Juan Ford, 2015 Nakanojo Biennale Japan

The 2015 Nakanojo Biennale will take place in the Gunma Prefecture and include the work of 132 groups of artists and collaborators. Melbourne based-artist Juan Ford will join 19 artists from 6 countries in the Tomasz Wendland curated project Empty Garden as a key international program of the 2015 edition.

Ford will create an installation that will utilise tens of thousands of black bird silhouette stickers, attached to these abandoned surfaces. Ford will work with the local Nakanojo community and other participating artists to generate the installation. The resultant aesthetic determines itself in an unpredictable manner. The visual outcome is therefore unknown, but each bird may be imagined to represent a free person, and when used in great profusion they may signify population. Depending on how they are placed, they can present demographic ideas such as overpopulation, migration, emigration, static or active populations, and much more.

The Nakanojo Biennale will take place in 37 locations over 6 areas in the Gunma Prefecture in Nakanojo town. Including abandoned schools, the Nakanojo Station, onsen town of Shima Onsen and Sawatari Onsen, Kuni and Isama districts, which have been certified as the most beautiful villages in Japan.  Juan Fordis a Melbourne based artist who has exhibited in Asia, Europe and the USA. Ford is presented at the Nakanojo Biennale by Asialink Arts.