[APPROVED] Kawa Kami Virtual Version

JulianaM · November 23, 2021, 3:00pm

Project Members:

jmm.near

Juliana Matsumura

Erika Kobayashi (tbc)

Synopsis

Kawa: river; flow.

Kami: god; spirit; long ago.

Kawa Kami: spring; upstream; upper stream; counter-flow; upward flow upstream.

Kawakami: Last name of my Japanese grandmother, who arrived in Brazil in 1938.

Kawa kami is an artist residency (physical) project that will take place at Casarão do Chá (The Tea House) (São Paulo - Brazil), a landmark of the historical heritage of Brazil and vestige of Japanese immigration. The project is defined by the artistic occupation of the space, creation of two installation projects including materials such as ceramics, wood, golden leaf and textiles. The project includes a public exhibition of the works and a performance, in collaboration with the artist Erika Kobayashi. Some concepts involved in the conception of this project: ancestrality, Japanese immigration, fusion of cultures, metaphorical meaning of river, the Tietê River (which crosses the state of São Paulo), the collection of local memories, transparency as a symbolic potentiality, Landscape, Nature and the expansion of Drawing.

Tietê River - Some symbolic relations with my autobiography/work

Affective relationship with the river: A river which crosses the State of São Paulo, which begins near the town of Mogi das Cruzes, my hometown, and flows near Pereira Barreto, city where my Japanese grandmother first settled when she arrived in Brazil.
It is the river that gave my city its name. Mogi comes from Boigy which means “River of Snakes” in Tupi (native language).
The Portuguese bandeirante Brás Cubas decided to settle in the region, where today is

Mogi das Cruzes, because of the presence of gold on the banks of the Tietê River.

A river marked by extraction, exploitation and extermination of the indigenous.
A river that at the same time nourishes
River as a frontier.

(Tietê River crossing Sao Paulo State)

Summary

I’d like to create a virtual version of the artistic process that will happen physically in Nature (Atlantic forest, River Source, Casarão’s surroundings) and during my occupation at Casarão do Chá. That will happen in the metaverse (3XR space). I’m going to mint NFTs of different materials collected during the physical residency such as videos, drawings, photographs, audio recordings and so on. The idea is to use the virtual possibility to share/show what is happening locally to a wider audience and highlight the artistic process (work in progress) in a different way. The custom gallery created will be launched in March (with multiplayer). For this purpose I’ll ask for support from Incubadora DAO and VR DAO.

(sketch of the physical installations at Casarão do Chá)

Project Timeline

December: Start collecting materials, gathering and organizing content about Casarão and its surroundings. Research on autobiography, ancestrality, city’s history.
Creation of drawings and paintings and minting of 10 NFTs.

amount requested: 400 $

January: Collecting materials, travelling around the city’s surroundings, creation of physical installations. Creation of the collaborative performance. Minting of 10 NFTs.

amount requested: 400$ +150$ (fee to the performance artist) = 550 $

February: Minting of 10 NFTs. Selection of the best 10 NFTs created during the residency period + set up and physical opening of the exhibition in Sao Paulo.

amount requested: 400$