KOSUGE 1-16 is an artist unit comprised of Takashi Tsuchiya & Chishino Kurumada. Based in Tokyo, they are well known for their unique artworks such as the huge table soccer game in the picture above. The name KOSUGE 1-16 is derived from the address where they started their activities. As it suggests, their activities are community based. "Kosuge is an old town where you can still find mochitsu motaretsu (give and take) relationships. Exchanges between residents are quite frequent --we sometimes find dinner in our mailbox when we get home! It made our life richer and more delightful. We wanted to express that through art" Tsuchiya says.
 
Their works--a huge table soccer game, a huge paper sumo game, etc.--are unlike "art" on the surface. So what triggered them to work on such thing? "We like what you call "art" in museums and galleries. However, I also feel it's mainly for art connoisseurs at the same time. In Japan, there is too much focus on technique and the appeal of art is barely grasped by audiences. So we decided to challenge the definition of art in Japan. We've set up a free spirit type of art in everyday spaces, and set off all kinds of opportunities, encounters & connections."
 
KOSUGE 1-16 will be participating in Suito Osaka 2009 as one of the main artists. The title of their work is KOSUGE re-port. "There are 3 projects in KOSUGE re-port. The 1st is AC Nakanoshima. We're going to form a table soccer club that teams can participate in (the stadium building itself will also be built through a workshop--the whole project is a community effort). There will be a competition called the Nakanoshima League held once every 2 weeks.  Tsuchiya continues, "The 2nd project is the Skin project, which reuses old football (soccer) cleats ". A craft workshop will be held during Suito, where you can reuse parts from football shoes to make things like bags. "These 2 projects are related to football, but not about football. They use football as an art source in order to bring people who wouldn't usually have any connection with art. Tsuchiya says, "We want our work to be a "shared folder" of everybody's image. Football is a good platform for that."
 
"The Last project is Riparian Sports Lab, a workshop program to invent new games. After a few workshops, we plan to create a Riparian Sports Catalogue and we'll hold a sports festival." Tsuchiya emphasizes that, "The fun thing about art is that you can create new rules. With sports, you can enjoy rules that somebody else had created, but artists can create their own rules. We want everybody to enjoy that."

KOSUGE 1-16
homepage.mac.com/kosuge1_16
Takashi TSUCHIYA (right)
Chishino KURUMADA (left)