Spiral Report 2021 Special Feature 2

The rapid spread of the internet and the development of computers from around the year 2000 sparked great activity among individual creators. The ‘Spiral Independent Creators Festival’ (SICF) was born amid this emergence of new forms of communication. It was not uncommon to find art festivals comprised of many booths like ‘GEISAI’ – a modern art festival produced by Takashi Murakami since 2002 – but several factors set SICF apart.

As a ‘non-genre’ festival with works judged by a panel, SICF has succeeded in highlighting individuality, thus serving as a high-quality trade fair for visitors to discover young artists across multiple genres. With the bubble economy burst but staying true to Spiral’s principle of ‘culture as enterprise’, we adopted a mechanism for shared investment between exhibitors, visitors and Spiral, so the onus is not only on the organizer. This has meant that for 22 years, financial reasons have never caused us to suspend the festival. Further, the convenient Omotesando location and the brand image Spiral has built over the years, have made the festival a gathering place for those engaged in creative work and people with a keen interest in art and culture. Creators have supported SICF because it represents a venue for chance encounters to broaden the arena for their work.

The year 2000, when SICF began, was also the year Spiral made its ‘Art Life Declaration’. With our declaration, we sought to leverage the know-how and creative network built internally by Spiral for the practical application of art in the real world, and to promote external projects. SICF exhibitors have been engaged in a variety of roles within Spiral projects, including the creation of artworks, participation at exhibitions, and product development. They have been an incredibly important resource for Spiral to date.

In 2021, to further promote young creators, we established a new MARKET section in addition to the original EXHIBITION section within SICF. Spiral’s theme, the ‘fusion of lifestyleart and artlife’, aimed at helping people achieve enriched lifestyles that beautifully intertwine art with their everyday. To that end, we ‘make high quality artistic offerings accessible so they may be enjoyed in everyday life’ and we ‘share ways to add artistic elements to daily life itself’.

Over the years, SICF has produced many creators who can collaborate on the former, but very few on the latter. Through the creation of a new section, we sought the participation of creators engaged in craftsmanship for daily living. 2021 is also the year we opened +S Spiral Market Osaka – our first store in the Kansai region. As a store showcasing unique and appealing works that cannot be mass-produced, the opening of this new store raises the urgent issue of how to discover a fresh set of creators. With the inclusion of a gallery space for selling artworks, +S Spiral Market Osaka represents a new store category that closely aligns with the two sections of SICF.

Originally, SICF was to be held each year with the goal of discovering, fostering and supporting young creators. However, the above-mentioned projects involved only a subset of artists on a temporary basis, and the promise to publicly honor and exhibit works at Spiral was only conferred on a few outstanding creators. The creation of the new section opens even more possibilities, and we are in the process of building the foundation for long-lasting relationships with creators beyond SICF. It will be one of Spiral’s strengths and will be the support creators need to make their work sustainable. Day after day we work alongside creators to achieve that kind of cycle.

_{*’Smart Illumination Yokohama’ was an international art event managed by Spiral, that experimented with new nightscapes. It began at Zou-no-Hana Terrace but expanded to the whole city of Yokohama from 2012 onwards. It took place every autumn until 2019 in Yokohama’s city center and along the waterfront.}