FOBIA:
a participatory project with Shinpei Takeda
March 16 – April 13, 2017
FOBIA Information Session: Thursday March 16 4:30 - 6pm, Art Gallery D 101
Reception: Thursday, April 6, 4:30 – 6:30 pm, Art Gallery D101
Artist Lecture at 6:30 pm following reception
FREE parking on reception night ONLY in the Faculty A OVERFLOW lot.
San Diego Mesa College Art Gallery is proud to present FOBIA, a participatory project with
internationally
acclaimed
artist
Shinpei
Takeda.
Part
performance
art,
part
site-specific
installation,FOBIA will invite attendees to sit with Takeda inside a tent, hand woven by the artist inside
the gallery. Takeda will have “one on one consultations where guests will be invited to divulge their
deepest fears, phobias and anxieties.” These conversations will guide Takeda’s exploration of
people’s fears, and each encounter with an attendee will produce a physical, tangible visual
manifestation of the stories shared. The gallery will remain open for regular hours during this process,
and
the
community
is
welcomed
to
visit
and
observe
or
participate.
Takeda is best known for his large scale weavings, so when asked what led him to envision FOBIA, he
responded that “often irrational, sometimes even biological, our phobias are deeply rooted in our
history and memory. They manifest in social, health, psychological, religious, political dimensions...
Xenophobia, Claustrophobia, Homophobia, Bacteriaphobia, Anuptaphobia, the list goes on with their
seemingly complicated scientific wordings, and yet they play an important role in our society
today.” Takeda will essentially use the exhibition space at San Diego Mesa College as a working
laboratory to try to understand and reveal the phobia that
is in our selves and in our environments by
creating
2D
and
3D
forms
to
phobias.
Gallery Director Alessandra Moctezuma is thrilled to be hosting Takeda’s latest creation at the San
Diego Mesa College Art Gallery. “It is such a great opportunity to expose our student body and the
community at large to artwork in process. These participatory projects allow a level of engagement
that is unparalleled, literally bringing the audience into the artwork, and allowing them the opportunity
to shape the direction of the work. Takeda is also a phenomenal artist to be working with, as he has a
long trajectory in San Diego and around the world producing work of impact. We are honored to have
him
here.”
Born in Osaka, Japan, Shinpei Takeda is a multi-national, multi-lingual visual artist and film-maker who
lives and works in Tijuana, Mexico & Düsseldorf, Germany. His works involve a wide range of themes
regarding memories and history. He uses multi-media installations, sound interventions, documentary
films, large-scale photography installations, and collaborative community projects in various public
contexts. Shinpei is also a Founder and Creative Director of The AJA Project, a nonprofit dedicated to
working with resettled refugee children in San Diego and displaced youth in Colombia and Thailand
using a participatory photography. As a documentary filmmaker he works on films with diverse topics
including pre-WWII Japanese immigration to Tijuana, Mexico and the atomic bomb survivors living in
the Americas (Atopus Studio). As a performance artist, he directsGhost Magnet Roach Motel, a noise
performance unit from Tijuana, Mexico. Takeda arrives at SD Mesa College Art Gallery fresh off his
2016 San Diego Art Prize win and a feature as the cover story on the current issue of San Diego
Citybeat: March 8, 2017 (read Shinpei Takeda has Become an International Artistic Force here)
FOBIA will open on March 16 with a bare gallery, where Takeda will welcome the community into a
FOBIA information session that day from 4:30 to 6pm. The artist will explain his vision to interested
participants, and will be scheduling appointments for FOBIA consultations via email and in person.
Takeda will spend the next three days weaving the conversation tent, and will kick off consultations
with participants Monday, March 21 through Friday, March 24. A completed exhibition, consisting of
works made by Takeda as direct responses to his conversations with participants will be revealed to
the public during the artist reception on Thursday April 6, 2017 from 4:30 to 6:30 to be immediately
followed by an artist lecture. The full exhibition will be on view at the San Diego Mesa College Art
Gallery until April 13, 2017.
How
to
participate:
Those interested in participating in FOBIA should contact Gallery Coordinator Leticia Gomez Franco
at [email protected] to schedule a one-hour consultation with Shinpei Takeda. Consultations will
take place in the gallery from Monday March 20 2017 to Friday March 24 2017from 10am – 4pm with
evening hours on Thursday March 23 till 8pm. Participants will be expected to sit inside Takeda’s fobia
office and share stories and thoughts on phobias. Takeda will be producing individual works of art
inspired by each encounter with participants. Appointments will be filled on a first come first served
basis. Space is limited, and we will stop taking appointments when max capacity is filled. more info
on Facebook Invite. All interested participants are invited to attend a special information session on
Thursday March 16 from 4:30-6pm where Takeda will share his vision and welcome audience
discussion. All participants will be invited as special guests to the FOBIA reception on April 6 where
all completed works of art will be on exhibit.
NEW Gallery Hours: MTW 11 am - 4 pm, TH 1 – 8 pm. Closed Fridays, Weekends and School Holidays
Banner Image Credits: Courtesy of Shinpei Takeda