Posted:Jun 5, 2010

SICF: The Next Generation

The annual SICF at Spiral was a four-day showcase, highlighting up-and-coming talent in the fields of painting, graphics, design and fashion.

Every year the SIFC aims to bring gifted artists and designers to wider public attention. One hundred artists and design units together represented the gamut of genres, each one with a chance of being selected for prizes and commendations at the end of the four days.

Unlike similar projects such as GEISAI and Design Festa, SIFC is a curated competition, with artists being assessed in a first round and only selected ones being allowed to exhibit. The result is a smaller, tighter kind of event with a lot of talent on display.

Judges included Fumio Nanjo (Mori Museum of Art) and Shigeki Hattori (graf).

TABlog went along to Spiral to catch the final day of the fair, taking in the second of the two fifty-booth selections.

Photo: William Andrews

Kowase Moriyasu's 'don't work too hard but don't slack off' offers advice for us all.
Kowase Moriyasu's 'don't work too hard but don't slack off' offers advice for us all.
Photo: William Andrews

Design unit mimmog created large napkins as extra suits of clothing you wear over your garments.
Design unit mimmog created large napkins as extra suits of clothing you wear over your garments.
Photo: William Andrews

Mika Aoki's glass sculpture works won her the top prize, the Grand Prix.
Mika Aoki's glass sculpture works won her the top prize, the Grand Prix.
Photo: William Andrews

Which bear is the artist? Which is the 'work'? Mao Oishi won the runner-up Prix for her performance art installation.
Which bear is the artist? Which is the 'work'? Mao Oishi won the runner-up Prix for her performance art installation.
Photo: William Andrews

Probably the most provocative work on display, Keiko Kitahara's exhibits asked explicit questions.
Probably the most provocative work on display, Keiko Kitahara's exhibits asked explicit questions.
Photo: William Andrews

Manipulated graphics and photographs by Masaya Eiraku.
Manipulated graphics and photographs by Masaya Eiraku.
Photo: William Andrews

Kakeru Asagi's photos showed the artist camouflaged against the Yokohama landscape.
Kakeru Asagi's photos showed the artist camouflaged against the Yokohama landscape.
Photo: William Andrews
Photo: William Andrews

Photo: William Andrews

William Andrews

William Andrews

William Andrews came to Japan in 2004. He first lived in Osaka, where he was a translator for Kansai Art Beat. Arriving in Tokyo in 2008, he now works as an writer, editor and translator. He writes a blog about Japanese radicalism and counterculture and one about Tokyo contemporary theatre. He is the author of Dissenting Japan: A History of Japanese Radicalism and Counterculture, from 1945 to Fukushima.