Artist
Artist
Kamagasaki University of the Arts
Japan
Never give up. Kamagasaki Art Center
Kamagasaki refers to a part of the northeast area of Nishinari-ku, Osaka City, but it is not on the map. "Kamagasaki" may be a situation in life where you feel alone and without a place to turn to. In this corner of Kamagasaki, when there is a place and opportunity to acknowledge and express one's existence, various interesting things happen.
Cocoroom, an arts NPO, runs this space itself, without any subsidies or systems. It started as a coffee shop in 2003, and has since expanded to include an art university and guesthouse, opening a "place for encounters and expression" for over 20 years. The expressions of unknown people, steeped in hardship, convey the subtleties of life and deepen our sense of living in the present. How encouraging it has been to witness the moments when the weakness of people who have come to terms with loneliness becomes strength.
In December 2024, forced eviction will take place around the Airin Labor and Welfare Center, and the area will move forward with reconstruction. This workers' town that supported the 1970 Osaka Expo will undergo another transformation.
For the past few years, we have been raising our voices in our desire to build an arts center on the former site that would hold the memories and records of Kamagasaki and hand them over to the future, where creativity, dialogue, and exchange for living in the present can be born and where people can work together. However, there are no signs of this coming to fruition.
Kamagasaki is a city that thinks deeply about living and working. We want to create opportunities and places for travelers and locals to share experiences and communicate beyond language barriers with the rapidly increasing number of foreigners in the neighborhood.
I hereby declare:
Never give up. Kamagasaki Art Center.
When you're ready to die, bring out all the expressions, humor, and ingenuity of unknown people!
*Semba Excel Building is open for a limited time, while Kamagasaki University of the Arts in Nishinari is open 365 days a year.
Profile
It has been open since 2012 in Kamagasaki, Nishinari Ward, Osaka City. It is run by the NPO Cocoroom. The town of Kamagasaki is like a university, and with the motto "if there are people who want to learn together, that's the university," it holds around 80-100 courses a year in subjects such as astronomy, aesthetics, and choral singing at various local facilities. In recent years, with the aging of Kamagasaki's residents, it has focused on memories and records, and operates as a "place for encounters and expression." It also provides courses at nearby high schools and junior high schools, and holds collaborative courses with Osaka University.
In 2019, with the help of Hasuoka, who has been digging wells for Peshawar-Kai, and under the guidance of former day laborers in Kamagasaki, 700 people including children, travelers, and refugees dug a well with shovels. With the rebuilding of the Airin Labor Welfare Center in front of JR and Nankai Railway's Shin-Imamiya Station, they are imagining building a "Kamagasaki Arts Center" at this location.
Exhibitions, performances, etc.: Yokohama Triennale 2014, Arts Maebashi "Forest of Expression" (2016), Bird Theater Festival (2016), Ooka Makoto Word Museum "Kamagei has arrived!" (2017), Lumbini Museum "This is a great town. This is - Days at Kamagasaki University of the Arts" (2018), Saitama International Art Festival (2019), Osaka Kansai International Art Festival (2022), etc.
![[Held from April to October] Kamagasaki University of the Arts is looking for participants for its Nishinari Art Tour!](http://osaka-kansai.art/cdn/shop/files/kamagasaki_tour_thum_533x.jpg?v=1745033628)