Press Release　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　（A point in time on February 15）

The Second Akihabara City Video Installation AKIHABARA TV

*Outline of the project*

This will be the second international video art show to take place in Akihabara - Tokyo's famous electric town. The project will run from March 16th to March 29th, 2000. "Akihabara TV" is based on a very simple but unique idea - to change the ordinary view of Akihabara through the showing of site specific video art on monitors and TV screens throughout the town.
There are hundreds of shops and buildings in Akihabara selling high-tech machinery and goods, TV monitors, video decks and computers.
The project will utilize as many of these televisions and monitors as possible for the installation.
Short video works by 32 artists from 12 different countries will be shown. Visitors to Akihabara will automatically become the audience and, in seeing art in such an ordinary situation, will be given an opportunity to experience art in a different way to that normally offered in museums or galleries.
The dramatic developments in technology, in hardware, make themselves obvious in the area, but in the meantime, what part has any software or what is shown on these screens contributed to the development of this site? By projecting art into a public space, this show will question the meaning of visual information in this visually diverse world, which may also force us to consider the controversial position of video art in art history.

The first Akihabara TV happened in 1999, and drew a great deal of attention from many different audiences as well as various kinds of media.
In this second project we would like to work in closer co-operation with local people and municipal corporations, and also with more of the up and coming international artists in our network.

*Information Center Open!
The information center of Akihabara TV will be temporarily set up for visitors. Located just in the middle of Akihabara, here people will be able to get all the information about the Akihabara TV, as well as watch the video works at the gallery space. The artist's previous video works and documentation will also be available to give more information to visitors.

*Project dates:
This project will run from March 16th to March 29th, 2000
*Place of Exhibition
On TV Monitors or computers and DVDs in electric consumer goods shops in Akihabara.
*Project committee
The show will be organized by command N and the Akihabara TV project team.
*Sponsor & Fund
This project will be funded by The Japan Art Fund, the Japan Foundation. It will also be partly supported by Shiseido Co. Ltd., Chiyoda Matsushita Consumer Electronics Corporation, Toshiba Chuo Life Electronics, Sony Marketing Corporation and other companies.
*This project is made possible with the kind support of ART BY XEROX, Akihabara Electric Town Promotion Association and Chiyoda Urban Design NPO
*Special support for DVD
Attain Co., LTD.

★List of artists

Masato Nakamura (Japan)
Noboru Tsubaki (Japan)
Yukio Fujimoto (Japan)
Hideki Nakazawa (Japan)
Kazuhiko Hachiya (Japan)
Akane Asaoka (Japan)
ROOT R (Japan)
Ayako Yoshimura (Japan)
Saki Satom (Japan)
Parco Kinoshita (Japan)
Atsushi Ito (Japan)
Masayuki Watanabe (Japan)
Shunsuke Kamata (Japan)
Takeshi Kusu (Japan)
Patricia Piccinini (Australia)
Ian Haig (Australia)
Jacinta Schreuder (Australia)
Alasdair Duncan (UK)
Peter Bellars (UK)
Kristin Lucas (USA)
Lynne Yamamoto & Lucretia Knapp (USA)
Erich Weiss (Belgium)
Philippe Chatelain (France)
Lilian Bourgeat & Luc Adami (France)
Almut Rink (Austria)
Manuel Saiz (Spain)
Josef Maria Martin (Spain)
Geert Mul (Netherlands)
Kamol Phaoasavasdi (Thailand)
Michael Shaowanasai (Thailand)
Gregory Maass (Germany)
York der Knoefel (Germany)
Nayoung Kim (korea)

The selection of participants has been made through knowledge of the individual artist's work or through expressions of interest in Akihabara made by artists visiting our project head quarters.
*Also two non-profit art spaces overseas have been incorporated as co-curatiors:
-Gertrude 200 Street (Melbourne) and
-Project 304 (Bangkok)

*Special performance
March 19th and 20th
Akitsugu Maebayashi "Sonic Interface" on the weekend street of Akihabara

Alasdair Duncan "The New Future II"
Alasdair Duncan's performances present an extrodinary mix of retro-future funk with a bad noise aesthetic and an hypnotically stunning, primitive and poor future-modernist computer generated visual spectacular. Following his resounding success across Europe this is a rare and unique opportunity to see Duncan performing in Japan.

Kristin Lucas "Simulcast mobile kit#1"
"Simulcast is about connection, reception, reflection, and deflection. To simulcast is to shape ambient and competing energies that effect one's mind and body." There was a mission from Kristin Lucas in NY to Tokyo's simulcaster. "Give simulcast mobile kit #1 to the visitors in AKihabara."try our new product, thank you"

*Please ask details about artists and events*

for more information, please contact to
Chiaki Sakaguchi
e-mail: chiaki-s@ga2.so-net.ne.jp

command N
1-7-1-1F, Soto-Kanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0021 Tel 81-3- 5297-3506　Fax 81-3 -5297-3507