look into the creative process for passers-by as they transform from the roughest of sketches to one-of-a-kind, handmade displays before their eyes in real time.
Within view of one of another of these areas devoted to those live painting artists is the Restaurant Area. Offering an endless combination of international cuisine from twenty-one stalls, the variety does not end at the standard options of chilidogs and hamburgers. Okinawa, China, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Turkey, the U.S., England and Spain are all represented through their culinary accomplishments, to the delight of visitors and exhibitors alike.
Perhaps the most popular event offered by this weekend-long experience is the over 3,400 strong Booth Area, which imposes no conditions or censorship of any kind upon its participants, even featuring a Workshop Area in which the visitors become the artists. Adults, adolescents, and children all come together to display, sell, perform and create among 12 separate areas spread throughout the first and fourth levels of Tokyo Big Sight.
While each area has a rich combination of nationalities among its participants the Booth Area is the most varied of all, with exhibitors from New Zealand, China, the U.S., Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, England, Canada, the Philippines, Argentina, Poland, India, Korea, and Taiwan and more at each and every event.
