Artist
Artist
OKUNAKA Akihito
Japan
INTER-WORLD/Cocooner: Apparent motion of celestial bodies
Works by Akihito Okunaka are soft sculptures that amplify phenomena occurring in Earth's environment through the interaction of air, water, and sunlight. The artist believes that "humans resemble air, water, and the sun," and through his creations, visually and experientially presents the relationship between ourselves and the world around us.
The title of this work, Cocooner, evokes the slang term referring to someone withdrawn into a cocoon-like state. Amidst the uncertainties pervading society, Okunaka questions whether humanity itself is trapped within a cocoon created by human actions during the Anthropocene epoch.
Embedded within this piece is the artist’s hope for humanity to break free from the outdated, anthropocentric cocoon and emerge, spreading wings as beings essential in a more cosmic context.
Profile
Akihito Okunaka was born in 1981 in Kyoto Prefecture, where he is currently based. He is an artist, co-director of AOIoA, and head of the Experiential Art Course at the Yamashiro Cultural Center in Kizugawa City, Kyoto Prefecture.
After graduating from the Shizuoka University Department of Education, Okunaka specialized in art education for children and worked as an instructor at the Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art and at facilities for disabled people, teaching art and play. Okunaka then studied modern and contemporary theory before becoming an artist. He has received grants from the Nomura Foundation and the Asahi Shimbun Foundation, among others, and has dedicated himself to study in France, Korea, and China as a research fellow. With the theme of pursuing the dynamics of people, things, and matters through the lens of water, air, and light, he has held many workshops at regional art spaces around Japan and exhibited large-scale experiential artworks both domestically and internationally as an artist making with the public.
Akihito Okunaka Website
AO Institute of Arts Website
Instagram
Credits
Sponsorship:
KAGOYA JAPAN Inc., Yamashiro Art Foundation
Cooperation:
Sumika Sekisui Film Co., Ltd., Teraoka Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Hologram Supply Co., Ltd., Kizugawa City Yamashiro Cultural Center Aspia Yamashiro, AOIoA
Collaborators：
Aimo, akira_you, Oscow over the Moon, Yui Kobayashi, Toro, Junna Ashida, Ken Nakamuro, Takayuki Narita, Haruna Noda, Yukiharu Nishikawa, Takeshi Fujiki, Suzuka Funakoshi, Satsuki Yamada, Mizuho Yamamoto, NEO Universe, Shigeo Ozawa, Keita Kojima, Maimi Takayama, Kurumi Mori, Maki Noguchi, In addition, everyone who participated in the production of works at the Co-Creation Open Atelier.
Partner City
Matsubara City
Sponsorship
