top of page
Published an ENGLISH version of our activities 2020-2022 in a BOOK.

The age of core members of Unit Ulus range from those in their 20s to 70s, and those taking part include not only artists and students but also farmers, a lumberjack, and a gardener. The power of art, which is inherent in all human beings, has always gently pushed us to overcome problems.
 

                Click on Book image to view all pages in English. (52MB)

                                               

ArtofNORA(E).png
ARROW.gif
CIMG8259.jpeg

Art of Nora(= Art of the Fields) 2024  Breathing the Earth / Leaflet

Signal fires will be held simultaneously in Minuma and on the west coast of the U.S. as a sign that charcoal is returned to the earth and used for agriculture.

Social Art/Unit Ulus

Participating

Hiromasa Tayga Abe, sculptor, Chiba, Japan & Perugia, ltaly

Wakako Emori, artist, Kanagawa

Takeshi Hagiwara, lumberjack, Saitama

Tetsuya Hagiwara, farmer, Saitama

Chikako Hasegawa, sculptor, Tokyo

Kuniyoshi Ishii, gardener, Saitama

INAKA PUROJECT, farming company

Morin Tami with Hisato Yamamoto, musical performer,Tokyo

Tetsukazu Moriyama, Institute of Archaeoogica Figurative Arts, Tokyo

Hajime Nakamura, shishimai (lion dance), Saitama

Ken Nemoto, student, Architecture Dept. Musashino Art Univ. Saitama

Yu Ohara, moving image artist, Saitama

Shogo Okuda, architect, Chiba

Hirofumi Shibuta, kite craftman Tokyo

Hiroto Sou, dancer, Tokyo

Tsuguo Yanai,washi artist, Saitama

Nobuo Yoshikawa, moving image artist, Kanagawa

Fukuichi Yoshida,artist, Tokyo

 

 

Cooperation

Farm in Sagiyama : Satomi Hagiwara(representative)

NPO Minuma Farm 21 : Yumiko Shimada(representative)

SU Farm : Representative : Minehito Okamoto

Future Heritage Minuma Rice Field Project Promotion Committee : Norio Kitahara

Minuma 100 Year Plan Association : Akiko Mizuno

Art and City Tour Project Implementation Committee : SMF(Saitama Muse Forum)

Life Art Research Committee, Institute of Environmental Arts and Design

Leamed-scape Sightama

Kiryokukan

Saitama Railway Corporation

Chuetsu Pulp&Paper Co.Ltd.

Mochizuki Printing Co.Ltd.

Open Street Co.Ltd.

Script Co.Ltd.

Risa Ito

Megumi Ishibashi

Koji Ishizaki

Kazuhiro Takabatake

Yumiko Yoshitake

Project leaders

Hiromasa Tayga Abe

Ken Nemoto

Fukuichi Yoshida

History of Social Art

Jan 2002  Founded by Fukuichi Yoshida in Senkawa, Chofu City, Tokyo

Apr 2005  Office moved to Kokuryo, Chofu City, Tokyo

Jul   2010  Charcoal kiln set up at Kojima Farm, Onoji, Machida City, Tokyo.

Closed in 2015,

Dec 2011  Formation of the activity unit 'Unit Ulus', which has been putting on

various projects since.

July 2015  Office moved to Ochiai, Tama, Tokyo

Jan 2018  Social Art Terayama Branch established in Terayama, Midori-ku,

Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture with Tetuya Hagiwara as the representative.

Feb 2018  Charcoal kiln set up at Kaminoda, Midori-ku, Saitama City.

'Charcoal Burning Association' set up by Fukuichi Yoshida.

切り身になった今完成4-5 HP用.jpeg

About Social Art/Unit Ulus

The name 'Ulus' was first proposed by the artist, Hiromasa Tayga Abe when he was exhibiting in 2011 in the Mobile Museum, a touring exhibition project organised by the Museum of Modern Art Saitama, as a member of Social Art whose work was presented in a yurt. Abe felt then that what Social Art was aiming to achieve was the same as the concept of ‘ulus’, which in modern Mongolian means ‘nation’ but in the ancient language meant ‘vortex of people’, and defines a concept that refers to a self-sustaining assembly of people without borders.Considering the history of Mongoloid migration, it seems likely that this spirit was passed on to the Jomon people who settled in Japan and probably resides somewhere deep in our collective memory. It is a historical tendency towards self-reliance, independence, unity and maintaining of a certain level of trust. The Unit Ulus (vortex) aims to reflect, to share and to experience together the source of creativity, and to transmit wisdom, placing great importance on communication between people as they come into contact with nature through the earth.

Art as a way of actively touching the world. It approaches gently and encourages you, providing you with strength to overcome obstacles. People connect with each other and amplify their energy like a vortex. It engages with society, sharing the power of art.

Unit Ulus’s current activities are rooted in the community and combine the creativity of agriculture with the creativity of art.

How ‘Art of Nora’ came about

Social Art was established in 2002 at Fukuichi Yoshida's exhibition, ’Social Art Exhibition: THE Ichiba’ (ichiba means market in Japanese). At the time of its conception, the collective was simply named Social Art, using the term as a proper noun for the purpose of constructing the concept of

social art. Between 2008 and 2010, Social Art defined social nature of art as social capital and exhibited works such as The Menko-ya Rokumondo, Pizza Mobile and Shichirindo (kitchen car) using seven rickshaws, collectively named Jiriki Koseisha (autonomous welfare cart).

In 2011, Social Art created a unit within the collective, called Ulus, which practiced charcoal burning and focused on agriculture as a basis for life. After Unit Ulus created their first charcoal kiln work in 2011, they went on to produce charcoal clay works with water purification function, objects made from bamboo charcoal which also contributed to the maintenance of overgrown bamboo forests, and charcoal works made from various waste materials such as food residue. ‘Hut conferences’ were held in one of the three yurts constructed out of bamboo and the during the TANBO project in 2016, 20m long straw paper was made in rice paddies, led by Tsuguo Yanai. The participants became acutely aware that the key to solving the problems of modern society lies hidden in the way farming is carried out. At the same time, they conducted rice husk burning which is beneficial for the soil, in Niigata and Saitama, and made earthenware brazier. Unit Ulus has been organising various projects, such as on- site exhibitions and associated workshops, over the years. Since 2017, a charcoal kiln has been installed at an organic farm, Farm in Sagiyama in Saitama City, gradually expanding their activities. Around the same time, Unit Ulus also began working with Yuuki no Sato Towa in Fukushima prefecture, a village known as ‘home of organic farming’, and were able to experience the vitality of satoyama*(p3). The idea for the term ‘Art of Nora’ was suggested by head of the farm.

bottom of page