ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Masahiro Okafuji, President & CEO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) opened ITOCHU AOYAMA ART SQUARE in the CI Plaza, a commercial facility situated next to ITOCHU’s Tokyo Head Office, in October 2012. The gallery was part of ITOCHU’s social contribution activities, with the aim of developing the future generation through art, contributing to the local community, and promoting both local and international art and culture. Various exhibitions have since been held in the space.

Timed to coincide with World Autism Awareness Day designated by the United Nations on April 2, an art exhibition will be held on the theme of blue, the concept color for World Autism Awareness Day to support the activities of Get in touch (Chizuru Azuma, Representative), an organization that conducts ongoing PR activities with the objective of raising awareness of all minority areas where people are dealing with affliction in life, including autism. The event will showcase the “MAZEKOZE” (jumbled up) works of more than 30 artists, both with and without disabilities.

Event outline

What’s on during the event

(1) Thursday, April 2, from noon
Blue Art Live Painting Performance *open to the general public; MC: Chizuru Azuma
　In this opening event, a white truck will be painted in the theme color blue.
　Participation is open to all! Let’s create the world’s only MAZEKOZE blue art vehicle!
　　◆Visitors attending the event on the opening day will receive a beautiful blue gift!!
(2) Get in touch original merchandise will be on sale during the event period.
(3) Fun weekend event (to be announced on Website when decided)
　Saturday, April 11, from 2 p.m. – Live painting by MAZEKOZE magnificent artist group
Artists scheduled to take part include Hiroaki Nakatsugawa, Takuya Sasaki
Saturday, April 18, from 2 p.m. Live performance by Hirari Sato
Brilliant 13-year old singer-songwriter who is totally blind (made her debut in November last year)