3331 Arts Chiyoda
Closes Dec. 25
Last year, when artists running the art-event space 3331 Arts Chiyoda were commissioned by the Chiyoda Ward Office to organize a project in support of people with disabilities, they decided to create a new category of art. Instead of pidgeonholing works by disabled people with terms such as Art Brut or outsider art, they invented POCORART, short for Place of "Core + Relation ART." The aim was to create a venue where people, with or without disabilities, could deeply relate to and inpire each other.
The professional curators and artists who judged the first POCORART show earlier this year said they were shocked and amazed by the superb quality of the work they received. Of the 1,028 submissions, most were from mentally disabled people with no formal training or education in art. Riding on the success of the first show, they broadened the reach of this second exhibition further, soliciting applications not just from disabled people but also from children and the elderly.