ABOUT

WHAT'S #BCTION?

#BCTION is an art project aimed at giving new value to dead space in large cities.

It was a DIY attempt by an assembly of over 80 artists/collectives to turn an entire office building destined for demolition into one art space. Comprised of 9 real floors (including basement) and one virtual floor (the tenth), the venue for the very first #BCTION was held in the New Kōjimachi Building of Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo. It developed mainly as murals and a borderless overlapping of expressions representing a variety of genres. It succeeded in creative interaction; setting up a Free Wall inside the first floor entrance where viewers could freely contribute to a mural and and an imaginary tenth floor that offered a space for people to freely upload images to create a virtual digital collage. (*check the page for each floor for details)

This widening of creativity blurred the distinction between artists and viewer and appeared to the city and to the internet as pure creation. With a vast scale of three thousand square meters in total floor space, and with the surprise factor of being held in an office street in Chiyoda, Tokyo, the event created quite the stir; being featured in newspaper, TV and even on the radio, along with the posting and sharing by artists and viewers on social network services, it gathered fifteen thousand visitors in seventeen days. Thanks to the power of creativity, the New Kōjimachi Building had one last lively revival in a completely new form, before its final rest.

The concept of #BCTION is “to connect the action of one person to that of another so as to make more creative power,” or perhaps even, “infinite actions, full of diversity, connected as a creative whole.” Based on the image of one action growing into another, we took the first letter in ACTION and turned it into a B, while the hashtag (#) represents the entity as a whole.

MESSAGE

Between the 2011 disaster and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, we live in the narrow crack of a metropolis in mid-metamorphoses. In the few years to come, many buildings will surely be destroyed in the preparation for the Olympics and the countermeasures for impending earthquakes. Our reasoning for starting #BCTION is this: by reusing the dead space these demolition projects create in the city as spaces for art, we widen the chance for artists to actively contribute to society and increase the numbers of stages for expression. On top of that, we expand a new art market by creating ties between art and real estate.

After the exciting success of the very first #BCTION, we cannot help but feel further potential. This potential does not only reside in demolition-destined buildings, but also in unused ones that cannot be destroyed for certain reasons and in the wasted spaces of the city. It is a potential, that by creating ties between various types of real estate and art, we are able to realize a city that fosters creativity and spaces that can function as new attractions. We see the worth of #BCTION as being a new art field where a diversity of genres can participate together in being creative and we hope to make a place and opportunity that will attract the attention of the world towards a real art scene, right here in Japan.

ORGANIZER

MON KOUTARO OOYAMA

Artist / Art Director / Musician / Live Painting Performer
Born in 1979 at Nara prefecture / Japan. Graduated from Printmaking department of Kyoto City University of Arts.

He is widely known as an Artist thru enormous numbers of Live Painting performances / Mural works and also as an Art Director who produce various Art projects such as "#BCTION", "TRY&ERROR" and etc… Besides his solo activities, he spontaneously collaborates with varieties of creators & clients such as "DOPPEL" with an artist Baki Baki which is now a symbolic icon for Japanese Live Painting scene.

He also releases music production under a name of "Yabugarashi".
[major works]- Mural for NIKE headquarter in Portland / U.S. (DOPPEL / 2006)- Live Painting performance at "ELTTOB TEP ISSEY MIYAKE & at a festival "Burningman" (2008)- 12inch vinyl releases "Rainbow Stitch" & "Creative Ape" (2009)- Spatial produce for alternative space "SPES-LaB" in Ebisu/Tokyo (2011~13)- Produce a series of Live Painting project "TRY&ERROR" (2012)- Package Design for "FIFA WorldCup edition" of McDonald's french fries (DOPPEL / 2014)- Produce office designs & decorations at Facebook Japan (2013 ~ 14)- Produce art project "BCTION" (2014)

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JOJI SHIMAMOTO

Born 1983 in Chiba prefecture. Graduate of the Academy of Art University, San Francisco class of 2007 with a specialization in photography. Photographer, creative director. During his time in America, the artist exhibited numerous times and participated in various projects.

After returning to Japan in 2008, a major exhibition of his work was held at The Artcomplex Center of Tokyo in Shinjuku. In 2009, the artist was also selected to appear in an entry of the multivolume series, “100 Japanese Photographers” published by STUDIO VOICE. In recent years, Shimamoto has exhibited his work in venues including La Foret in Harajuku and BLUE NOTE TOKYO, and had his photograph selected as the main image for the NEW CITY ART FAIR in New York, while vigorously continuing to develop his work.

Shimamoto’s work evokes the smells, sounds, and even the heat of their setting, enveloping the viewer with a nostalgic feeling like the warm crackle of an old vinyl LP. Viewing his pictures, one can easily imagine the story transpiring before and after the instant it was taken, as though they were watching a film. As a photographer, Shimamoto possesses the rare ability to awaken the senses of his audience.

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SUPPORTER

COLLABORATOR

#BICTION