Japantown Mandala and Multimedia Arts Installation
April 9 – May 16, 2015
Gallery & Community Hours: Friday, Saturday & Sunday 1-6pm
Opening Reception: Thursday April 9, 5-8pm
Film Series: April 11, 12, 18 & 19  6:30-9pm
FREE
Location:  Japan Center, East Mall, 22 Peace Plaza, Suite 525, San Francisco, CA 94115
RSVP Online [tickets]
Facebook event [link]

What is the soul of a place? The Japantown Mandala is an arts and media installation that visually represents the resilience and beauty of a deeply rooted San Francisco community facing transformation. Critically acclaimed artist Nancy Hom will create an impermanent interchangeable work of art shaped in concentric circles, in collaboration with community members, that will transform a collection of personal experiences into an integrated whole. The Japantown Mandala, like a single drop of rain will create concentric circles of effervescence that will emanate beyond the artwork itself reaching throughout the community and beyond.

The multimedia arts installation includes visual art, sound, video, and performance, featuring emerging Bay Area artists Marissa Bergmann, Charlene Kelley, Junho Kim, Eryn Kimura, Yuki Maruyama, Elena Nielsen, Celi Tamayo-Lee, Ayana Yonesaka. These artists explore intercultural intersections across space and time, generations, cultures. Kevin King is creating a pagoda sculpture that mirrors the landmark SF Japantown Peace Pagoda, a gift of the City of Osaka in 1968. Audience members are invited to contribute their responses and have them displayed on the pagoda.