Art Kids EXPO 2008 took place in The Ueno Royal Museum and Ueno Park, and as one of its art projects, children sent invitations to their grandfathers, friends, teachers, headmasters, anyone associated with particular memories, mass media and educational institutions, whoever they wanted to invite.
The visitors took ceremonial photos with the drawing invitations they received. They wrote “thank you cards” to the kids who invited them, which were posted in a special mailbox at the site.
After the exhibition, the photos and messages were given to the children, creating heart to heart communication with the guests.
About 4000 students from the art classes (about 90 classes) run by “Education Through Art”, wrote at least two drawing invitations each.
Words like “Please come” from the children get to the heart of grownup guests.
There were 18,000 visitors and most of them are smiling in the photos. Despite some anxiety, they willingly agreed to take part in commemorative photographs.
This is all thanks to the months of preparation by the teachers of the art classes and their thorough explanation of the aim of the project to the students and their parents.
The pictures were printed out on site and displayed at the museum exit. Smiles in the pictures and smiles evoked by them enhanced the pleasant atmosphere of the “Art Kids Expo 2008”.
There have been a lot of such heart-warming messages. The project was born out of the hope that children would experience something which cannot be expressed through e-mails and phone calls. It was not only the children but also we, the staff, who were much affected.
koichiro yamamoto 2008
Message Card