DANDELION PROJECT｜Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival

Tokyo–based creative company NAKED, INC., and its founder Ryotaro Muramatsu have been honored to
participate in the 2023 Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival, running from December 14, 2023, to January 21, 2024,
in Sharjah, UAE. The festival, marking its 25th anniversary with artists from over 105 countries, showcases
Muramatsu’s “DANDELION PROJECT”.

INTRODUCTION MOVIE OF DANDELION PROJECT

An interactive artwork connecting prayers for peace

Selected for its timely theme of transcending differences and fostering global connection through prayers
for peace, the “DANDELION PROJECT” involves planting dandelion–shaped installations globally.
Participants blow on a DANDELION, and their prayers for peace travel virtually as a dandelion seed through
the project’s network, blooming into digital art flowers at another location. This initiative has been
implemented in 56 locations worldwide, including Tokyo, Shanghai, Paris, San Francisco, and the G7
Hiroshima Summit. Presently on display at the Tower of the Sun in the Expo ’70 Commemorative Park in
Osaka, Japan (until December 25, 2023), and in Taipei, Taiwan starting December 21, the DANDELION
bridges these cities with Sharjah in real–time through blooming flowers of peace.

Since founding NAKED, INC. in 1997, Muramatsu has led projects from filmmaking and spatial presentation
to live performances of traditional Japanese arts. With a film production background, he directs projects
beyond traditional boundaries, weaving technology, formative arts, sound, and scents into compelling
narratives, attracting billions of guests worldwide. In 2018, Muramatsu began creating fine art as a solo
artist, fusing multi–sensory elements into personal and conceptual themes. The “DANDELION PROJECT,”
launched in 2020 as a response to the COVID–19 affected world, aims to unite divided people through art.

A message from the artist
“DANDELION is an art piece that connects people worldwide with a simple physical act of making a wish on
a dandelion—a childhood memory that many of us share. The seeds of flowers, impartial and wordless,
simply fly to new places and bloom there. I hope we can go beyond our differences to connect with one
another through art and plant flowers of peace throughout the world.”
— Ryotaro Muramatsu