Graffiti Takes Over Mito City

Photos by Tsuyoshi Saito

Mito, the capital of Japan’s Ibaraki prefecture, could accurately be described as sleepy, but that’s starting to change in large part due to Art Tower Mito.

ATM is a hybrid art center that houses a contemporary art gallery, a concert hall, and a movie theater, and it’s building a name for producing groundbreaking exhibits and events that draw crowds from Tokyo, its neighbor of 100 kilometers.

ESOW, KRESS, DICE, DEPAS

Founded as a centennial birthday present from the city to itself, ATM is entirely funded by the city and receives 1% of the city’s budget annually, which equates to roughly USD $8 million in funding. With this money, ATM produces provocative events that sometimes provide controversy and dramatic discussions amongst Mito’s citizens. One such event is the X-Color/Graffiti in Japan Exhibition organized by ATM’s contemporary art curator Kenji Kubota in October 2005. Thirty-four Japanese graffiti artists, including ZYS, Sasu, Kami, Esow, and Casper were asked to exhibit their work in the gallery as well as create site-specific paintings in the heart of downtown Mito. The urban planning group of Mito worked with landowners to secure the walls of private property for the exhibition. As in the rest of Japan, graffiti is very much a crime in Mito, and as expected, some of the 250,000 residents of Mito called the cops.

But Kubota, anticipating this response, had alerted police in advance that the graffiti was part of an exhibition. The police would answer these calls with, “Sir, that is not a crime, that is art.” Surprisingly, there were no protests or further citizen complaints. Some even brought writers food or invited them into their houses for dinner. Mito residents were intrigued about the art, and much discussion about graffiti and art ensued.

ZYS

On why he chose to do a show on graffiti, Kubota replied: “It was a huge chance to change people’s perspectives about the city, property, and social ills. It raised discussions about whether public museums should spend their (tax) money on graffiti (a crime?). Is graffiti still powerful when displayed in the gallery or legal walls? A number of citizens were concerned that illegal graffiti would increase in Mito after the show.”

Though the exhibit closed in December of last year, ten out of the 13 city sites are still standing. Of the other three, “one building was torn down, one construction site was finished, and one had to be buffed because the citizens complained about the content (graffiti with horror film images).” The conversation generated by the exhibition will probably continue for some time, and during that time Kubota is trying to persuade the city government to use more street art to breathe life to downtown Mito.

Though the city population is steady at 250,000, the heart of the city, downtown Mito, is slowly losing its population to the suburbs with its lure of huge shopping malls and parking spaces. Street art, Kubota reasons, would be a brave counter to the exodus, and would draw artists into the heart of a city that loves and supports its art.