Naoko Mabon has contributed a text to introduce On Sonorous Seas to the latest Bijutsutecho issue (April 2023, special feature: Black Art). Triggered by one stranded whale came ashore at North end of the Isle of Iona, this project explores the impact of military sonar on the marine ecosystem around the Hebrides in Scotland and gives voice to invisible/hard-to-see things in the deep seas.
For more on the issue and to order a copy, please click here.
Naoko Mabon has contributed a text woven from the perspective of translation through her own experience to the Storytelling Table Runner focused section in the new issue of Bijutsutecho magazine (Jan 2023 issue) featuring the practice of the artist Tomoko Konoike.
For more on the issue and to order a copy, please click here.
Torry Ecomuseum Project “Torry-Yubari Exchange” Second Season
トリー・エコミュージアム・プロジェクト「トリーと夕張の交流」第二季
To go to the Instagram account of Torry-Yubari Exchange, please click here.
For more on Torry Ecomuseum Project, please click here.
インスタグラム「トリーと夕張の交流」はこちらをご覧ください。
トリー・エコミュージアム・プロジェクトについてはこちらをご覧ください。
Such an honour and pleasure to be included in the Journal of the Scottish Society for Art History amongst other experts with a paper “International Conglomerate: Collaborations of Ilana Halperin and Naoko Mabon Between Scotland and Japan”.
Many congratulations and thank you very much to all the organising, editing, reviewing and designing team at the Scottish Society for Art History, and of course, to Ilana. Thank you also Dr Leslie Mabon of the School of Engineering and Innovation, The Open University, for support with proofreading and with English language phrasing.
Journal launch event (online) is planned in January 2023.
For more on the Scottish Society for Art History, please click here.
TOA Film Club Oban, 6x monthly environmental justice film screenings + discussions (from September 2022 to March 2023, apart from December) to nurture momentum and empower more actions from Oban towards a fairer and more sustainable world, begins Friday 30 September 2022.
6.30pm at Oban Phoenix Cinema (Screen2). £3 each, all welcome. (January screening starts 10.15am)
You can book your ticket at Oban Phoenix Cinema’s website: www.obanphoenix.com
Each screening is followed by an approx. 30min relaxed group discussion/reflection around the film. This is supported by Dr Leslie Mabon (Lecturer in Environmental Systems, Open University) who is an expert in the topic of climate change in the coastal community and environmental justice context.
TOA Film Club Oban is led by WAGON with support from Oban Youth Cafe and Oban Phoenix Cinema. Part of the Film Club programme of Take One Action Film Festivals.
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Naoko Mabon has been awarded the VACMA 21/22 (Argyll & Bute) through CHARTS (supported by funders Argyll and Bute Council and Creative Scotland). This support enables Naoko to enrol on a supported distance learning Gaelic course by Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, University of the Highlands and Islands, to listen and respond to often invisible and historically underrepresented voices and issues of specific localities.
To read more on the VACMA 21/22 awardees and their projects, please click here.
“What might shift in our understanding of and relationship with geology and geological time, if we imagine ourselves as part of the rock cycle? As part of a deep time calcium carbonate family tree from coral, limestone and marble to our teeth and bones?” − Ilana Halperin
The Rock Cycle (Yamaguchi) is a cross-disciplinary exhibition connecting Yamaguchi, in Japan, and Orkney, in Scotland.
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As part of this year’s Orkney International Science Festival, there will be an afternoon of activities focusing on the exhibition The Rock Cycle (Yamaguchi) at The Pier Arts Centre on Saturday 3 September, 2.00-4.30pm.
Ilana Halperin: The Rock Cycle (Yamaguchi) is a cross-disciplinary project connecting Yamaguchi, in Japan, and Orkney, curated by Naoko Mabon. The exhibition features new works from Halperin, developed both in Japan and Scotland, alongside thematically resonant works by Yamaguchi-based artists Yoshihisa Nakano and Keijiro Suzuki.
The event involves talks from Halperin and geologist Dr John Flett Brown, as well as exhibition tour with artists and “wind” themed field workshop by Suzuki. The admission for the event is £10 and spaces are limited, so booking is essential through the Orkney International Science Festival website: https://oisf.org/fest-event/the-rock-cycle-yamaguchi/
Naoko Mabon will be acting as an interpreter in the upcoming Stitching Wonder workshop on Saturday 30th July 2022, 6-8pm (AEST, GMT +10), which is part of the Storytelling Cushions project of artist Tomoko Kōnoike. Storytelling Cushions has been evolved from Storytelling Table Runner, a long-running project that Kōnoike has been conducting since 2014. This hybrid in-person/online workshop is jointly organised and hosted by the Festival Of The Fantastic In Australian And Japanese Arts, and The Japan Foundation, Sydney‘s exhibition Storymakers in Contemporary Japanese Art (curated by Emily Wakeling and Mayako Murai).
For more information about the workshop and book a free ticket, please click here.
Climate Action Points poster was designed and printed as part of the series of activities supported and delivered by Mandate Climate Action Fund of Scottish Contemporary Art Network & Engage Scotland.
These action points and questions were raised during the Climate Fresk workshops (co-)facilitated by Naoko Mabon in February-June 2022 across Scotland: Edinburgh, Helmsdale, Iona and online.
A few physical posters in A2 are still remaining, and a printable digital format is available on request. If you are interested in receiving them, please feel free to contact.
Climate Fresk is a participatory and creative workshop of collective intelligence that aims to engage people on climate change. Based on a 42-card game developed from the scientific reports of IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), Climate Fresk explains the complex links between causes and consequences of climate change, and empowers actions.
Naoko Mabon has contributed a text to the new collection Felt Events, which explores the multifaceted conceptual practice of the artist Ilana Halperin. Edited by Dr Catriona McAra.
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Naoko Mabon is facilitating a Climate Fresk workshop on Iona. At the Iona Village Hall on Thursday 16 June 2022, 2pm. It is a free, 2-hour workshop, best suited for people over 14 years of age. Place is limited (up to 8 people) – please book here.
Organisational support generously given by Heinz Toller and Iona Village Hall Community Trust. Supported and delivered by SCAN and Engage Scotland.
Climate Fresk is a participatory and creative workshop of collective intelligence that aims to engage people on climate change. Based on a 42-card game developed from the IPCC reports, this workshop explains the complex links between causes and consequences of climate change, and empowers actions. For more on the Climate Fresk, please click here.
Naoko Mabon is running a Climate Fresk workshop with the youth club programme at Timespan in Helmsdale. On Thursday 21 April, a day before Earth Day 2022. This activity is supported by the Mandate Climate Action Fund of SCAN and Engage Scotland.
Climate Fresk is a participatory and creative workshop of collective intelligence that aims to engage people on climate change. Based on a 42-card game developed from the IPCC reports, this workshop explains the complex links between causes and consequences of climate change, and empowers actions. For more on the Climate Fresk, please click here.
Naoko Mabon contributed a text on Tomoko Konoike’s Storytelling Table Runner project to Japan Quality magazine (web version). The text is based on Naoko’s experience as a translator/mediator in the June-2021 event featuring the project as part of Neighbouring programme of Glasgow International.
The same text has been also featured in The Drouth, the host platform of the Neighbouring programme.
Warmest thanks go to: Akane Nakamori at Suisei-Art; Japan Quality magazine; Tomoko Konoike; Mayako Murai; Yuko Shoji; Johnny Rodger at The Drouth; Glasgow International; and all the event organisers and participants namely: Mónica Laiseca; Carol Dunn; Jessica Holdengarde; Megan Lucille Boettcher; and Stefanie Cheong.
To read the piece in the Japan Quality, please click here.
To read the piece in The Drouth, please click here.
Undertaken by Naoko Mabon (curator) and Deborah Gray (textile artist), Oban Heritage of Colours explores the dyeing and growing heritage of Oban, and the origins and heritage of the dye plants growing in the Dye Garden at The Rockfield Centre, Oban. The project is culminated with an interactive digital map of historical growing sites, a collection of writings and pictures of dye plants at the Dye Garden, a natural dyeing workshop and a future potential for guided walks. Presented by The Rockfield Centre in Oban as part of Heritage Horizon programme of CHArts with support from Scottish Power Foundation.
For more on the project, please visit: www.therockfieldcentre.org.uk/heritageofcolours
On 5 February 2022, Naoko Mabon run a kite-making workshop on the Isle of Mull. Organised by Emily Wilkins of the Mull and Iona Ranger Service, and hosted by Miek Zwamborn & Rutger Emmelkampy of Knockvologan Studies.
Read MoreNaoko Mabon together with Ilana Halperin will present what has been brought out from our collaborations to date between Scotland and Japan in the “Scotland and Japan Conference”. This two-day international conference on 10-11 February has been organised by the Scottish Society for Art History (SSAH) in partnership with The National Museum of Japanese History among all other colleagues and experts.
For more on the conference and to book a ticket, please click here.
Naoko Mabon among other creative practitioners has been awarded the Mandate Climate Action Fund, delivered in partnership between SCAN & Engage Scotland and supported by Creative Scotland. The fund is designed to help SCAN and Engage members undertake training with a climate or sustainability focus, develop creative activity with a sustainability focus or acquire materials that support climate adaptation in their creative practice.
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Naoko Mabon has contributed to Not From Here, Sluice magazine’s Autumn 2021 issue. To respond to the theme of the issue “immigrants”, Naoko wrote a text around the 2018 project in São Paulo entitled Kyojitsu-Hiniku: Between the Skin and the Flesh of Japan, which explored the identity of Nipo-Brazilian, developed through a process and consequence of the physical movement of people (featured work by: Juliana Kase; Takanori Suga; Detanico Lain; Satoshi Hashimoto; Hikaru Fujii).
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Naoko Mabon has been invited to be a part of Magical Octopus Sequel. It’s a group show inspired by a the Magical Octopus book about the Knockvologan shoreline which was awarded Best Dutch Book Design 2020.
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Naoko Mabon has been invited to be one of the panels in the reflection event “TOTEM LATAMAT and COP26”, exploring the meaning of the totem’s journey to COP26, and its presence at The Hidden Gardens in Glasgow.
TOTEM LATAMAT by Totonac artist Jun Tiburcio, has travelled over 9000km from Mexico to the UK to finally get to Glasgow, for the duration of COP26 and will be in The Hidden Gardens between 28 October – 14 November.
A panel from Indigenous and non-Indigenous backgrounds, who have different but complementary perspectives on Climate Change, will explore the meaning of the totem’s journey to COP26, and its presence at The Hidden Gardens. This will be an engaging and lively conversation, that will enable reflections post COP26.
To book your free ticket, please visit the Eventbrite page.
Honoured to be invited to be part of “Towards the Water – Ecotone” Folio, conceived by Deirdre MacKenna and produced by Cultural Documents for the Dunoon Burgh Hall COP26 Season, with funding from Creative Scotland.
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Over the 1st and 2nd of November, at the beginning of COP26, Renuka Ramanujam (artist/designer/writer) and Naoko Mabon (curator) have created the “COP” and “Oban’s Climate Future” window display at Oban Youth Cafe Project.
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Join Torry Ecomuseum Project‘s celebratory open day involving an exhibition and a coastal walk to mark the completion of the 2021 edition of the project.
Everyone is welcome to attend this free event, but the place is limited so booking is essential through Eventbrite page: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/torry-ecomuseum-project-celebratory-open-day-exhibition-and-coastal-walk-tickets-191445848687
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As part of “What the COP?” initiative, Oban Youth Cafe hosts 4 free film screenings & discussions with support from Oban Phoenix Cinema and Oban-based curator Naoko Mabon.
27-30 October, 6.30pm, Oban Phoenix Cinema Screen2
https://www.obanphoenix.com/what-the-cop
Naoko Mabon has been invited to conduct this year’s CLIMAVORE: On Tidal Zones Residency. Click here for more details.
✳︎“How can we collaboratively activate the intertidal zones as a forum for critically thinking about and taking actions towards the climate crisis?”
✳︎“How can we approach, understand and share the complex ecology, stories, heritage and challenges around the intertidal zones in an inclusive way?”
As part of the new On Tidal Zones Residency launched by Skye-based ATLAS Arts and CLIMAVORE of Cooking Sections, Oban-based curator Naoko Mabon will explore these questions through a practice-led action research in her own locale during the summer 2021.
Naoko Mabon was commissioned by The Drouth to write a piece on the ongoing project Ilana Halperin: The Rock Cycle (Yamaguchi) in relation to their Neighbouring project (15-18 June 2021 as part of Glasgow International).
My warmest thanks go to: The Drouth, Prof. Johnny Rodger, Ilana Halperin and all our Japanese and Scottish collaborators. To read Naoko’s piece please click here.
Join us for a talk and discussion to celebrate the launch of the new publication “Ilana Halperin: The Rock Cycle (Yamaguchi)”. 10.30am (BST) Saturday 1st May 2021 via Zoom (English language). Hosted by The Pier Arts Centre in Stromness on Orkney. Free, book here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ilana-halperin-the-rock-cycle-yamaguchi-book-launch-event-tickets-149852423633
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Ilana Halperin: The Rock Cycle (Yamaguchi)
A cross-disciplinary project between Yamaguchi and Scotland
自然科学×現代美術 リサーチとアウトリーチによる
「イラナ・ハルペリン：ロックサイクル（ヤマグチ）− 山口とスコットランドをつなぐ領域横断プロジェクト」
(Beautiful flyer designed by Graphical House – thank you!)
国際交流基金サンパウロ日本文化センターの副所長・山雄起さんによる「Kyojitsu-Hiniku − 日本の皮膚と肉体のはざま」展のインタビューが掲載されました。
Entrevista extensiva de Yuki Yama, da Japan Foundation Sao Paulo, sobre o projeto ‘Kyojitsu-Hiniku: Sob A Pele – Sobre A Carne Do Japão’, no ano passado, para os 110 anos de Imigração Japonesa no Brasil.
Extensive interview by Yuki Yama of Japan Foundation Sao Paulo on ‘Kyojitsu-Hiniku: Between the Skin and the Flesh of Japan’ project last year for The 110 Years of Japanese Immigration in Brazil.
Satoshi Hashimoto ‘Watching Movies with Ropes’ 2018, ropes, video monitor, audience. Hans & Fritz Contemporary, Barcelona.
Curator Naoko Mabon will be hosting Free Association’s November session. Naoko has invited Tokyo based artist, activist, curator and researcher Satoshi Hashimoto to hold an audience-participatory performative workshop within the cinema at CCA.
An afternoon event of stories and Japanese tea. Two Japan-born creative practitioners – Aberdeen-based curator Naoko Mabon and Tokyo-based writer Sayuri Kida, who is currently residing in Edinburgh – will host and share stories that draw on their experience and reflect the essence and focus of the exhibition ‘Treasure’ by Stacey Hunter at The Suttie Arts Space of Grampian Hospitals Art Trust. Specifically, they will speak about the hospitable, generous, sharing, and caring gesture and form in Japanese culture. The stories will be followed by sharing Japanese tea and sweets with the audience.
All the elements within this event will be a reflection of the idea of ‘Ichi-go Ichi-e’. This is a concept developed through Japanese tea ceremony practice, describing the idea that ”the moment we share with particular people at a particular place is unique, and never comes back again”.
Daniel Isaac Jimenez, Miami, FL
’Aberdeen // Yubari’ is a new printmaking project connecting the community and context of two cities built around energy – Aberdeen, Scotland and Yubari, Japan.
「アバディーン // 夕張」は石油・ガスの街として栄えてきたスコットランド・アバディーンと、炭鉱の町として栄えた北海道・夕張市という遠く離れた二都市をつなぐ版画制作プロジェクトです。
Naoko Mabon (as WAGON) has been invited to a panel discussion ‘Tipping Point’ in Assembly Aberdeen – where will be speaking alongside D2 and Kirsty Russell (as Underpinning) on ‘strategies to further build endurance and stability within Aberdeen’s growing grassroots community’.
The Curator’s Workshop is a monthly discussion group, run by Glasgow-based curator Francesca Zappia, open to curators, artists, writers, researchers, students and other arts professionals as well as amateurs interested in a critical reflection around curatorial practices (exhibitions, displays, discursive and performative forms, public engagement…) and related theory. The Curator’s Workshop aims to be a platform open to different perspectives of research and will invite a new professional each month to share material and reflections in order to foster new discussions.
SONIC // ART // BOTANICAL GARDEN
Artist talk by I Chen Lai & audio performance by Silent Chaos
Coordinated by WAGON
Date: Saturday 1st June 2019
Time: 3.30-5.00pm
Venue: Education Room (next to the Japanese Garden), David Welch Winter Gardens, Duthie Park (AB11 7TH)
Inviting different artistic practices and approaches, this event aims to revisit the concept and space of botanical garden. We also hope to develop the experimental capacity of the creative scene in Aberdeen.
Free, anyone welcome. Refreshments provided (**this is a free event but since all involved are independent practitioners, donations are welcome and greatly appreciated. You can make a donation here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sonic-art-botanical-garden-by-i-chen-lai-silent-chaos-tickets-61430142209)
Peacock Associates is Scotland’s first fully-funded Curatorial Fellowship for visual arts.
Naoko Mabon was commissioned by LUX Scotland to write a piece reflecting on On Sharing, Separations, an evening event between artist Tako Taal and curator Seán Elder. The event was held last November at W OR M of Peacock Visual Arts in Aberdeen, as part of LUX Scotland’s pilot programme of events in Aberdeen, supported by Aberdeen City Council’s Creative Funding Programme.
Thank you LUX Scotland, Tako and Sean for this wonderful opportunity.
To read Naoko’s piece please click here.
WAGON is delighted to announce The Rock Cycle (Yamaguchi), a new cross-disciplinary international project with Glasgow-based artist Ilana Halperin between Yamaguchi/Japan and Scotland/UK.
この度 WAGON はグラスゴー在住のアーティスト、イラナ・ハルペリンとともに山口とスコットランドをつなぐ領域横断プロジェクト「ロックサイクル（ヤマグチ）」を行います。
Naoko Mabon contributed a writing piece on a Japanese sculptor Bushiro Mohri (1923-2004) for the website of JAPAN Quality magazine.
Warmest thanks go to Akane Nakamori, JAPAN Quality, Asuka Mohri, Masaki Yanagihara, Sachiko Yanagihara, Ryouhei Yanagihara, Coelacanth – Bushiro Mohri Memorial Museum, Concept Space, Satoshi Mouri, and Leslie Mabon.
To read the piece, please click here.
8h is a new, small, slow and domestic project involving three independent art practitioners and three locations with 8h time difference between.
Thanks to the generous support and advice from the Sculptor Yutaka Toyota and Osamu Matsuo of Bunkyo, we just delivered work by Takanori Suga A Blank Sign “Dripping Project in São Paulo” to the Sports Center Kokushikan Daigaku in São Roque of São Paulo. Thank you so much to all the people who gave us warm support and advice towards the production, storage – and future re-installing. We very much look forward to seeing this piece in the near future.
WAGON is thrilled to announce its new project Kyojitsu-Hiniku: Between the Skin and the Flesh of Japan, a contemporary art exhibition dedicated to 110 Years of Japanese Immigration in Brazil. The exhibition features works by Juliana Kase, Takanori Suga, Detanico Lain, Satoshi Hashimoto and Hikaru Fujii at the Pavilhão Japonês in the Ibirapuera Park in São Paulo, Brazil.
NY-born Glasgow-based artist Ilana Halperin has conducted a two week field research residency as part of the 2018 Residence Fellowship Program of Akiyoshidai International Art Village from 16 May – 29 May 2018.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of YICA (Yamaguchi Institute of Contemporary Arts), Alan Johnston gave a lecture on his artistic journey from a viewpoint of his 30 year relationship with Yamaguchi. It was held on 19th May 2018 at Saiko-tei, a cultural museum with a beautiful garden which used be a high-end Japanese restaurant. Naoko Mabon was involved as an interpreter.
All image courtesy: YICA (Yamaguchi Institute of Contemporary Arts)
WAGON is delighted to announce In Praise of Shadows, the first two-person exhibition between Atsuo Hukuda (b.1958, Hokkaido) and Alan Johnston (b.1945, Edinburgh) in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. Hosted by Suisei-Art, a project space based in a historical Kanazawa Machiya building. Curated by Naoko Mabon.
Shot from ‘Desenhos da paisagem, da cidade e do museu’ course by Evandro Nicolau, MAC USP (Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo)
Conversation and outdoor workshop by Evandro Nicolau (Artist / Researcher and teacher at MAC USP – Museum of Contemporary Art of University of São Paulo)
Date/time: 5th May 2018, 2-5pm
Venue: The W OR M of Peacock Visual Arts (11 Castle Street, Aberdeen AB11 5BQ Scotland)
Free but booking required: landscape-drawings.eventbrite.co.uk
Please join us for an afternoon of conversation and an outdoor workshop led by Evandro Nicolau, Brazilian artist/researcher/teacher who is visiting Scotland to conduct a two week research residency at Art, Space + Nature (ASN), Edinburgh College of Art, The University of Edinburgh.
Naoko Mabon has been selected, alongside other seven Scottish-based curators, for the Curators’ Visit to Japan. Led by British Council Scotland and Creative Scotland, this scoping trip has an aim to develop long-term and even more vibrant partnerships between Scotland and Japan into the future.
◆ Follow Mabon’s daily photo report here: scottish-curators-to-japan.tumblr.com
この度、未来に向け末長く、より活発なパートナシップを構築するため ブリティッシュ・カウンシル・スコットランド と、スコットランド政府の文化芸術機関である クリエイティブ・スコットランド が主催する、日本へのキュレーターズビジットにメイボン尚子が選抜されました。メイボンを含むスコットランドで活動する８名のキュレーターが、2017年10月、横浜・東京を中心に日本のアートシーンを訪ねます。
◆ こちらでメイボンによる毎日更新予定の フォトレポート（バイリンガル） をご覧いただけます。
Mabon will share findings from her recent residency in São Paulo in Guests @ Gray’s, lecture series with invited professionals in art, design and culture at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen on 13th October. She will then invite Coordinators of Überbau_house – Jorge Sepúlveda T. (Independent Curator and Critic, from Chile) and Guillermina Bustos (Artist and Independent Researcher, from Argentina) – to talk about their activities as autonomous initiative in Latin American contemporary art field.
Guests @ Gray’s
‘Residency Report: one-month contemporary art research residency at Überbau_house in São Paulo, Brazil’
Friday 13th October 2017, 1-2pm
Gray’s School of Art, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen
Speaker: Naoko Mabon (guest speakers over Skype: Jorge Sepúlveda T. and Guillermina Bustos of Überbau_house)
Please visit Mabon’s daily photo report during her residency here: one-month-in-sao-paulo.tumblr.com
Naoko Mabon will conduct a one-month research residency at Überbau_house in São Paulo from 31st August to 28th September 2017.
Follow Mabon’s daily photo report here: one-month-in-sao-paulo.tumblr.com
WAGON 