About the Third Amabiki Village and Sculpture

The exhibition which began three years ago with seven sculptors who were working locally has grown with each successive event. Now, for the third exhibition, there are 38 works from 33 participating artists.
One of the greatest characteristics of this exhibition is that it is not staged by a museum or a local authority, but is instead run independently by the artists. The second key point is that the artists themselves search for the locations where their works will be installed. With the assistance of the village hall, they visit the landowners and obtain their permission for the installation before the location can be determined.
As a result, most of the works are created with a strong awareness of the locations selected for them by the artists.
There are now several public competitions and open-air sculpture exhibitions in Japan, such as those at Ube and Suma, at which sculptures are judged, but the locations in which the works are displayed are decided by the organizers.
The works in this exhibition are displayed in a variety of conditions, against the background of Mt. Tsukuba. Some are in the forests (chestnut forest, thickets, paulownia forests), around rivers (embankments and river beds), in and around reservoirs, in buckwheat and other fields, next to farm tracks, inside shrine precincts, and elsewhere. Some are in relatively enclosed spaces, such as on wooded hillsides, while others stand amid the open scenery of rice paddies.
I think what we create many times when sculpting is "public art" intended for neutral spaces such as art museums and galleries, or for buildings and public spaces. To put it bluntly, the way things are now, those kinds of spaces are the only places where people can come into contact with sculpture and, by extension, with culture.
In holding this exhibition not in a big city but in Yamato, a village, the smallest municipal unit, without art museums or galleries, we hope the idea that sculpture and culture are not special things, but can be encountered much more in daily life, will begin to penetrate gradually into Japan.

Amabiki Village and Sculpture, Executive Committee
SUGAWARA Jiro