The exhibition “Don’t Follow the Wind”, which is being held in the Difficult-To-Return Zone in Fukushima, is collecting photographs, taken before the catastrophic earthquake and posted on SNS, of people who have evacuated from Futaba-gun due to the accident at TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company)’s Fukushima Daiichi (No.1) Nuclear Power Station. The photographs will be introduced as a part of the artist’s artwork for the current exhibition. If requested, the names and private information of the people who provide us with the photographs will be withheld. Those willing to give us support, please send us the photograph, the date it was taken and your contact information to: contact@dontfollowthewind.info We will be in touch with you.
“Don’t Follow the Wind” Exhibition Website.
Author: CR
Kamado Project: “Dozo (Earthen storehouse) Restoration Workshop”
Over 3 days, July 10, 11, 12, a workshop to restore a dozo (A storehouse with earthen walls.) was carried out at “Tsuchida-san chi (Tsuchida-san’s House)”, the center of the Kamado project’s activity.
The dozo at Tsuchida-san’s house is a huge and handsome structure, but it was not in use because the roof had been damaged. So, with the support of local carpenters and tilers, we fixed the roof so that the dozo could be used in many ways. We also took part by cutting the logs and experiencing “sugi-yaki”, which is the scorching of the surface of the cedar woods. “Sugi-yaki” is carried out to increase the durability of the cedar woods.
The workshop continued over a few days, and we were able to serve the carpenters lunch that we cooked on the kamado.
Although the weather was extremely hot, we would like to thank everyone who helped us.
(Tanji, 4th Year at School of Art & Design)
German Subtitles for “Iwaki Note (FUKUSHIMA VOICE)” in the works
Currently at the University of Bonn, German subtitles for “Iwaki Note (FUKUSHIMA VOICE)” is being prepared by volunteer students. The translation is being carried out by 4 students majoring in Japanese studies, Alexander Tokarev, Katja Engelhardt, Yukiko Kuwayama and Caroline Block. The first stage of the translation has been done and handed over to the supervisor. The goal is almost there! Many thank-yous to Tamura Sensei, who is instructing the students, and to all the students!
When the work is completed, CR and the University of Tsukuba European Office in Bonn will go ahead with the preparations to hold screenings in Germany. (Iida)
Kamado Project’s ”Kamado (cooking range) Day”,
Last week, on the 21st, ”Kamado (cooking range) Day” event was carried out at Tsuchida-san’s house.
The weather was a major concern of the day, but luckily, it did not rain!
At the ”Kamado (cooking range) Day” this year, a workshop to make curry with high school and elementary school students and a “Talk Café”, organized by the Vacant Properties Team, to talk about the future of Hojo were held. Four high school students and 3 elementary school students came and took part.
What was different from the previous workshops was that we did a rehearsal with the high school students so that they would know how to use the Kamado (cooking range) and how to cook the curry and would be able to instruct the elementary school students on the actual day. At the event, the elementary school students were very lively and the high school students, in their position as instructor and feeling the responsibility, looked confident.
Two kinds of curry, one for the adults and one for the children, were made, and they were both very tasty!
At the “Talk Café”, organized by the Vacant Properties Team, together with the parents of the elementary school children that took part, we discussed about Hojo while eating pancakes made of rice flour. Everybody spoke actively and willingly and we heard some surprising stories. It was time very well-spent! (Machinaga, 3rd Year at School of Art & Design)
“Iwaki Note (FUKUSHIMA VOICE)” shown at the University of Bonn
On July 1, Wednesday, “Iwaki Note (FUKUSHIMA VOICE)” (With English subtitles) was shown at the University of Bonn in Germany, which is an affiliated university of Tsukuba University.
The screening was made possible by a voluntary request from a student, who had seen the movie at the screening event at the university this February and wished to show it to other students as well. On the day, a student who had studied at Tsukuba University introduced and spoke about the university, and a discussion session was carried out after the showing of the movie. At the discussion, a student, who is planning to study in Japan, brought up his concerns about radioactive contamination of food, and questions about the degree of interest in the nuclear power station in Fukushima within Japan were raised. There was also a mentioning of the fact that the nuclear power station accident in Japan has been totally forgotten in Germany.
I heard that it was an unusually hot day in Bonn, but about 20 people took part. Many sincere thanks to the students who organized the screening, the people who came to the screening, and to all the people who were involved in following through with the event. (Iida)
Vacant Properties Team holds “Talk Café”
On June 21, the Vacant Properties Team held the “Talk Café”. The “Talk Café” is an event, held in a workshop format, to talk about the good points and issues of Hojo with the local people, so that ideas to utilize vacant houses and properties in Hojo might be inspired.
Since it was held together with the Kamado Project’s ”Kamado (cooking range) Day”, many people taking part in the ”Kamado (cooking range) Day” also came to our event. From elementary to high school students as well as adults, a wide range of age groups took part in exchanging ideas in a friendly atmosphere. Not only did we present our proposals, but we also had the participants offer ideas and suggestions, resulting in lively dialogs and discussions. It turned out to be a very good workshop that would positively lead to our future activities.
Above all, it was such a pleasure to have mingled with the locals of Hojo. We were glad that the rice flour pancakes that we had prepared were well received by the children.
Members of the Kamado Project and those who took part in the “Talk Café”, thank you very much! (Muranaka, 4th year at College of Policy and Planning Sciences)
Creative Reconstruction: Vision Formulation 2, 10th Session
At the Creative Reconstruction: Vision Formulation 2, 10th Session, Ryuta Ushiro and Toshiki Mizuno of chim↑pom were invited and they gave a talk titled, “Imagination and Action.”
They spoke about their works from “SUPER RAT” and “BLACK OF DEATH”, which take on urban and city matters, to “REAL TIMES”, “KI-AI 100 (100 Cheers) and the currently on-going “Don’t Follow The Wind”, which were created after the catastrophic earthquake. From their talk mentioning “Reality than games” and “Reality updates history”, we were given a glimpse of the challenges that chim↑pom has taken on. (Akagi)
Preview: Creative Reconstruction: Vision Formulation 2, 10th Session
At the Creative Reconstruction: Vision Formulation 2, 10th Session, Ryuta Ushiro of chim↑pom will be invited to give a talk titled, “Imagination and Action.” Please come and participate, as anyone is welcome to attend. (Akagi)
Venue: Tsukuba University, Bldg. 6A, Rm208
Date & Time: Friday, June 19, 12:15〜13:30
Creative Reconstruction: Vision Formulation 2, 9th Session
At the Creative Reconstruction: Vision Formulation 2, 9th Session, Tadasu Takamine, the contemporary artist and director, was invited and he gave a talk titled, “Positionality and Expression.”
He spoke about his works, “God Bless America”, which was created after the 9.11 Terrorist Attack in America, “Kimura-san”, a video artwork, and about his solo exhibition held after the Great East Japan Earthquake, “Tadasu Takamine’s Cool Japan”. He stated that the qualification of a person involved could be defined as not just about how much time one was involved with the subject, but also as something that one can earn with one’s own will. (Akagi)
Yui Team: Research Done for the Next Workshop (WS)
This year, the Yui Team started off with 10 members. In preparation for this year’s WS, we began by doing research on collecting thoughts and comments from the participants of the “Yui’s Pottery Project” last year and the year before last.
As we now have more people, we split up into 2 teams and visited some of the participants’ homes, telephoned those that had moved out of Tsukuba, or had them come over to the university during the CR classes. We conducted our research and also enjoyed talking to them. While we were glad to hear that the participants enjoyed the WS last year and the year before last, some said that they would have rather made the dishes with someone they knew than they didn’t and giving the dishes away as a gift was a burden. Hearing directly these various opinions led us to feel the need to make improvements. At the same time, as 4 years have passed since the catastrophic earthquake, we found out that there have been changes or added complications in their individual lives and circumstances.
Along with the research, the members of the Yui Team actually carried out the “Yui’s Pottery” WS as a trial. Because we are a newly formed team, we were at first a little tense, but through the WS, we got the conversation going and had a good time making the Yui’s pottery.
As a result, we have decided on the new theme, which is “Creating a soft atmosphere — A dish that can’t be made alone.” We would like to continue discussing and decide on actual dates and details of the WS and how we would go about publicizing it. (Yoshida, 2nd Year at College of Agro-Biological Resource Science)
