Forwarded for the Japan Cultural Development in Michigan
The annual Hinamatsuri, or Girls Day, will be held at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) on Sunday, March 3, 2024.
In 2013, the Detroit museum bankrupted due to the city of Detroit's financial collapse. In 2014, after receiving a court ruling as known as the Grand Bargain, that wrote off a huge amount of debt by collecting a large amount of donations, the DIA began to move the path of revitalization.
This campaign also attracted a huge donation of $3.2 million from Japanese companies and the Japanese community. Then DIA began to be operated from being owned by the city to become an independent nonprofit corporation.
The Japan Cultural Development (JCD) in Michigan has put a lot of effort into putting together a program for the annual Hinamatsuri Festival in order to introduce Japanese culture at the DIA and to attract as many people as possible to come to the DIA.
For Hinamatsuri 2024 at the DIA, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary since the year of the DIA’s rebirth, the JCD is planning to have more people participate in the program than ever before.
On the top of this, the JCD will show the Friendship Dolls story by Kami-shibai (Storytelling with paper slides) that may help understanding the Friendship Dolls Exhibition of the DIA.
Last year, the JCD introduced four Japanese female artists living in Michigan along with their works, which were well received.
This year marks exactly 10 years since the DIA embarked on the road to revitalization after financial bankruptcy, so the JCD will be introducing artwork created with the motif of Re-birth and inviting the audience to participate in the art.
Re-Birth: the Socially Engaged Installation Art for the Detroit Institute of Arts Hinamatsuri Event will be held on Sunday, March 3, from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm at Walter B. Ford Great Hall at the DIA.
Re-Birth event is hosted by the Japan Business Society of Detroit, organized by the Japan Cultural Development, and cooperated with the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Artists are; Sao Ohtake, Installation Artist; Kyoko Fujii, Calligrapher; Nobuko Yamasaki, Woodblock Printmaker.
In addition, when the Japanese Gallery opened in 2017, master Tomomihisashi Kano, a washi paper making artists who were invited from Obara, Toyota City, Japan, made washi paper in the image of Detroit's re-born: Detroit Sky, Shining Wind.
It was created from the memories of the scenes that the masters actually saw when they came to Detroit. This will also be posted inside the DIA on the day of the event.
The 10 years after the city of Detroit's recovery from the bankruptcy, artists from different backgrounds will collaborate to create and exhibit participatory installation art on the theme of "recovery" for this year's Hinamatsuri.
Visitors are invited to fold origami at the venue and write their wishes and memories of Detroit on it. These origami will be tied to the installation art and become part of the artwork.
The detailed program will be released in early February. Please visit the websites of the DIA, JBSD (Japan Business Society of Detroit), and the JCD.