FRAGMENTS PASSAGE
フラグメンツ・パッセージ
Statement
When I was thinking about new project, I was on the island of Indonesia where such a culture seems to be remote from Japan.
On the island of Java, people wrap their food in paper to carry it. They open it and mix it up as they eat. As expected, the ingredients and manners are far from that of Japanese bento. But I wanted to search for the “sameness” between the two, which are seemingly far apart.
The market I encountered on the island of Bali had a jumbled atmosphere, and the boarders of object types and the shopkeepers were blurred. It was difficult to tell what is where, and it was unclear whether some were merchandise.
People often gather on a floor mat. They generally eat seated on the floor. And there, “a small gift” is exchanged. From someone to someone. And to people who happened to be there.Coffee, sweets, clothes, shoes, rings, and sometime even money!
Maybe they have less concept of “private belongings”. Quite often we found ourselves wearing other people’s sandals. When I am faced with the casual exchange of gifts, I realized how much I was unconsciously particular about “ownership”
From a tropical everyday, I returned to Tokyo.
And starting to regularly visit Ueno area whereTokyo Metropolitan Art Museum is located,
I realized the “sameness” I was after was everywhere near me. An overflowing of admirers of the cherry blossom in Ueno park. A view of people opening up and sharing the food they brought.
And there is history. People carrying their belongings with furoshiki gathering at Ueno Station, entrance to the Tohoku region. Spreading out objects, Ameya Yokocho was gradually formed from a chaotic market.
Spreading furoshiki and goza, opening a box, and people getting involved. A temporary community. Isn’t the nostalgic (yet simultaneously new) communication we have been having unconsciously up to this date, even though the ingredients and manners are far from each other,
connected to somewhere far away?
For example, isn’t the “osusowake”, sharing what each person has brought, and the “small gift” the same? Isn’t the custom of eating on the floor everyday and the custom of suddenly sitting down on a grass field for hanami, admiring cherry blossoms, similar?
Looking for things at the market in Bali and walking down the Ameya Yokocho feels the same.
I am looking for“ the appearance of the society” that exist in both places, which floats between two borders, without belonging to any.
新たなプロジェクトについて考えていたとき、私は日本の文化とはかけ離れているように思えるインドネシアの島々にいた。
ジャワ島では食事を運ぶとき、紙に包む。それをひらいてごちゃまぜにしながら食べる。やっぱり日本のお弁当とは、中身も所作もかけ離れている。でもあえて、遠いと思えるふたつの間にある「おなじ」を探してみたかった。
バリ島で出会った市場(パサール)は、雑多な雰囲気を醸し出していて、ものの種類や店主ごとでの境目がどこかあいまいだった。何がどこにあるかよくわからないし、売り物かもわからない何かが並んでいたりする。
床に敷いたゴザによく人が集う。食事も基本床座りだ。そこで「小さなギフト」が交わされる。誰かから誰かへ。またはその場に居合わせたみんなへ。コーヒー、お菓子、服、靴、指輪、たまにお金(!)。そもそも「自分の持ち物」という感覚が薄いからなのかもしれない。気づいたら誰かのサンダルを履いてることもしょっちゅうだ。さりげないギフトの行き来を目の当たりにするたびに、自分がいかに無意識的に「所有」にこだわっていたのか気付かされた。
熱帯の日常から東京にもどった。あらためて「お弁当」について考えながら上野に通いはじめると、探し求めていた「おなじ」がすぐ近くに散らばってる気がした。上野公園にあふれるお花見客。持ち寄った食事をひらいて分け合う景色。
それから、歴史。東北の玄関口、上野駅に風呂敷で荷物を抱えあつまった人びと。ものを広げ、混沌とした市からすこしずつ形成されてきたアメヤ横丁。
風呂敷やゴザを広げ、箱をひらいて、人が関わる。つかの間の共同体。中身や作法はかけ離れていても、僕らが今も無意識に続けている、なつかしい(でも同時にあたらしい)コミュニケーションは、どこか遠くとつながっていないだろうか?
たとえば、持ち寄ったものを分け合う「おすそわけ」と、あの「小さなギフト」はおなじなんじゃないだろうか。お花見のときに突然みんなが草っ原に座りはじめる風習は、毎日床座りで食事をする習慣と似てないか?
パサールで品探ししているときと、アメ横を歩いているときの感覚は、一緒な気がする。
かけ離れたふたつの境界をさまよいながら、どちらにもないけど、同時にどちらでもある「社会の姿」を探している。
photo by CULTURE
Outline
Project presented at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum's special exhibition, "BENTO—Design for Eating, Gathering and Communicating". Inside the art museum appears a temporary narrow passage. Once we step into that street, there is a “space” called “Osusowake (sharing) market” where people can share things they bring. There, people bring things from home, spread rugs in the space, share things with other people. Day by day the passage transforms into a mysterious space where people and things come and go and gather. 《FRAGMENTS PASSAGE - Osusowake Yokocho》is a device for creating an alternative community and is a new type of public space laboratory, where the history of Ueno’s Ameya Yokocho and the history of South-East Asia transact.
概要