A Gift to Those who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling
Artist in Residency Project
/sLab, Sunderland University NGCA, Northern Gallery of Contemporary Art BankArt1929
Erika Tan and Mio Shirai
This project marks the 150th anniversary of the opening of the port of Yokohama and relations between Japan and the UK. To mark this historic event one artist from UK, Erika Tan, and one artist from Japan, Mio Shirai, participated in a two month artist in residence exchange program in which they were commissioned to produce new work in response to their context. The work was presented at Northern Gallery of Contemporary Art, Sunderland, and will also be exhibited in Yokohama in 2009 as part of the celebrations of the port opening to foreign trade and international relations.
The artists worked phenomenally hard and in a short space of time achieved an impressive body of work. Shirai realized a film and photographic series based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. Erika Tan presented a wide variety of works which reflected the range of her experience in Japan.
