Shigeko Bork is a Japanese adventurer and art curator in Washington. She believes that good art (and good art galleries) are hard to find. That is why she chose her current location in Northwest D.C. for the mu project, a gallery dedicated exclusively to contemporary art from Asia. "I used to live in London, and the galleries were all unmarked. You really had to look," said Shigeko. She even chose the second floor of the building to store her treasures simply because it is more secluded and hidden from those who are out of the loop. After too many phone calls from distressed lost seekers, of mu, she finally broke down and got a small sign to mark her location on 1521 Wisconsin Ave. NW #2.

The gallery is small, only two spacious rooms, but that is all Shigeko needs for her focused mission. mu project opened on Tuesday March 8. The night was cold and windy and Washington saw a few inches of snow earlier that day. Despite the obstacles 120 Washingtonians followed the warm vibrations of Shigeko's excitement and filled up mu project.
Her debut artist was Hiroshi Kobayashi from Japan. Shigeko discovered him at a show in Palm Beach. She traveled to Japan to bring him to Washington as her first featured artist. He brought seven works of which four were sold on the first night for between two to six thousand dollars each.
Kobayashi's work is surreal and very dreamy. The paintings on display are acrylics on canvas. "Winning Run" was of toys and teddy bears holding hands and going off into nothingness. Appropriate for mu projects opening. "mu" comes from a Buddhist term meaning nothingness. Shigeko also interprets mu as new beginnings, and offers this venue in America as a new beginning for artists in Asia to reach westward.

Shigeko travels to Asia and explores all the underground artistic nooks and crannies to find the special creators of contemporary reflections. For the next two shows she has chosen women artists from China. To find them, she traveled to the hidden artist colonies outside of Beijing. Shigeko said that after the 1989 student massacre, "people wanted to display unofficial art. So they moved to villages outside of Beijing were they could have their shows. The closest studio was an hour outside Beijing, and the studios were big, because they were in villages [as opposed to the city]." Shigeko said there were 1,000 underground artists she knew of in the villages, and one can;t find them without a guide and some contacts.

In May, mu project will feature video and performance artist Jennifer Wen Ma from Beijing. The following show will be drawings from women in the Chinese art colonies scheduled for September.

Hiroshi Kobayashi's work will be on display until April 2. mu project may be visited Tuesdays though Saturdays 11am -5pm. or by appointment.