For the last two weeks I’ve been diving into the Machiya: the tradition, the structure, the dwellers. I try to understand a little bit about the Kyoto culture in relation to the Machiya, but everything is so interwoven with each other and so different from my culture, that it’s very Lees verder
Through our eyes we can look and observe the world around us. Sometimes we use a painting, filmscreen or photo to focus on what we should see and avoid the noise around it. Three years ago I saw the work of Job Koelewijn at de Pont Tilburg. He put a Lees verder
Culture reveals itself slowly. Every day you see new things, although your eye must have seen them before. Only when you make connections, references, relationships you can communicate and understand better the things you’ve seen. This first week is a great lesson in modesty and slow looking.
Kenya Hara states in his ‘house vision’ that the form of the sliding doors are more determined by the body than by the space. It’s the mentality that lives in a space that allows one to engage with the world with beauty and modest dignity. How to open and close Lees verder
Although my research is not on mapping Kyoto, I want to share my fascination for maps, especially in Japan. The marking of land (different trees, agriculture), water (river, lake, moving water), hills (unfolded) and temples (shrine and temple complex) are so accurate and beautiful. The whole image explains on different Lees verder
After 11 hours by plain (7 hours forward in time) and nearly any sleep I got a warmhearted welcome from the people from the KCCC, the Doshisha University and the owners of the house. My apartment is big and full of things from the family: some traditional (photographs from the Lees verder
Today Joke Robaard (a colleague artist) asked me if I planned to put this book from Christopher Alexander in my suitcase. It’s new to me, but sounds very interesting. I haven’t packed yet, so maybe to take with me together with ….. (max 23 kg!) In a series of books Lees verder
Last weekend I was suprised to see this book in the Stedelijk. It’s an essay on aesthtics by Junichiro Tanizaki (1886-1965). Femke told me to read it for preparation, and Kenya Hara wrote about it in his book ‘designing design’. Tanizaki has a sharp eye for colour, light and material. Lees verder
Yesterday I had a meeting with a friend and colleague artist Meinbert. He is active on E-bay, with buying masks, sculptures and textiles especially from Timor. I wanted to know how it would work to sell or buy a prefab house. How it works with: taxes, transportation, assurance. He told Lees verder
Inspired by the famous Japanese graphic designer Kenya Hara, I would like to use his thoughts on ‘exformation’ in the Kyoto Machiya Research. He writes about ‘exformation’ as a counterpart of ‘information’: information is about making things know. Exformation is about understanding how little we know. What we are used Lees verder