The origins of 'Konpanchita'

One day, a roll of canvas that one of my friends had ordered caused a few problems for the postal delivery man. The address which it had been made out to, 'Konpanchita', didn't exist. I suppose the order desk clerk must have misheard the name when receiving the order.
'Honkan-chika' had ended up sounding like 'Konpanchita'. This 'honkan-chika', (本館地下, meaning, 'basement of the main building' in Japanese), was a place we had sometimes used as an atelier when we were students at Tama University of Arts. It was physical and functionally like a kind of extra pied-à-terre for us since the original atelier was not so handy. It was a place like a plaza or a passage where the people could meet easily, and it functioned in just the same manner as a "town in which companions gathered as they want", a compagn'città in Italian.

About the exhibition

The name 'Konpanchita' was an accidental product. However, we here define 'Konpanchita' as a fictitious 'town' enabling positive communication with others, and set it as the name of our exhibition. Here, artists of the same generation with various ideas and concepts come together and work together on various collaborations. We present this 'Konpanchita' as the catalyst for a new, gentle network, as a result of this spontaneous chain of events.

Artists: Kato Syohei　Kawano Midori　Kikuchi Yosaku　Saki　Seino Kanae　Hori Ayano　Mari-Low　Yamaguchi Ayano