Quiet friends

The Japanese artist couple Chie and Rei Ito create quiet fairytales with recycled and hand-made Japanese Washi paper. They don't advocate any specific morals or lessons in their storytelling; instead, they let the readers decide what to take away from those otherwise rather simply formulated stories. They believe that stories which are actually complex, multifaceted and engaging often seem to be very simple. In the exhibition Quiet Friends, they will tell us three such stories with their original paper artwork.

Quiet Friends
Moi and Pi are friends. They don't talk a whole lot, but they seem to be always together.

Poppy is a Lost Foal
Poppy, a cheerful foal, loves running and doesn't bother stopping
Poppy, now a lost foal, but still, keeps running.

Yar's Little Big Adventure
Yar really wanted to know what was glimmering in the sky.
So it set out on a little big adventure.

Japanese people call themselves Wajin (和人), which means peaceful or calm people. The Japanese couple Chie and Rei create tranquil stories on recycled and handmade Wa-shi (Japanese paper). They do not advocate any moral with their stories – on the contrary, they leave the readers to decide what to take away from these visual narratives. They believe complex, multifaceted and engaging stories often appear to be very simple.

Chie and Rei will talk to architect Ben Yu about spirituality and worldview and how their ideas are influenced by ancient Chinese philosophy and primitive Buddhism.

Have you ever wondered if the sushis you eat at the local restaurants here are the same as the ones they eat in Japan? Have you ever tried to make sushis yourself but failed because they don't look or taste like or neither look nor taste like, well, the thing you would call sushi? Would you like to know how the Japanese came up with this idea of making delicious bite-size combi-food with rice and fish (or anything, well, some other thing you like)?

Well, here is an opportunity to meet the sushi artist Rei Ito from Tokyo in Bergen! Rei Ito is a real artist. He visualises his wife Chie's mesmerising fairytales with Japanese paper he hand-made from old shoji (sliding door) paper and wrapping paper. But Rei is also a real sushi chef. He and his wife are going to move to the second smallest country (population-wise) in the world - Niue, to work in a sushi restaurant. Because of his double identities, Rei always performs with the artist's delicacy and passion when he makes sushi.

But if you are a big sushi fan and dream of making sushi with a sushi master from Japan. Don't miss the sushi workshop with Rei at Bergen Assembly.

Do you know paper is like chocolate, that you can always melt it down and make a new sheet?

When Japanese artist Rei Ito discovered this secret while working in a framing studio, he decided not to buy a sheet of paper from the stationery shop any more. Since then, he was always making paper with or without a purpose. Later he also learnt how to dye handmade paper with natural pigments. He used self-made paper to create fabulous illustrations for visualising the stories that his wife Chie wrote. Sometimes he made paper just for fun, to see how he could better control the paper's whiteness, texture, and tenderness.

For him, there is no such thing as good or bad paper. Each kind of paper has its purpose and function. Just like omnipotent people don't exist, omnipotent paper doesn't exist either. So he keeps every piece of paper he made or received in life because he believes the paper, no matter how hard or soft, rough or smooth, strong or fragile, will come in handy one day.

This time in Bergen, he wants to share his joy of making paper with us. He is a bit worried that making paper might be quite boring for others. So he also prepared a lot of anecdotes and pearls of wisdom about papermaking and craftsmanship to entertain the papermakers while waiting for their pulps to turn into a piece of treasure.

Please bring a clothes iron, if you have one.