Message
We encounter each other on a daily basis.
While conducting field research in Asia, Africa, and Japan, I have encountered a variety of landscapes of people and their lives and the thoughts that permeate them. It’s not all pretty. Sometimes we are touched by raw reality, malice and deep sadness that we want to turn away from. We stare at them and listen to the stories. We share food and reflect on the events of a safe day. The joy and excitement of people’s lives makes my heart leap. Those who plow the fields and plant the trees feel the warmth of the soil and the intensity of the rain. Fishermen know the waxing and waning of the moon, read the tides, and enjoy interacting with the fickle nature. People try to warm up the past and look to the future. Therein lies the essence of what we should not forget, which is a reflection of who we are.
All people are researchers. Everyone is an artist. This is something we take for granted, but now it is being forgotten. With the increasing division of labor and specialization and the armor of esoteric terms and phrases put on by self-conscious researchers and experts, people’s minds are quietly moving away from it. We want to remind ourselves, once again, that people (i.e. any of us) are researchers and expressors. Once again, I would like to be conscious of encountering the landscape of people’s lives and mental images and talking to each other in simple terms.
The outline that emerged from the many encounters is the “Living Montage”. No one knows yet what form it will take or what kind of content it will contain. It probably starts with conveying our thoughts to each other.
Ueru Tanaka
Representative Director of Living Montage
Organizer
| Organizer | Living Montage (General Incorporated Association) Kawami-bldg.203, 12 Shimogamo-Honmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto-city, Kyoto, 606-0862, JAPAN E-mail: info.livingmontage@gmail.com |
| Representative Director | Ueru Tanaka(Setsunan University/Hue University) |
| Director | Kenichi Sawazaki (Artist, Film Director/Research Fellow, Center for Innovative Research, National Institutes for the Humanities) |
| Researchers involved in the project | Shun Ishiyama(National Museum of Ethnology) Emmanuel Marès(Kyoto Sangyo University) Takao Shimizu(Research Institute for Humanity and Nature) Rika Shinkai(Research Institute for Humanity and Nature) Masashi Suda(Global Environmental Forum) Masahiro Terada(Research Institute for Humanity and Nature) Yutaka Mimura(Research Institute for Humanity and Nature) Hidetoshi Miyazaki(Global Environmental Forum) |
| Artist/Designer involved in the project | Aki Isokawa(Designer) Masae Kariya(Artist) Stifani Brothers(Italian Film Makers & Performers) Sangsun Bae(Artist) Michael Whittle(Artist) Shinichi Wade(Artist) |
| Grant | The Toyota Foundation |