Creating a New Way of Communication for the Realization of a Symbiotic Society through Art and Culture "Summer Session 2023 where everyone can connect through culture" (Sponsor: Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Tokyo Metropolitan History and Culture Foundation Arts Council Tokyo) was held at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum from Saturday, July 29, 2023 to Sunday, August 6. The theme of this year's event is "accessibility and co-creation," in response to last year's international conference "An International Conference Where Everyone Can Connect Through Culture." Experts and artists from various fields were invited to participate in "talk sessions," "lectures and workshops," "exhibits," and "performances and labs" on activities at cultural facilities and the utilization of cutting-edge technologies. In this report, we will focus on Session 1, "Cultural 'Social Prescription' and the Place of Co-creation," and Session 8, "What is Co-creation? Through Cultural Practice?" among the eight talk sessions.
Instead of "prescriptions" for medicine, "cultural prescriptions" connect with art and the community
[Session 1] (Adjunct Professor, Social Collaboration Center, Tokyo University of the Arts. Deputy Director. Project Leader, "Art Communication Co-Creation Center to Create a Symbiotic Society")
ITO Tatsuya
INANIWA Sawako (Senior Researcher, National Art Research Center, National Museum of Art, Tokyo)
NAKANO Atsuyuki (Project Manager, Director, Kanagawa Prefectural Hall)
MODERATOR: MORI Tsukasa (Project Coordination Manager, Tokyo Division, Arts Council)
In Session 1, Tatsuya Ito and Sawako Inaniwa, who have been working on social design projects to foster community through art for 10 years since 2011, such as the Tobira Project, a collaboration between the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, the Tokyo University of the Arts, and citizens, explained "cultural prescriptions," which are already being implemented in England through cooperation between the healthcare system and art culture. He presented what kind of cultural development and co-creation fields are possible in Japan, and the concept and start of the project at the national government and universities in Japan.
In the United Kingdom, patients whose illness is caused by social conditions such as unwanted loneliness and isolation are not given prescriptions, but rather prescriptions that connect them with local resources that create relationships with people. This is called "Social Prescribing" and has been institutionalized. Link workers, non-medical professionals who connect the medical professionals with the patients, listen carefully to the patients and connect them to club activities and museum programs that are suitable for them, and act as a bridge to connect them with people and the local community. Referring to this practice in England, we are about to start an initiative in Japan called "cultural prescription" to prevent unwanted loneliness and isolation through art and culture.
First, Mr. Tatsuya Ito of Tokyo University of the Arts introduced the "Art Communication Co-Creation Center to Create a 'Symbiotic Society'" which was launched at the university in April 2023. This project has been selected by the National Science and Technology Agency (JST) as part of its COI-NEXT program to address the problems of loneliness and isolation in a super-aging society. Art acts as glue to connect stakeholders to creative experiences and resilient community initiatives, partnering with 39 sites, including healthcare, welfare, technology, community networks, local governments, overseas research institutions, and NPOs. We will create a system to jointly consider the design of care and social participation suited to each individual. "Looking ahead to the NEXT SDGs in 2030 and beyond, I would like to consider whether the services and technologies that will be developed in the future will truly enrich people, even in the spirit." he said.
Ms. Sawako Inaniwa then introduced the Creative Health report, a British cross-party parliamentary group's study of how art can positively affect people's health and wellbeing. At the end of March 2023, a project called "Health and Wellbeing" was launched at the National Art Research Centre, which was launched as a new division within the National Museum of Art headquarters and for which Mr. Inaniwa serves as chief researcher. Based on research conducted in England in January, he gave the example of Pratt Hall, a branch of the Manchester City Museum of Art that faces social issues such as poverty and aging.
"While viewing the collection and chatting with people gathered online, the participants' various memories are recounted. The workshop has the effect of creating a state of well-being, which the person in charge in the UK referred to as' bironging '. Well being is a sense of connectedness. For example, it is difficult for people to connect directly with each other, but through works of art, people can interact with their inner selves and understand each other's cultures. There's a possibility of an organic connection." he said.
Finally, Mr. Atsuyuki Nakano from Kanagawa Prefectural Hall appeared. Mr. Nakano, who is good at working in the city because of his experience in tent theater under the guidance of his former teacher, Mr. Juro KARA in college, talked about his experience at The Albany, an art center in Deptford, southeast of London, where he was on a 11 month training assignment for the Agency for Cultural Affairs in 2022.
The Albany is a small 150 seat theatre in a wild part of London that houses a theatre company, a dance company, a library, assembly facilities, a children's square and a radio station. A variety of activities were introduced, including workshops for seniors such as handicrafts, choral singing, and djembe, as well as mobile theater performances that draw on life experiences, and poetry on the theme of environmental issues. "Everyone loves singing and dancing, and even people with learning disabilities love club events." There will also be massages for parents, and free croissants and tea and coffee at the symposium on Monday mornings. It is called "Enthusiastic participants include mothers who drop in with their children at daycare, and an old woman who emigrated from Jamaica at the age of 40. I realized it was really a theater for the people of the city."
At Kanagawa Prefectural Hall, which is scheduled to be closed in 2025 due to aging, he expressed his determination to rebuild the theater by saying, "Rather than taking a relaxed stance that we can solve social issues, I would like to work even harder to ensure that arts and culture and cultural facilities are directly connected to the reality of your society and life, and sometimes even to things like human work. I want to be a public hall that is really needed."
Care comes from creating something together while enjoying the "slippage"
[Session 8] "What is Co-Creation? Through Cultural Practice"
NISHIO Miya (Associate Professor, Tokyo University of the Arts)
ITO Asa (Professor, Tokyo Institute of Technology)
Moderator: MORI Tsukasa (Manager, Project Coordination Section, Arts Council Tokyo Division)
Session 8 began with a presentation by artist Miya Nishio about her project on the theme of "Attire and Communication." At the request of the Breaker Project, a cultural project of Osaka City based in Nishinari Ward, Nishio has been collaborating with local senior citizens since 2016, and since 2018 has also launched a fashion brand called Nishinari Yoshio.
"Twice a week, aunts who are good at knitting and handicrafts gather in the vacant shop of a former chest of drawers shop. Take apart clothes from the past and swap parts with other people, or recreate clothes you used to wear based on photos. It was a great environment to be able to work with the same people at the same place every week, and it was a great time to learn from each other."
In 2018, when we launched our brand and commercialized it, our first challenge was to create clothes for people close to us. This led to the creation of "asymmetrical pants" with a zipper of about 80 centimeters for people with one leg disability, and "yakitori jackets" for chicken shop owners to protect their arms from burns. "By asking Nishinari's men and immigrants from overseas to serve as models for our product shoots, we have created a connection with the local community, and our products have been sold at Umeda department stores. It's full of communication."
Currently, each member is asked to come up with their own "last three outfits." In the exhibition room, Nishinari's "tansu ya" was reproduced, and each completed item was displayed. They are discussing what to make for the second and third items.
Next, Ms. Asa Ito, a professor at Tokyo Institute of Technology, introduced three specific examples of co-creation and collaborative research. "We listen directly to the stories of people with disabilities and illnesses, and we study how they use their bodies. I think we're doing something more like a co-creation situation than a researcher and a subject."
I was particularly impressed by the "Invisible Sports Illustrated Book," in which the visually impaired can enjoy sports together. We ask athletes and coaches of 12 sports about the essential feeling when they play the sport, and translate that feeling together with everyday items. In fencing, for example, you move your wrists softly to keep up with the opponent's movements, and pass them by and thrust. Instead of using swords, they intertwined alphabet blocks, one of which was not removed and the other tried to be removed.
"There are two ways of thinking when blind people cannot participate in watching sports. One is an idea called accessibility that conveys information in some form. But we came up with the idea of creating a situation where people who can't participate can participate. When we borrow that person's point of view, we can see aspects that we hadn't seen before. If you translate and experience each event, the resolution will increase when sighted people actually watch the game."
Finally, I would like to introduce the words of a woman participating in Mr. Nishio's project that made the audience laugh and relax. "[Nishio-san] I was told that I had to be prepared for a lot of difficult problems. I can use a sewing machine, but I can't embroider. But my seniors taught me embroidery. Everyone at the chest of drawers is kind and generous."
Mr. Ito, who was listening to the conversation between Mr. Nishio and the women, asked, "It's important to be reckless (laughs). ISHIO, YOU BELIEVE IN YOUR OPPONENT'S POTENTIAL, AND THAT'S WHY YOU ASK HIGH HOLDERS." To which Mr. Nishio replied, "It's not co-creation, it's freedom together. I think it means that we try to do something together that I have never done before by using each other's skills, common sense and recklessness." Mr. Mori said, "It's a charming approach where we enjoy each other's differences."
During the discussion on co-creation, Mr. Ito said, "If there is someone who takes you on a fresh adventure, that person is your partner in co-creation" "It is interesting that there is always a situation where the first question is attached to or overlapped with another question. In Mr. Nishio's project, I think that changing questions is the most important aspect of care or recovery." Mori said, "When we talk about "everyone," it is important to strike a balance between a broad base and interesting points that are not everyone, and Mr. Nishio's project has both vectors."
The whole experience made me think that the idea of doing something together may be more important than the idea that culture and art are socially useful. It was also a time to give hints on accessibility for the 2025 Deaflympics.
Interview and text by Yuri Shirasaka, courtesy of Arts Council Tokyo
"Summer Session 2023 where everyone can connect through culture"
Special website: https://creativewell-session.jp/
The report of each talk session, lecture and workshop is available at the following link.
https://creativewell.rekibun.or.jp/creativewell-conference/2023.html
session1.A place for cultural "social prescription" and co-creation
Date and time: Saturday, July 29, 2023 13:15~15:00
Speakers: Inaniwa Sawako [Senior Researcher, National Art Research Center], Nakano Atsuyuki [Project Division, Director, Kanagawa Prefectural Hall], Ito Tatsuya [Adjunct Professor, Tokyo University of the Arts]
Moderator: Mori Tsukasa [Project Coordination Manager, Arts Council Tokyo]
session2. expression by the Deaf
Date and time: Saturday, July 29, 2023 15:30~17:00
Speakers: Kazunori Nemoto [Metotelab], Yuya Nishi [Def Art Researcher]
Moderator: Natsumi Kanno [Re; Signing Project Representative]
session3. the world you meet through touching
Date and time: Sunday, July 30, 2023 11:15~12:45
Speakers: Akiko Okano [Director of "Touching the World with Your Hands" and Deputy Director of Vange Sculpture Garden Museum], Kozue Handa [Part-time lecturer, Meiji Gakuin University]
Moderator: Kazushi Motegi [Professor, Atomi University]
session4. Easy-to-visit museums
Date and time: Sunday, July 30, 2023 13:30~15:00
Speakers: Toshio Takeuchi [Curator, Museum of Modern Art, Tokushima], Sachiko Kamei [Chair, Museum of Modern Art, Tokushima], Junko Moriyama [Educational Program Coordinator, Mito Art Museum Contemporary Art Center]
Moderator: Kaoru Ouchi [Manager, Cultural Symbiosis Section, Shibuya Koen-dori Gallery, Tokyo]
session5. Co-creative experiences in theaters and halls
Date and time: Sunday, July 30, 2023 15:30~17:00
Speakers: KONDO Ryohei [Art Director, Sai-no-kuni Saitama Art Theater], KAJI Naoko [Manager, Business Planning Division, Tokyo Bunka Kaikan]
Moderator: NAKAMURA Mia [Professor, Graduate School of Art and Engineering, Kyushu University]
session6.Towards the Deaflympics
Date: Monday, July 31, 2023 10:00~11:30
Speakers: Osugi Yutaka [Professor, Tsukuba University of Technology], Shimizu Kotoichi [Director, Kita Noh Theater]
Moderator: Ezoe Satoshi [Actor]
session 7.Information security and technology
Date: Monday, July 31, 2023 12:30~14:00
Speakers: NAKANO Natsumi [Science Communicator, National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation], Shitara Akihisa [Graduate School of Library and Information Media, University of Tsukuba]
Moderator: ABE Kazunao [Professor, Tokyo Institute of Technology]
session 8.What is co-creation? Through cultural practice
Date and time: Monday, July 31, 2023 14:30~16:00
Speakers: Nishio Miya [Associate Professor, Tokyo University of the Arts], Ito Asa [Professor, Tokyo Institute of Technology]
Moderator: Mori Tsukasa [Director, Arts Council Tokyo Project Coordination Division]