sphere

Is the earth foreign to human beings?
Are human beings foreign to the earth?
When the American astronaut of the Apollo 11 command module, Michael Collins, looked at the Earth from outside the atmosphere, he said, "The thing that really surprised me was that it projected an air of fragility,” “And why, I don't know. I don't know to this day. had a feeling it's tiny, it's shiny, it's beautiful, it's home, and it's fragile. " (nytimes.com, 07.16.2019). Before one's home is a house, a town, or a country, it is the Earth that sustains them. Michael Collins realized, first and foremost, that this Earth is our home by overviewing it from the outside. Just as we can think of home only when we are away from home, we can think of the Earth as our home from outside the Earth. One of the things we can do in these critical times of the Anthropocene is to nurture our ability to imagine the Earth from the outside. In this exhibition, we propose two exercises, 《atmosphere》and 《egosphere》, to foster this kind of imagination.

《atmosphere》

《atmosphere》 is an interactive artwork showing the relationship between our breath and the Earth. By converting breath into light and sound, we can aesthetically rediscover our breath and simultaneously contemplate the Earth, which is covered by an ultra-thin layer of air, the atmosphere. This is the exercise of this work. Twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year, we continue to breathe from the moment we are born into this world until our death. To be alive is to breathe, which is then proof of being alive. However, once there was no oxygen on the Earth in the past, no living things breathed. About 2.5 to 2.3 billion years ago, photosynthetic organisms (cyanobacteria) proliferated and exhaled large amounts of oxygen (the Great Oxidation Event), creating the atmospheric composition that has led to the present. Breathing and other life-supporting systems are traces of these billions of years of Earth's history. To think about breath is to contemplate the miracle of life etched in our bodies, based on the premise that the Earth's atmosphere does not diffuse into space due to gravity.

《egosphere》

In this work, the artist's book becomes a tool to consider how we humans deal with our home planet. Researchers and experts have warned for decades about the harmful effects of our lifestyle on the Earth. And yet we continue to strive each year to make our economy more vibrant and thriving. As a result, climate change, global warming, pollution, and the destruction of nature are getting worse every year. Nowadays, we live our lives daily without changing a single thing, aware that we are eradicating the source of our existence. If this continues – by our desires and ego – we will destroy the ecosphere humans need for survival. Why is it that despite the information provided about this grave crisis of self-destruction, we do not take action? The artist's book "egoshere" is an experiment by one person to share views in three languages (Japanese, German, and English) based on the premise that language is the axis of thought.

Exhibition Information

Dates
February 24 (Fri.) – March 5 (Sun.), 2023, 11:00 – 18:00 (Closed on Monday / until 17:00 on the last day)

Venue
Horikawa Oike Gallery
238-1, Oshiaburanokoji-cho, Oike-agaru, Aburanokoji-dori, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto, 604-0052, Japan
*There is no parking space for bicycles or cars in the gallery.
Please refrain from coming by bicycle, motorcycle, or car. Please use public transportation.

Experience

Visitors to "atmosphere" can experience a device that converts their own breath into light and sound.
If you would like to experience the device, please ask a staff member on the following days when you can experience the device. (First-come, first-served basis)


Duration: 15-20 minutes

This device is to be experienced by two people at the same time.
If one person participates, he/she will experience the device together with the staff.
In case of oversubscription, the program may be declined.

*On Sunday, March 5, a special program, "Enjoy Breathing with Nun" will be held. Participants will enjoy an ensemble of light and sound through breathing, led by Nun (Keisuke Sakakibara), a yoga and meditation instructor. Please note that in order to explore the possibilities of rehabilitation, this program will give priority to the experience of patients with intractable diseases who have been invited in advance. If there are cancellations, the general public may also experience the program.

“I wonder if I could be an Ariadne string.“

March 4（Sat.）11:30–18:00

When we start mending and repairing our things, our relationship to objects changes.
Some say, it even changes our relationship to people.

Mending and repairing are old practices of mankind, but nowadays rather unpopular.

Given the current environmental crises and issues of human coexistence, our world seems in desperate need of some mending.

An overwhelming task.
A labyrinth.

But it was a simple string, Ariadne‘s string, that showed Theseus the way out of the labyrinth.

What if there was a solution as simple as this string? Why don't we use a string and—while mending our clothes with it—start repairing our relationship to objects, along with our relationship to our fellow human beings.
One hole at a time?

On the day above, there will be a performance of mending holes in clothes brought by visitors.

Visitors are welcome to bring socks etc. to be mended*.

Performing Person: Bianca Beuttel
Born in Germany. Apprenticeship in cabinetmaking. Graduated from Offenbach University of Art and Design (Germany), Faculty of Product Design. Came to Japan on a DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) scholarship. She has researched Japanese packaging design and reported its appeal through articles, workshops and exhibitions. Since 2018, she is committed to packaging design that also takes environmental impact into consideration and aims for a design that reuses materials at hand as much as possible.

* Please note:
Please bring clean clothes only. (Depending on the condition, mending might be refused.)
Mending will be visible darning.
If the result is not satisfactory or if the clothing is damaged, no claim for damages can be made.

Profile

Koichi Mori
Born in Osaka in 1958. Graduated from the Graduate School of Education, Osaka Kyoiku University. While in graduate school, he began researching video art and was involved in the production of numerous works as a video director. In the 1990s, he was involved in the planning and producing multimedia content such as "Cosmology of Kyoyo." Since 2000, he has collaborated with Takehisa Mashimo on research into media art expression using human bio-information. Since 2000, he has collaborated with Takehisa Mashimo on research into media art expression using human bio-information. Currently, he is working on an art project focusing on "earth," "breath," and "plants" in the context of the Anthropocene epoch.
Takehisa Mashimo
Graduated from the Graduate School of Media Arts and Sciences, Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences. He researches and produces artworks mainly in the field of media art. He has participated in international exhibitions such as Ars Electronica Festival (2004), Gwangju Biennale (2006), and Sundance International Film Festival (2011). In collaboration with Koichi Mori, he has created works that feed back biological information such as brain waves, cerebral blood flow, and respiration to the viewer. He works with graphic designers, contemporary artists, and filmmakers on projects and productions.
Mariko Takagi
Mariko Takagi, born in Düsseldorf, is a German-Japanese typographer, author, designer of books, and educator. Takagi acts as an intermediary between the Western and Japanese cultures in general – and published 11 books on Japanese culture, writing systems, typography, and Bauhaus. She is a recipient of numerous international design awards. Her interest lies in culture, environmental issues, and methods of communication, and she expresses her research through writing and design. Mariko Takagi spent six years in Hong Kong (2010–2016) as an Assistant Professor at the Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University. Since 2017, Takagi has worked as an Associate Professor and researcher at Doshisha Women’s College of Liberal Arts in Kyoto, Japan. Takagi received a Ph.D. from the Braunschweig University of Art (2012) and a Master of Type Design from Reading University (2014).
Contact
Doshisha Women's University, Department of Media Creation Office.
(+81) 0774-65-8635
Produce  Koichi Mori, Takehisa Mashita, Mariko Takagi
Cooperation  NPO 10bin, Nun, STUDIO AQA
Gran  Women's University Collaborative Research ‖ Individual Research Gran