November 11, 2005
Dressed Up In Moss
AGF found this nice dress in a shopping window in Tokyo. Thanks for the image!
投稿者 stefan : 05:31 AM
November 06, 2005
Contemporary Moss at YCAM - final presentation
Here they are! All the moss boxes and balls at YCAM.
This is my final collection of Contemporary Moss in Japan. Appearence in chronological order.
Kyoto, October 15, 2005
Kyoto, October 15, 2005
Kyoto, October 15, 2005
Ogaki, October 18, 2005
Tokyo, October 21, 2005; bought by Seiko Mikami
Kamasaki, October 25, 2005
Sendai, October 27, 2005
Osaka, November 4, 2005
Yamaguchi, November 5, 2005
投稿者 stefan : 12:40 PM
November 05, 2005
Guenter Nitschke on Moss in Zen
Here is an edited, shortend and translated version of an interview conducted by Guenter Nitschke and me on Friday, October 14th in a small café in Kyoto. Guenter Nitschke is director of the Institute for East Asian Architecture and Urbanism. He is teaching at Seika University Kyoto.
Guenter Nitschke and Kenninji Temple Moss
This talk was important to shape my whole project concerning Contemporary Moss. Our conversation opened a lot of interesting questions which had great influence on my further thinking. The following short text might give you an impression of this development.
Guenter Nitschke:
To me it seemed quite sensitive to choose something like moss for your project. However, how you´re going to implement this idea now is another story. You mentioned that the softness and the territorial character - that there might...
Well, of course, a space defined by steel barbs like, let´s say, in Star Wars drives you nervous. That´s a tremendously aggressive energy you don´t want to have. In fact the moss is precisely opposite to that.
Stefan Riekeles:
That´s exactly what this project is about. About the confrontation with the barbed wires and concrete blocks of our citys. I would like to make use of moss as an object for contemplation and reflection of the increasingly fragmented world in which we live.
GN:
Well, moss is not in the focus of our world anymore. Apart from Japan nobody is interested in it anymore. There is a moss temple here, called Saihoji. Because it is a zen temple one associates notions of meditation with it. Not with slowness, that´s a different thing, but with meditation actually. Meaning that you´re getting to a point where you´re literally transcending your normal perception. In other words: where you´re experiencing all the interfering transmitters in your brain switched off, even for just some seconds.
However, this thing about meditation seems to lack all support, may it come from historical documents or facts. Historical documents don´t even exist about that. We know that Saihoji didn´t have any moss originally. Plains of sand have been layed out there upon which the moss spread out. The priests simply accepted that. Suddenly everything was overgrown after several hundrets of years.
We know some scripts of the founding priest and the only overtone concerning a link between garden and meditation he is bearing witness to, is not on gazing at the garden. It´s not that you´re visiting Ryoanji, the rockgarden, thinking that the empty white plain is associated to Buddhistic philosophy of emptiness, that the garden might actually be a product of philosophy or a medium, a technique to bring enlightenment to anybody. That´s all bosh.
There is not one sole voice throughout history within Japanese Zen priests saying that such temples had actually been used for meditation or had been regarded to be a product of meditation. Such has all been written in the fifties by western Zen writers, but not Zen masters, on Zen in Japanese culture. That´s all fictitious.
Back to moss now. On this note the designer of Saihoji said that the actual work in the garden, the design and also the process of maintaining it, but maintaining it in full awareness of the process, should be the purpose of such a garden. But never contemplation of the final result. This is basically the same like a tea ceremonie.
SR:
So it is all about practical experience?
GN:
In Zen the world can only be understood by practical experience, not through philosophy. This misunderstanding has to become clear to you. Reading a book on meditation is completely different from doing it in order to experience something totally unique.
From this point of view it will be a very difficult argument to combine the softness, or let´s say cushy green, coherently with meditation. Meditation is more likely to emerge if you´re surrounded by a crowd of rebels in Iraq and you start to scream two seconds before death. Then there is something happening. But if you sit on a nice green bed there will not happen anything. Unless you have a master manipulating you.
Furthermore your project seems to be very solitary. In Japan anything that matters is build, enjoyed and judged on the basis of a group of people. Everything is from the group, for the group, in the group or with the group. Communication is very important. However, the moss does not reply to you.
投稿者 stefan : 09:04 PM
November 04, 2005
Contemporary Moss and Osaka Power
OSAKA POWER! We probably had the best evening of the entire tour so far. Everybody involved in the project at IMI did a great job and made sure that we had a very pleasant stay there. The evening with live music and visuals was a great success. Our MobLab crew and the local folks mixed up in almost no time and made for a very energetic atmosphere. For some hours I had a glimpse at the power and crazyness of this second biggest city of Japan.
I found that the energy of this city is somewhat different from the others I´ve expierenced so far. This impression may partially derive from the location we were based at. The IMI school is located in the former headquartes building of the Osaka '70 International Exposition. After strolling around the former Expo area, visiting the Japanese Garden and a little bit of research in the school´s library I could still sense the utopian and futuristic ideas which were once represented in the Expo Pavillions 35 years ago. Although none of these buildings exists today, I thought that the Expo `70 might have been one of the birthplaces of contemporary Japanese culture. Some of the few things remaining is the vast transportational infrastructure. Although it is quite similar to every highway-metro-train-skywalk agglomeration this specific structure seemed to be something like an archetype of modern Japanese urban scenery to me. It´s same same - but a little different.
In the evening I met Kenji Yanobe, a well-known contemporary artist. He told me about his Tower of Life. A sculpture made out of the remains of the old Expo tower. Just before the tower was rebuilt he climbed to the top where he was quite surprised to find a large expanse of moss. He decided to use the moss as a metaphor for Life in his installation.
Although his sculpture is much more elaborate than my clumsy moss boxes both show a common point: moss is able to carry a strong utopian potential.
OSAKA POWER joined the POWER OF MOSS!
Once again a big Thank You especially to Masako Miyauchi and Tomomi Tada for this wonderful night near the Tower of Sun. It still gives me the heebie-jeebies.
The Tower of Sun, the landmark of the Osaka '70 International Exposition.
Thanks to Ayuko Nozoe for this nice picture.
The scenery next to the IMI. Vast infrastructure for transportation and amusement.
Music and moss.
Sven took this picture while I was picking up some moss in front of the hotel.
投稿者 stefan : 03:03 PM
November 01, 2005
Off topic: From Berlin? Ahhhhhaaaaa!
In Matsumoto I had my first face2face encounter with junior highschool girls. And yes, I had to take another one of these "Cute-Japanese-Highschool-Girl" pictures. We enjoyed ourselves very much until suddenly the 8 girls multiplied to approximately 50. I was overwhelmed by the crowd and asked Daisuke to play the translator again. Unfortunately my assistant Kim was not available at the time. Furthermore I completely forgot about my camera. All that remains are these nice smiles. Can you smile like this?
Thanks to AGF for this shot.
Please notice the smile on the right handside. Extraordinary.
投稿者 stefan : 01:54 PM