Noco Project - Talk by Wall Art Project from Japan

18 September 2015 | 5:30 pm

FICA Reading Room
D 42 Defence Colony, New Delhi


FICA conducted a talk by Tomomichi Natsume (Director General of NATSUME TOMOMICHI design Office,Associate Professor, Faculty of Fine Art,  Aichi Prefectural University of the Arts), Akiko Ookuni (Director General of Wall Art Project, Art director, Writer) and Kazunori Hamao (Director and Coordinator of Wall Art Project, Educator).

The talk introduced the Noco project, and the way in which it brought together the making of a Traditional Warli House with Japanese Interior Design. "Noco" comes from a word of Warli people, meaning “That’s sufficient”. The Japanese non-profit organization Wall Art Project have done their first workshop of Noco Project in March 2015 with the people from Warli tribe of Maharashtra in March 2015. They built a house with the traditional techniques of the Warli tribe and Japanese interior design. The Noco Project is an outcome of the research and relationship between the villagers and the people from Wall Art Project, which has culminated from the Wall Art Festival. The project is aimed at creating sustainable design and living for future generations, by mixing techniques of traditional and contemporary design and goes on to make the affect of art in public felt.

Wall Art Project was launched in 2009 in Tokyo. It works for uplifting education in local villages, and makes a point for an education with art. Wall Art Project organized Wall Art Festival in Bihar 2010-2012, in Maharashtra 2013-2014, and in Bihar, November 2015. Also,theyhad organised the Earth Art Project in Ladakh. The project invites Indian and Japanese artists to paint murals in schools which have statistically shown lesser participation in education. The three day festival then hosts an exhibition for the children and parents and other residents of the village. The number of admitted children were increased at each of school in which project was done with students showing an interest in making art and discussing it as well. This goes to show the impact that art can have on education and learning. The speakers will be talking about these projects in detail at the talk.

About the Speakers

Tomomichi Natsume is a leading interior designer in Japan. NATSUME TOMOMICHI established in 1999 as a design office designs various things including interior, furniture, shops, offices, residential spaces, institution, public spaces. Their designs seek substance, and express “that which should be expressed” with the minimal and sustainable use of space, material. He has been a professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music between since 2013 and has also taught earlier at the Tama Art University, Japan.

Akiko Ookoni has a background in writing book reviews, interviews and writes extensively on traveling and culture as a freelance writer. She has been directing various productions as an executive art director of the Blue Bear Inc. In 2009, she established the Wall Art Project and has been instrumental in the functioning of the trust in Japan as the Director General. She has been organizing the Wall Art Festival in villages ofBihar and Maharashtra since 2010 andorganized the festival in Fukushima and Sakura in Japan in 2011 and 2012, The Earth Art Project in Ladakh in 2014 and The Noco Project in Dahanu, Maharashtra in 2015.

Kazunori Hamao is the Director and Coordinator of the Wall Art Project. After graduating from Tokyo Gakugei University, he raised up money by doing a part time job and went to India as a volunteer coordinator in Bodh Gaya, Bihar. During his stay in Bodh Gaya, he finished a Post Graduation course in the Department of Labor and Social Welfare at Magadh University. He organizes the executive committees for the Wall Art Festival and coordinated the Noco Project with local people. At present, he lives in a village with the Warli tribe and connects them to Japan.