Art With/out Small Children takes place on 14 September in Tobiu Art Community Hall, a former schoolhouse in Shiraoi-gun, Hokkaido. Curated by Jay Brown, founder/director of Lijiang Studio, China, and Japanese composer, sound designer and film maker Yasuhiro Morinaga for the Tobiu Art Festival, it’s the first part in a cross-cultural exchange programme that will see musicians from mainland China head to Japan for workshops and live performances, and vice versa. Featuring performances from Chinese sound artist Yao Chunyang and noise musician Wei Wei aka Vavabond, plus [male] guitarist Li Jianhong, the event hopes to not only highlight women in the industry, but also help make travel for artists with children a viable option.

“It’s a bit of a long story,” says Brown. “Initially, we intended to make a link between Lijiang Studio and the Tobiu community, as two rural arts practices. Considering the funder’s interests, the project we are on now is intended as a reciprocal residency between musicians and sound artists from rural China and from Hokkaido – specifically female, minority musicians or sound artists from either place.”

Due to family and work commitments, many of the artists have limited time to spend on their art practice, something that Brown hopes to overcome. “Several of the Japanese musicians we would like to work with are too busy with family to be able to commit to participating in this project,” he explains.

“In this case, we invited Yao Chunyang, a Naxi (ethnicity from Lijiang, Yunnan, where our studio is), and Wei Wei, who is not a minority ethnically, but in the paradigm of a male dominated music scene in China, somewhat out of the mainstream, to come work in Hokkaido.

“Yao Chunyang has a two year old and a two month old child, and Wei Wei has, with Li Jianhong, two year old twins, and without anyone to care for them on this trip, Li Jianhong came. Furthermore, I have a young daughter and [Japanese electronic musician] Yasuhiro Morinaga, who is our connection to Tobiu and a longtime collaborator of mine, has a six month old daughter, neither of whom are joining, which creates its own issues.”

With this in mind, the event has adapted to make family central to the project. “When asked for a title for the performance, we put Lijiang/Hokkaido, and then ‘Art With/out Small Children’ as a subtitle. An alternate title proposed by Weiwei would be ‘We Are All Great Parents’!

“It fits with the idea of environmental improvisation, which Li Jianhong has been working with for quite a while, and which has infected all of our sensibilities,” continues Brown. “On one hand, we could have changed or scrapped the initial idea because of the family restrictions we all face, but on on the other, we are determined to make something happen amidst these exigencies.”

The first performance will happen on 14 September at Tobiu Camp festival from 2pm. “They have been wonderfully supportive,” concludes Brown. “The plan is to perform in the forest, and inevitably the children will be part of it.”

Stage two will see Lijiang Studio reciprocate by hosting a future event for Japanese artists Chiharu MK, Marina Tanaka and Yasuhiro Morinaga at its base in Yunnan, China.

Li Jianhong & Wei Wei were featured in The Wire 406. Subscribers can read that article on Exact Editions.