Typhoon Queens Collective

The Typhoon Queens are an ecological artist collective formed in 2019 during a typhoon, while exhibiting together at the City as Nature Festival, an international environmental arts festival in Kitakagaya (Osaka, Japan).

Their work is part exhibition, part experiential story, situated so that artworks are fluidly connected through a living narrative. Combining physical works, virtual works, stories, sound, moving image, and performance, they form spaces where social, political, and ecological icons give way to nature’s own hints, habits, and sign posts. The result is an experience with the potential for re-imagining everything; borders, boundaries, races, and relationships with each other and this earth, all enter into a fluid state.

As of April 2020, members come from Japan, Korea, Saudi Arabia, and the United States.

Founding Members

Co-Conspirators

Typhoon Queens Exhibition #1

2020.4.21 — 5.3
Art Spot Korin
Kyoto, Japan

2020.4.24 — ongoing
The Nature of Cities / Urban Ecological Arts Forum
New York, USA (virtual exhibition)

Participating Queens (order by age): Robin Lasser (USA), Takuma Uematsu (Japan), Masahiro Kawanaka (Japan), Patrick M. Lydon (USA), Suhee Kang (Korea)

Social, political, and ecological strain between countries at times like a lyrical play, where humans and nature rotate characters as moderator, observer, and instigator. Together, five artists from Japan, Korea, and the United States (known as the Typhoon Queens) propose an orchestration of alternate views on these deep-rooted struggles, asking: can nature show us the way?

Clouds are our origin
Rain is their transformation
A human figure in umbrella skirt embodies transformational cultures, colors, races,
The herb garden beneath is the place that our future will regenerate

Beginning with clouds floating between Korea and Japan, melting rain ripples with light and sound, and a garden of healing herbs is born. In this interactive exhibition of film, photography, sculpture, and performance, we reconsider the boundaries and cycles of this world that is born and interpreted in each society and culture.

Together, we follow the way, the water flows.

This exhibition is a satellite event of Kyotographie KG+ 2020. Parts of this exhibition will further be exhibited this Autumn in the United States, as part of “The State We’re In: Water” at the Oklahoma State Museum of Art.

カ出身のアーティスト、パトリック・ライドンと韓国出身の植物採集家スヒ・カンが運営する“THE　BRANCH”主催の芸術祭「City as Nature Festival」(2019)のスピンオフ企画です。ロビン・ランサー、パトリック・ライドン、スヒ・カン、植松琢麿、川中政宏らが参加。韓国の間に浮かぶ雲、溶け合う雨の波紋、北加賀屋で育ったハーブの庭などを用い、それぞれの社会や文化で解釈され生まれてくる世界の境界と循環を、再考します。また、本作は、オクラホマ州美術館で開催される『The State We’re In: Water』にも、展示予定となります。

City as Nature Festival 2019 (Exhibition #0)

2019.10.11 — 23
Chidori Bunka, Osaka, Japan

Participating Queens (order by age): Robin Lasser (USA), Yuki Tsukiyama (Japan), Takuma Uematsu (Japan), Masahiro Kawanaka (Japan), Patrick M. Lydon (USA), Suhee Kang (Korea)

The City as Nature Festival was an international environmental arts festival in Kitakagaya Creative Village. Featuring exhibitions, workshops, talks, and concerts, the festival was supported by Chishima Foundation for Creative Osaka, The Nature of Cities (New York), San Jose State University, and The Branch Osaka.

The festival was organized by Patrick M. Lydon and Suhee Kang, and included the exhibition “Water: Multi-Species Migration and Displacement” by American artists Robin Lasser and Marguerite Perret. Overall, the festival included works by all Typhoon Queens, as well as nearly 30 other artists from around the world working with water and environmental themes.

Festival Catalogue

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