Sparrows feeding their young

Four artists currently in residence at the Villa Kamogawa invite you to a spring event featuring an exhibition and performances in the garden and in one of the artists’ apartments.

For decades, Japan has been regarded as a cultural and technological hub where innovation, everyday life, and aesthetic traditions are closely interwoven. At the same time, there exists a particular sensitivity toward the coexistence of nature, technology, and urban infrastructure. Cities whose lights never fully dim, complex electronic networks, and highly developed industrial production methods stand alongside rituals, artisanal traditions, and a deep attentiveness to landscape and material. The philosopher Yuk Hui describes such constellations as forms of “cosmotechnics” — technologies that are always expressions of cultural relations to the world and that emerge from specific historical and social contexts.

The title Sparrows feeding their young is taken from a short vignette in The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon. The chapter is called “Things That Make One’s Heart Beat Faster” and, like many chapters, consists of a list. As the closing of their residency, Tatjana Vall and Justin Urbach have developed a light installation inspired in part by this line.

Yuxuan Cui shares a work-in-progress that combines moving images and a small performative reading. The piece continues her research into temples, colonial architecture, and the stories that inhabit these spaces.  Tmnit Ghide contributes sound works to the exhibition.

The event is conceived as a half‑day program in which the artists respond to the setting sun and the onset of night. The Japanese garden of the Villa Kamogawa as well as one of the artists’ apartments will serve as the venues. The exhibition consists of several small performances and artworks presented one after another, and visitors are welcome to stay from the beginning or drop in briefly.