* This article has been edited and reconstructed based on the report submitted to the Kawamura Foundation for the Promotion of Culture and Arts.
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Madang: The Square Where the People ConjureProject Name: Madang: The Square Where the People ConjureApplicant: Madanggeuk Project
Madanggeuk Project brings together artists, curators, and local communities from Japan, South Korea, and North Korea to collaborate on workshops, performance prototypes, and talk events related to Madang theater, thereby exploring its practical value in contemporary society. (In Korean and North Korean, “Madang” refers to a communal square in a local community.)
Since the 1980s, Madanggeuk in Japan has been performed in various forms within Korean communities in Japan—including the “Higashikujo Madang,” a festival held in Higashikujo, Kyoto, a neighborhood where many Korean residents live—and has addressed issues related to community, multicultural coexistence, and local concerns. However, little attention has been paid to the artistic and historical value of such Madanggeuk.
This project will primarily research the spirit and expressive forms of Madanggeuk in Kyoto. By creating collaborative spaces centered on workshops and performance prototypes, it also aims to present a new interpretation of the contemporary significance of Madanggeuk, which has long depicted the lives of ordinary people in both Japan and South Korea. -
OPEN STUDIO / 3.11 reconstruction reference libraryProject Name: OPEN STUDIO / 3.11 reconstruction reference libraryApplicant: Lieko Shiga
Since 2021, I have been regularly hosting an open studio event titled “DOMING NOTHING BUT STUDIO OPEN” at my production studio (Studio Parlor), which is a converted pachinko parlor located in Misato Town, Miyagi Prefecture. As part of this initiative, I have organized workshops, talk events, and lectures featuring guest speakers, intending to inspire the imagination of visitors and provide them with a space for self-expression.
Furthermore, as my own creative practice has been profoundly influenced by the realities of the “reconstruction” that has unfolded over the 12 years since the Great East Japan Earthquake, I created a section titled “Library of Materials on Post-3.11 Reconstruction” to make various works and video materials related to this theme accessible to the public, which was exhibited from April to June 2023.
I earnestly wished to understand the reality of these events, to know why they were carried out, and to think about and experiment with how to live our lives in the future together with those close to me. To that end, I thought it was very important to not only look at the reconstruction plan documents but also to understand what has been done in this land called “Tohoku” since the modern era, and to consider it from various perspectives and viewpoints, such as the workings of politics and the relationship between human existence, society, and nature. I devised a layout in which words, photographs, videos, related materials, and actual objects such as trees and bones would influence each other and ask questions to the viewer, prompting them to confront the question of what kind of beings we are.
I strongly believe that the open studio concept—which involves opening up one’s workspace, organizing various initiatives, and creating a space for artistic expression and community interaction—holds great potential for unique developments. Having relocated my studio from Misato Town in Miyagi Prefecture to the coastal area of Ishinomaki City in October 2023, I now hope to further explore and deepen these unique possibilities through this open studio initiative.
I plan to publish photographic and video documentation of each activity online. -
Building a Queer and Modern Family ImageProject Name: Building a Queer and Modern Family ImageApplicant: Kento Terada
This project is an artistic practice to reconsider the normative ideology of family that has been shared within Japanese society, while examining the possibility of a new concept of family from a queer perspective. One of the applicant’s past works is the self-portrait series, living with my imaginary wife and little girl., where he captured the relationships with a fictional family, questioning how the institution of the family was socially constructed.
As the partnership systems have been introduced, Japan has increasingly been described as moving toward greater social understanding of sexual minorities in recent years. In the meantime, however, heteronormativity remains deeply rooted in everyday scenes among families and workplaces, which often leads to situations in which queer individuals act as heterosexuals in daily life, which is referred to as the so-called “straight-acting.”
With its focus on this reality, this project documents how queer people have navigated society by presenting themselves as heterosexual, as well as what they seek in their relationships with others, through conducting interviews. The applicant interviewed and photographed their queer friends within their personal community, and combined the oral history and photographic practice into a series of artworks.
While diversity is acknowledged within a social system today, there are still circumstances where coming out is difficult in everyday life. By giving attention to the gap between social discourse and the lived experience, this project attempts to document the experience of queer people while examining the nature of family in the contemporary era through the concept of an imaginary family. -
Docu Athan Theatre––Project with Myanmar creators to Raising/Giving “Athan (Voice)”Project Name: Docu Athan Theatre––Project with Myanmar creators to Raising/Giving “Athan (Voice)”Applicant: Docu Athan
Docu Athan is an organization/project launched in 2021 to build networks through artistic and cultural practices, with a main focus on moving-image media, in collaboration with creators in Myanmar who have faced a wide range of challenges since the military coup that year. The organization/project was initiated in February 2023, with journalist Yuki Kitazumi and filmmaker Toru Kubota as leads, both of whom had experienced detention in Myanmar. ‘Athan’ means “voice” or “opinion” in Burmese. The core of its activities is the translation, introduction, and sharing of video works created by Myanmar-based creators on the project’s website, to support these creators’ artistic and cultural practices by presenting those works. While video serves as its primary medium, the project aims to “raise and get the voice heard” comprehensively through various artistic practices.
“Docu Athan Theatre––Project with Myanmar creators to Raising/Giving ‘Athan (Voice)’” was launched to consecutively organize online activities, which were developed through such initiatives that Docu Athan worked on previously, and, building on that foundation, to present screening-based events aimed at establishing new networks in Thailand and Japan. The project’s overall management and operation is led by its founders, Kitazumi and Kubota, as well as curator Haruka Iharada and around ten additional collaborators.