For the 9th session of Creative Reconstruction: Vision Formulation 2, we were honored to welcome Mr. Jun Kitazawa, contemporary artist and director of Jun Kitazawa Office Yakumo, who told us about “Creating communities”. Mr. Kitazawa has been acting to create communities all over the country. “My Town Market” was a festival made by and for the people of the area which took place in the city of Shinchi. Mr. Kitazawa told us about his own experience in organising and operating this festival that may rank among the other cultural events of the region.
In a society that is losing its creativity, this reminds us that art projects are created within society. Communities that rediscover the creativity and keep it alive, and really “Creating communities”.
We thought that these words by Mr. Kitazawa and his activities will remain as a reference for the students participating in the CR project. (Akagi)

For the 8th session of Creative Reconstruction: Vision Formulation 2, we were honored to welcome Mr. Momoyo Kaijima, associate professor at Tsukuba University and also architect, who introduced in his lecture “Archi+Aid”, a recovery support architects network. Archi+Aid organises summer camps and workshops mainly in the Oshika Peninsula, and is implementing projects making possible movement towards higher lands that would benefit the coastal areas in future times, and building “core houses”. Archi+Aid places importance on using local material for all the projects. It was for us a source of inspiration about how to lead projects that would relate to a feeling of pride for our own region.
Archiaid http://archiaid.org/


(Hashimoto)

For the 9th session of Creative Reconstruction: Vision Formulation 2, we are honored to welcome Mr. Jun Kitazawa, contemporary artist and director of Jun Kitazawa Office Yakumo. Mr. Kitazawa has been acting to create communities all over the country. In the aftermath of the disaster, he launched a project called “My Town Market,” whose concept was to create a “one-day handmade town” in the temporary housing.

“Creating communities”
Location : University of Tsukuba [Bldg 6A, Room 208]
Friday, June 14th @ 4:45pm〜6:00pm

Moreover, in order to anticipate the Vision Formulation 2 lecture, we are holding an exhibition that introduces Mr. Kitazawa’s activities. It will present the 3 projects : “My Town Market”, “Living Room” and “School after School Club”

“Jun Kitazawa Office Yakumo Project”
Location: University of Tsukuba [Bldg 6A, Entrance Gallery]
Tuesday, June 11th to Friday, June 14th, 10:00Am〜5:00pm









(Kataoka)

For the 7th session of Creative Reconstruction: Vision Formulation, we were honored to welcome the artist, Mr. Tsuyoshi Ozawa, and to listen to his lecture about his activities in the aftermath of the disaster and his views on Fukushima. Hoping to bring joy to the children, Mr. Ozawa held kite flying workshops at the shelters and provided children who cannot play outside because of the radiation with spaces for playing inside. Also, in order to create an artwork that could diffuse information from Fukushima toward everywhere in the world, he went to Ghana and made this artwork linking Africa and Fukushima. He told us about his trip there. The artwork is presently exhibited at the Yokohama Creative City Center. The exhibition goes on until 9th of June. Not to be missed!
“Tsuyoshi Ozawa, Masakatsu Takagi, go to Africa”
http://www.yaf.or.jp/ycc/
(Hashimoto)

For the sixth session of Vision Formulation 2, we were happy to welcome photographer Naoya Hatakeyama to present a lecture for us about his own experience after the earthquake and his photography work. He told us that he tries to address the question of where the boundary between truth and lies exists, using the medium of photography to face this. He said that the most intrinsic aspect of working in photography is examining problems of reality, and he wants to share the feelings of being unsettled and uncomfortable that we all experience, through his photographs. It was very clear that his works lie side by side with his own experiences. His lecture provoked questions that resonate in our daily lives, and the students who attended seemed to be given a lot of food for thought. (Hashimoto)

On Friday, May 17, we had the pleasure of welcoming Yoshihide Otomo (guitarist, turntable artist, composer, and producer) to present a lecture entitled “Activities for Project FUKUSHIMA!” He spoke about how he set up this project to act as a middle ground to connect the people of Fukushima with those outside, and also told us about the festivals he has held, which included activities such as creating a huge patchwork cloth, a flag raising ceremony, and a bon odori dance festival. Participants in the festivals took part in whatever way they liked, through music, art, or dance, and it was wonderful to see how people with different viewpoints and ideas could come together. The lecture made it clear how much Mr. Otomo himself has enjoyed running this project. (Hashimoto)