Ruin Map
In collaboration with representatives of Silicon Valley's Japanese- and Vietnamese-American communities along with residents of the immediate neighborhoods of Montalvo, Kosaka invites elders to draw from memory the site of their childhoods as part of his shared project, Ruin Map. The artist transforms these sketches into 36" x 36" traditional engraved, woodblock prints on special handmade rice papers which are assembled in large flip books that are exhibited in public places visited or utilized by participants in the course of their daily lives (such as restaurants, libraries, banks, bars, churches and temples). Public conversations are an intrinsic component of Ruin Map's creation and a series of them takes place across the Valley.
Ruin Map Locations
Saratoga Public Library
13650 Saratoga Ave
Saratoga, CA 95070
Saratoga Community Center
19566 Allendale Avenue
Saratoga, CA 95070
Los Gatos Public Library
110 E. Main Street
Los Gatos, CA 95030
Immigrant Resettlement & Cultural Center
1445 Koll Circle, Suite 110
San Jose, CA 95112
Kalpa: Time
For the exhibition Kalpa: Time, Hirokazu Kosaka manipulates a set of prints from an ongoing community-based project called Ruin Map in Los Angeles, Seattle, Pennsylvania and San Jose. As part of Ruin Map participants are invited to draw from memory the site of their childhood. The artist then transforms the drawings into traditional woodblock prints on handmade paper.
In this Project Space exhibition, the original woodblock prints are given new life and new meaning by the artist through the addition of thousands of poppy seeds. Kosaka’s use of poppy seeds refers to a story told by Buddha to explain the principle of kalpa. Kalpa is a Sanskrit word meaning aeon or a long period of time. In Buddha’s account of kalpa a huge, empty cube measuring 16 miles on each side, is formed at the beginning of kalpa. Once every 100 years a tiny poppy seed is placed in the cube and yet the cube is not filled before the kalpa ends. By adding poppy seeds to these prints, Kosaka builds a symbolic parallel between kalpa and the inevitable passage of time that slowly transforms our lives, our histories and our memories.
On the Retina
Kosaka presents a new commissioned performance piece on the subject of time in association with frequent collaborator, Butoh dancer/choreographer, Oguri, with contributions by master harmonica player, Tetsuya Nakamura.
