all images courtesy Takao Sakai
Have you ever wanted to walk around New York with a beard made from azuki beans? Well this is your lucky day! Takao Sakai, the artist responsible for the Azurer Project, is bringing his bean beards to New York in conjunction with the New City Art Fair happening in early March. Participants (RSVP required) will be given the opportunity to go on a guided tour of New York with your very own bean beard.
This year, Spoon & Tamago is a media partner with New City Art Fair, which is pretty awesome!
Call it performance art. Call it a mockumentary. In 2007, Sakai began his project in an attempt to poke fun at fads that spread like wildfire, only to quickly vanish from public memory. Stemming from his love for sweet azuki beans (hence the name, Azurer), Sakai began creating the beards and photographing strangers wearing them. Sure enough, the trend caught on. According to Sakai, the Azurer population is over 1.7 million. And that’s only in Japan. I’m sure Sakai’s creations will quickly catch on, especially here in beard-mecca Brooklyn.
February 26, 2014 at 4:16 pm
Hi Johnny, my friends and I would love to participate in this event, but do you have any idea how we should RSVP? I’ve looked through a couple of the related websites and can’t seem to find any info… This whole festival looks amazing!
February 26, 2014 at 4:30 pm
@Emily – yea, it’s a bit hard to find isn’t it? Try emailing info@newcityartfair.com. If that doesn’t work I can put you in touch with someone in charge of the event.
March 2, 2014 at 10:29 pm
Thanks, Johnny! I got in touch with one of the organizers and it looks like we’ll be able to participate. Very excited!
Quick aside, I love this blog- I’ve been reading it for a number of years now (4-5, at least), and read it all through the 4 years I was living in Japan, so I got to go to some really amazing art/design exhibitions, nifty design-y cafes and shops, and took advantage of other kinds of cool opportunities, all because I read about them first on here. So thanks for always sharing such wonderful info with the world!