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Chim Pom
From Virtual Japan
Chim Pom is a group of 6 Japanese artists based in Tokyo, Japan. Known for their use of outlandish, avant-garde art projects, the group has become well known since they formed in 2005 as a group that can do anything at any time. The majority of their work has been documented on a series of popular and bestselling DVDs.
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Group Members
Chim Pom I made up of six members. No one person has a given role in the group, though there are those with specialties in certain artistic fields. The group members include:
- Inaoka
- Mizuno
- Okada
- Hayashi
- Ellie
- Ushiro
Ushiro and Ellie’s initial friendship precipitated the formation of Chim Pom as the two were regularly conducting various art projects that eventually turned into a larger hobby and subsequently career. The other members of the group were soon to add their talents to the group including Inaoka’s plaster and design work.
Famous Works
ChimPom has become well known for its growing collection of Avant-Garde projects. Some of their more popular and well known projects include:
Super Rat
Super Rat is a taxidermically stuffed rate painted up and frozen to look like Pikachu. The project was the result of an observation of the rats running around in Shibuya alongside young girls dressed as the rat-like Pokemon. Further research found that many rats were developing immunities to rat poisons becoming “super rats”. The project was as an expression of a human created part of society that has only grown stronger, as expressed in pop culture.
I’m Bokan
This project involved the group going to Cambodia to help clear mine fields, prompted by an experience Ellie had in Junior High School watching people walk through minefields on television. The group blew up multiple possessions of their own during this project.
Reverse Auction
An event held in 2007 involved Chim Pom setting prices on their projects at as high as $100 million and having people reverse bid them down and giving the proceeds to charity to showcase the way in which art has become too material. They used Seiko Ito as their auctioneer and lowered their prices dramatically until someone was willing to pay the cost.
Black Death
This particular project involved using a stuffed crow and a loudspeaker to gather crows en masse in front of Tokyo’s Shibuya 109 shopping center. Their nearby exhibition at Laforet Gallery had an indoor exhibit to coincide with the outdoor spectacle. The project, completed at 5 am when garbage was on the streets before collection was the first in a series of such events Chim Pom plans to complete in Tokyo.
Other projects are planned and developed spur of the moment by Chim Pom as a result of things the group members are interested in doing rather than an artistic motion. The members have repeatedly stated that art comes out of their lives rather than the other way around.