Dates：

Spring Season : May 22nd and 23rd, 2021
Summer Season: August 13th - September 5th, 2021

Venues：

Various venues in Sumida River area, Online

Admission：

Free (reservations necessary for “water state 1”)

Spring Season programs

01
Hama-rikyu Ambient

Artists: Shuta Hasunuma, Shuta Ishidsuka, itoken, Yoshio Ootani, Yu Ojima, Toshihiko Kasai, K-Ta, Utena Kobayashi, Tomohiko Gondo, Ryosuke Saito, Hiroki Chiba, Eriko Teshima, Chiaki Miura, Natsumi Miyaji, Sayaka Osaki, Fumiya Otonashi, Manami Kakudo, Saho Terao

Date and time: 6:30PM-8PM, May 22nd, 2021
In case of rain, the performance will start earlier. To be announced at 12 noon, May 21st, the day before the event.
Venue: Hama-rikyu Gardens [No audience].
Free live streaming (no registration necessary)

The orchestra led by Shuta Hasunuma, “Shuta Hasunuma Philharmonic Orchestra,” will present a one-night-only outdoor concert to be streamed live in the garden with a new piece on the theme of waka poetry for this performance.

The Hama-rikyu Gardens have a long history, having served as a palace for the Tokugawa Shoguns and a detached palace administrated by The Imperial Household Agency, and are now open to the public as a Tokyo Metropolitan garden.

Shuta Hasunuma, who has colored many spaces with his light and spacious music, will create an ambient space that transcends space and time in one of Tokyo’s best gardens.

02
Passing the Words

Main Artist：Seiko Ito
Artists: Kanie Naha, Kawagoe Cipher, Kurunchu from MAD City, GOMESS, Shinbashi Cipher, Shinpeita, SECRET COLORS, Shou U Tanaka, Dr. Makidashi, Setsuko Miyao

Date and time:3PM-6PM, May 23rd, 2021
Venue: MURASAKI PARK TOKYO [No audience]
Free live streaming (no registration necessary)

The river is symbolic as a boundary. The fire across the river. The other shore and this shore. In this age of fragmentation, this program aims to use words to “pass” people to each other.

The first half ( 3PM-5PM ) of the program features the workshop by Kanie Naha, Setsuko Miyao, and Shinpeita. The second half (5PM-6PM) of the program will be a dream feast of words by Seiko Ito and other wizards of words who are active at the forefront of the Japanese language, to be streamed live.

03
ELECTRONICOS FANTASTICOS! “All Electronics Are Brothers”

Artist： Ei Wada + Nicos Orchest-Lab

Date and time:6PM-7:30PM, May 23rd, 2021
Venue: MURASAKI PARK TOKYO [No audience]
Free live streaming (no registration necessary)

This project, led by artist Ei Wada, involves people from all walks of life to electronically hack disused electrical appliances and revive them as new musical instruments, with the aim of creating an orchestra. This project, which was born six years ago on the banks of the Sumida River, is currently being carried out by <Nicos Orchest-Lab> teams in Tokyo, Hitachi, and Kyoto, involving a wide variety of people.

On the day of the event, there will be a band performance using home appliance instruments that have been created so far, as well as new works such as instruments that use power generation mechanisms and instruments that use skateboards.

Summer Season programs 〈Artistis〉:

04
“The Nature Plays the Main Melody with Harmony from the Piano”

Artist: Masakatsu Takagi
Date and time: August 13th – August 19th, 15:00 – 19:30 on weekdays, 10:00 – 19:30 on the weekend
Venue: 1-3 Mukojima, Sumida-ku, Tokyo (Sumida side of Sumida Park)

Access: 10-minute walk from “Asakusa Station” on the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line, Toei Subway Asakusa Line, and Tobu Skytree Line.
5-minute walk from “Honjo-Azumabashi Station” on the Toei Subway Asakusa Line.
8-minute walk from Tobu Skytree Line “Tokyo Skytree Station”.
15-minute walk from “Oshiage Station” on the Toei Subway Asakusa Line, Tobu Skytree Line, Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line, and Keisei Electric Railway.

Participation fee: free admission, no reservation required

This exhibition is organized by the Sumida River Storm and Urge event office so that many people can enjoy Masakatsu Takagi’s piano collection, Marginalia in Sumida Park. Please enjoy the different scenery and soundscape of the park through Marginalia.

Sumida Park, once a suburban residence of the Mito Domain, was reconstructed in the aftermath of the Great Kanto Earthquake, and in 2020, the southern part of the park on the Sumida ward side was renovated to become a place of rest and relaxation. In this park, Masakatsu Takagi’s project Marginalia, in which he welcomes sounds from nature and plays the piano along with them, will be developed into a sound installation. What kind of harmony will Marginalia bring to the park created in the urban space of Tokyo?

*There is no dedicated parking lot. Please refrain from coming to the venues by car as parking is limited in the neighborhood.

05
“water state 1”

Artist: Ryuichi Sakamoto + Shiro Takatani
Date and time: August 22nd – September 5th, 12:00 – 20:00 on weekdays, 10:00 – 20:00 on weekends
Venue: 3-22-10 Higashimukojima, Sumida-ku, Tokyo (next to Houjou-Koumuten)
Participation fee: Free admission(reservation required. reservations are valid only for one 60 minute session)

Access: 9-minute walk from the West Exit of “HIKIFUNE Station” on the Tobu Skytree Line and Tobu Kameido Line.
1-minute walk from “Higashimukojima Hirokoji Station” on the Toei Bus.

Water is the fundamental substance that supports life on earth, and changes its state freely depending on environmental conditions. Ryuichi Sakamoto has shown a strong interest in “water” as a source of inspiration in various ways. In the course of developing the concept for this collaborative work with Shiro Takatani, YCAM InteLab developed a device that can control water drops and make them fall freely. The result was a garden-like work expressing the changing state of water, which was first exhibited in 2013. (Commissioned by the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM])

In the center of the work, water droplets spread out as ripples on the mirror-like jet-black surface of the water, and the precise and detailed sounds corresponding to it envelopes the venue. Based on weather data from around the world, the amount and location of water droplets changes, and as each drop intersects with the water surface, it forms ripples that overlap and return to “water.”

The “water” used in this work is drawn from the Sumida River and filtered. The “stones” used in the work are collected from the Chichibu part of the Arakawa River, the source of the Sumida River, and some of them are as old as 300 million years.

*There is no dedicated parking lot. Please refrain from coming to the venues by car as parking is limited in the neighborhood.

06
“Dawn of the Sky”

Artist: Toshiro Inaba, GOMA, KOM_I, Akiko Nakayama and more
Date and time:September 4th, 24:00 midnight – September 5th, 5:00 am
Live Streaming Venue: Tokyo Sky Tree Observation Deck, Floor 350
Participation fee: free live streaming event without in person audience (streaming details will be announced later on the official website)

The closing event of Sumida River Storm and Urge is a live streaming event, which will be broadcasted from the Tokyo Skytree observation deck, featuring a variety of live performances and talks by Japan’s top artists.

About a year and a half has passed since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the future still remains uncertain. By starting at midnight and greeting the sunrise together with the viewers, we will deliver the dawn (= the dawning of the day, or in other words, “the dawn of a new era,” the beginning of a new era before something takes shape.) through the screen.

We will transmit the forefront of artistic expression in Tokyo to the world from the sky of the world’s tallest freestanding radio tower, and depict the future of art and culture.

Organizers：

Tokyo Metropolitan Government
Arts Council Tokyo
(Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture)

Planned by：

NPO TOPPING EAST

Support：

Chuo City, Taito City, Sumida City, KotoCity, Kita City, Arakawa City, Adachi City, Tokyo Metropolitan Park Association

Special Sponsor：

TOBU RAILWAY CO.,LTD.

Sponsor：

Kao Corporation, Nichirei Corporation, UPDATER, Inc., MURASAKI SPORTS Co.,Ltd, I JUST INC., THE GATE HOTEL RYOGOKU by HULIC, Shimada Shoten Co.,Ltd, U’S Corporation

Special Cooperation：

Sumi-Yume Executive Committee

Cooperation：

Kataoka Byobu Store Co., Ltd., Kab Inc. / Kab America Inc., commmons Syntax Japan Inc., dumb type office, Chichibu Geopark Promotion Council, TOBU TOWER SKYTREE Co., Ltd., The Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media[YCAM]

Media Partner：

CINRA.NET, J-WAVE