Dialogue

HIBINO KATSUHIKO ET ALT; YASUAKI IRAGASHI; TOMOKO IWATA; DIANA B. WECHSLER

TURN Chakai

University of the arts Tokyo

Lugar: Tokyo; Año: 2021; p. 104 - 109

TURN chakaiOnce, for us on planet Earth, there was a time when lands across the wide ocean were immeasurably far away.Later on, humans taught themselves to sail beyond the horizon and meet people from other nations, learning that each region had its own unique values.We came to realize that this diversity of people and life on Earth is exactly what our star has nurtured, and what has to be preserved for the future.For the sake of this future, Earth?s and ours, it is important to accumulate these small moments of every day. Through meeting people in our daily lives, we are exchanging values with those who are different from ourselves.TURN chakai, the Tea Ceremony of the TURN project, is a space where you and others can interact, transcending time, place, and words. Art enfolds us softly when we are given access to each other?s personality.In 1906, when the opposite shore was still far away, a book introducing Japanese aesthetics, Kakuzo Okakura?s The Book of Tea, was published in a country somewhere beyond the Pacific. The encounter with something at once different and comprehensible might have been likened to a tea ceremony across the sea.115 years later, we hold TURN chakai together with TURN artists and teachers who are involved with international exchange of the Tokyo University of the Arts, to question the shape of the planet and her people after the 21st century, transcending time and space. You are cordially invited to join us and take your time at the exhibition. Katsuhiko Hibino TURN Supervisor / Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts and professor, Tokyo University of the ArtsA Reflection on TURN ?chakai?As interest in the SDGs grows around the world, I have been thinking about how museums can go one step further in reaching out to people with whom we have had little contact. Not having a collection, the National Art Center, Tokyo?s education and public program has been characterized by artists? workshops rather than appreciation of art pieces. Given the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic, what I kept in mind was to assume the notion of diversity and physical exercise. While there is a trend of incorporating online tools to solve communication issues where people cannot meet face-to-face with others, I wanted to think of a place where people could actually participate in an analog experience, while taking sufficient measures to avoid the closed spaces, crowded places and close-contact settings.Then I asked Mr. Hibino, who has been developing the TURN project, which connects diverse people, in cooperation with museums in Japan and abroad, to join our scheme. Hibino?s proposal was to set up 11 teahouses scattered throughout the spacious gallery space of the National Art Center, Tokyo, where the TURN artists would hold their workshops, and in the center of the space would be a base for online exchanges with overseas universities. A teahouse is essentially a space for building intimate relationships, but the plan was to create a loose space for communication that is open to everyone, without being closed off. One of the great powers of art is to make people aware of the existence of ideas that are different from their own. The other is to make people aware of the existence of values that cannot be expressed in numbers. It leads to an opportunity for people to learn to avoid violence and war. I believe that the creation of such opportunities is one of the important roles of museums. This time, in addition to the artists, who have been practicing workshops for people overseas who do not speak the same language, it was also essential to have staff members who could encourage the participation of people who just came to the venue. By experiencing simple acts such as winding yarn, weaving cloth, and cutting paper together with others, we were able to encounter unexpected sympathy and comfort. For participants with their own thoughts and feelings, I think it led to a small sense of liberation. It was an irreplaceable experience to be able to set up such an analog communication forum during the COVID-19 pandemic.Eriko Osaka Director General, The National Art Center, Tokyo