I am the Secretary

'AMABIKI' is not hosted by any public bodies. It is widely known as an exhibition run by the artists themselves. The participating artists organize the executive committee and are responsible for the various duties involved with running the exhibition. I am the Secretary. It is my job to write up the minutes from the monthly committee meetings. People often comment on how difficult or tedious my job must be, but I actually quite enjoy it. The discussions quite often get heated and people start talking faster, making it difficult to catch what everyone is saying, but it's interesting because each artist has his or her own way of expressing their opinions, their own choice of words and tone of voice. Some artists express their ideas very logically, while others find it difficult to find the right words. This difference in character carries over to their work.
The day after each meeting I go over my notes and write up the official minutes. In the meetings members discuss issues until everybody is satisfied with the solution, and I try to show this in the minutes by documenting all the points of view. However, with 40 assertive artists at each meeting, this can sometimes be a formidable task. Doing this kind of work after every meeting has given me an objective view of the AMABIKI, the challenges being faced and the way in which each artist responds. The time I have spent on has been very valuable, helping me understand my own relationship with the AMABIKI and deepening my thinking on art and sculpture.
In addition to myself as Secretary, each participating artist is responsible for a set duty, such as catalogue making, signage and event planning. We call this current system the 'AMABIKI Way', but it never used to be such plain sailing. I joined the exhibition in its third year, and while even back then the theory was that the exhibition would be run by all the artists, in reality only a small group were doing all the work, and it was starting to cause problems. The following year the number of participating artists increased and with it so did the amount of work, causing an array of problems, including the obvious difference in how little or how much some artists were committed to the running of the exhibition. Our current system lets us overcome such issues, and trial and error has made the artists more aware that this is their exhibition. Of course the current system isn't completely perfect and improvements will continue to be made.
And so the 'AMABIKI2013' exhibition has begun. Many visitors have already come to view the sculptures and the surrounding hillside scenery under the autumnal Amabiki skies. I wish I could take time off from my committee duties during the exhibition, but of course I cannot. If something were to arise during the exhibition period that required the committee to convene for a meeting, I would of course need to take the minutes. I hope my quiet dedication to the job now will pay off for future exhibitions.

YAMAJO Rei, participating artist