21. Creating a Third Space
Kanjiyama: |
I travel outside Tokyo quite a bit to different parts of Japan. One thing I notice is that these regions have the buildings, so-called "hardware," but they don't have content or anything that corresponds to "software." The buildings are built by people who don't live there or have no ties to the local area. They just build without a real objective. But, it is the opposite in the United States, isn't it? They have large amount of content, and they build depending on what kind of content they have. They start with content and I think that is great. But, it is the other way around in Japan where the buildings come first. That's because it is a way to make a name for yourself. It is important to make the external accommodate what will go inside. But, now it is the other way around.
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Ueda: |
Let's start tomorrow. There are really so many interesting things we can do. We can exchange views with professionals in various fields. Up to now, when art or performance was introduced into education, someone like Kanjiyama would be invited to give a workshop and the organization was entirely left up to the outside professional. That is the usual way. Professional musicians are invited to give concerts. And everyone thinks they have had an educational experience. But, this time we brought together professional performers, artisans, and educators and tried to come up with something new that each person could not have created alone. The mime workshop and Feel the Media were different. I meant it as a joke, but Furukata-san brought all his equipment and was probably able to come up with that software because he was in Yoshino. In any case, places for this type of experience don't exist now, and they are really necessary.
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Hillel: |
I think we are really ready to begin to start to build the museum.
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Ueda: |
Don't you think we need a place to talk about these ideas on an ongoing basis?
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Kanjiyama: |
Yes, like a salon.
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Omori: |
Yes, we could get together like this every weekend.
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Ueda: |
Meeting in this room, for example, and talking about things like this during this time is similar to the way we conduct workshops. We have a rough scenario that outlines what we want to talk about, and we are discussing our ideas using the workshop as a specific case. Today we came up with great concepts like engawa or the necessity of a kind of in-between space. We have talked about authenticity. We have generated so many good ideas. We have seen that children will just follow their own program. At least, this is what my son, Mitsuki, did. Adults want them to have an educational experience and do it in a certain order. But that doesn't matter to children. When I looked over at those two boys, they were being playful with their own program. It suddenly seemed that what we were doing was just highlighting their playfulness. But this time, Mitsuki didn't really get into it sometimes. Sometimes, Nobuki became aware of this and tried to get him interested. They would get playful all of a sudden, like when they jumped into the river. Their playfulness would reach a peak about three times a day, but they seemed to be sleeping the rest of time. They were really playful during the rehearsals, but did not get too excited during the workshop itself. So, in this sense, rehearsals might be more interesting. This is because people are really absorbed in doing something then. Rehearsal is different from the real workshop so on the day before, so it is possible to play in unintended and unforeseen ways, like the invisible cockroaches in the cockroach game. Adults have to try to create this kind of atmosphere, playing around and trying to have more fun than the next group. We really have to make a space where people can really enjoy themselves. This can't be done in the school curriculum. It is necessary to have a space that is a little different from everyday life, a kind of third space. We understand this now and we can do it. It shouldn't be a finished product right from the start, but it should start with something small, creating an atmosphere like this. For example, a place where people who come to Tokyo, for instance, can go to talk about something interesting or take an one-hour mini-workshop. Someone can offer a cooking workshop over here or we can all play with a fun program that Furukata-san has created. It can be a place where creative professionals test out what they have made. Performers can come to give lessons besides the usual shows. I think that it is really beautiful to see everyone enjoying themselves so much.
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