Kjell Hahn

almost all the performances and artworks from Oni Ten.
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AND they were only a few days late, but i finally got my George Zupp and Justin Graham’s Oni Ten submissions. great work.. would have been nice to have it in the show though.
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thought i should write why i made oni ten. oni ten isnt just about trying to get people’s artwork and get people to come to my studio. I think the exhibition could actually provide a useful service that other venues dont.
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Clearly Oni Ten is not meant to be a traditional exhibition space. even if I wanted to put on a regular exhibition we’d never be able to compete with even the most boring galleries in the heart of Tokyo; we’re just to far away. my studio in the countryside has the advantage of being disconnected, so that the works we display don’t have to appeal to anyone. the participating artists don’t need to appeal to customers, to gallery owners or the restrictions of contest rules. we have the freedom and chance to work outside of our typical comfort zone, to experiment with unfamiliar media and not have to place so much emphasis on the outcome. I like to think of it as something like an art laboratory, mixing together as many elements as we can to see what might come out. people can figure out what to do with the results later. my intent in this approach is not necessarily to produce polished work, but to widen each individual artist’s visual vocabulary through experimentation and bouncing ideas off one another. of course artists experiment in their own studios, but too often those works never fall under peer or public scrutiny. my hope is that in an Oni Ten-like setting our peers can critique and interact with the works in a neutral environment and that the group can make something larger than the sum of its parts.
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i really believe there is potential to produce a lot of exciting work here, as long as people make an honest effort and do their part. this is not an exhibition about me, and i couldnt do it alone even if i wanted to. we did very well for the first exhibition, but the second exhibition is going to require a lot more out of other people.
I especially appreciate the help i got from Neba, Nozomi and Fuyuko.. when things were falling apart, each of you guys did what you could to help. If you three weren’t around i wouldnt be willing to try this again next year.

Gregg Lewis’ short film
“A Boring Evening”

“Rojin to Mago”
a segment from Yoshida Shigeki, Chiaki Horikoshi (and many others) film
“Yoshida Otokichi no sekai” or “The world of Yoshida Otokichi”

Ive gotten a few emails asking for the oni ten images asap.
I have not forgotten this fact.
just take any exhibition you have participated in, then multiply the work by 30 and you might understand why the images arent up and organized in a timely manner.
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in the meantime. here is one of the oniten drawing installations I did for the show… i must have had this idea in my head for a couple years now. I have wanted to make tunnels, boxes, environmental drawings that envelop the viewer. very nice to see one actually made.

oni drawing installation by kjell hahn

thinking of the exhibition as a meeting place for artists to collaborate and share ideas we put together this little booklet. It was given to all artists participating in the show with everyones names, a brief introduction and contact information. feel free to contact anyone on the list or write me any questions about their works.
(click on thumbnail, then right click and download.)

its been another long day. didnt have a break from the exhibition until nearly 10pm so im not going to write anything more than another THANK YOU to everyone. we’ll definitely be doing this again. much better turn out than Tom Thumb’s first exhibition.
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thanks again to Aoik and Tani’s band from Nagoya. Wish you kids could have stayed longer.
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im going to sleep, here is another of yoshida sensei’s videos from the Oni Ten show:

sunday is the last day of oni ten. Aoki’s band from Nagoya will be here 『yanomami&nap』 as well as some kids from the nearby Hokku mountain community.
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here is another skit from the “Yoshida Otokichi no sekai” or “The world of Yoshida Otokichi” series. one of the first scenes they shot.. i saw this for the first time about a year ago and have been asking for the video ever since.

Kjell Hahn
Chiaki Horikoshi
John Dix
Fuyuko Kobori
Akira Yonebayashi
Jimmy Kuehnle
Mimi Kato
Jay Lansford
Jim Jereb
Pip Brant
Shigeki Yoshida
Tatsuya Yoshida
Satoshi Yoshida
Takeshi Yoshida
Ai Ideguchi
Eriko Iwatani
Gregg Lewis
Hata Hajime
George Zupp
Justin Graham
Megumi Miyake
Michiru
Yuya Hayashi
Genta Shibata
Tomoka Tezuka
Hiroyuki Kinoshita
Asami Shiina
Riberame
Nozomi Nagao
Momota Kudo
Yuko Takamura
Sachi Matsuda

its the onishi crew up the mountain at chiaki horikoshi’s kiln, makin a movie.
(im uploading a few skits from the collaborative project of ai ideguchi, chiaki horikoshi and shigeki yoshida onto my youtube account. the video is called “Yoshida Otokichi no sekai”　or “The world of Yoshida Otokichi.” pretty much everyone who visits this place is forced to act out a scene or two. No plot, but amusing. I tried to put up videos where you dont have to understand japanese… not that any of them make any sense.)

people keep stopping by the exhibition, but its slowed down enough that i can get some work done in the afternoons.
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im in the process of moving all my photos from iphoto to aperture and uploading videos from the exhibition onto my computer. whenever im done with that ill put up a large group of photos.
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also the artist list is in japanese only now. jay suggested i put that info in english as well. will do.

oni ten in the paper again.
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even though the show is up we’ve still been busy most of the day. cant complain if people keep coming.
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people steadily streamed into the gallery from 2 to 9 last night. neighbors, artists from tokyo and random people from around gunma came and brought this place to life. tom thumb has found a second home in Japan.
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after 3 months of work i cant believe the studio is finally up and running, with all of its parts where they are supposed to be.
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thank you everyone who submitted.. ill write more soon.

Kjell Hahn
“spend some time with an oni”
paper, ink, light installation

oniten gallery supposed to be starting in a few hours.. surprise surprise submissions still trickling in.. making the brochure and organizing the works becomes a bit of a pain. even my neighbor, one of the main people to encourage me to bring the Tom Thumb to japan, hasnt given me her work or told me anything about it.
well, the party isnt until tomorrow so it doenst have to be 100 percent today . many loose ends to tie up, but i did my part. people are coming and what we have now is presentable.
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(hey jimmy: after waiting weeks for a response Aoki, Tani and 5 other people from Nagoya are coming up with instruments on the closing day. cool beans)