The Art Environment Project establishes permanent environmental art pieces in key viewing points of the Tokyo Skytree. The Sumida River Art Bridge 2011 was a group of ten temporary projects consisting of workshops in which local residents participated, including a “painting Tokyo Skytree” picture exhibition, as well as art-related activities such as six concerts under the title “GTS Music Concert.”
Sumida City was fortunate to be selected as the site for the construction of the Tokyo Skytree. The Sumida River is the ideal location for the project because it flows right through the middle of the east-west “nucleus” between Senso-ji Temple in Taito and the Tokyo Skytree in Sumida. In 2010, the artists began a three-year local community partnership project with funding from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) as well as support from Taito and Sumida cities. Our plan was to sow the seeds in the first year, to grow in the second, and to blossom in the third. A total of 12 art pieces were there at the end of the project．
In addition, two sub-projects were held: a workshop where local residents participated in making portraits of the Tokyo Skytree, and a GTS International Music Concert consisting of four recitals. Meanwhile, Tokyo University of the Arts is developing GTS as a part of its educational activities program.
The GTS Sightseeing art project is an extremely important undertaking for the cities of Sumida and Taito. The event serves to highlight the attractions of this area. By researching hidden memories of art culture found on both sides of the Sumida River one more time and utilizing them freely in expressions done by various artistic methods, the vestiges of one dot are connected to another, creating an art line in the process of affirming Japanese cultural identity which is sublimated into art.
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