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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 : November 4, 2005 03:03 PM