CITY OF CONTRADICTIONS
Article by Caroline Wright published in AN Magazine August 2006

The two-week exchange programme between Norwich School of Art and Design and Asagaya School of Art and Design, Tokyo is an opportunity for cultural and creative exchange. Making a video installation, shot in both countries and edited together, was an ambitious proposal. The work was based on domestic tea drinking in both Japan and England, using this as a framework for examining difference in culture and tradition. Footage captured before leaving England would be augmented by material gathered on location in Japan. This was not easy; the Japanese are private by nature and a foreigner with a video camera who asked for access to their homes proved off-putting for some. Difficulties were overcome primarily due to the existing relationship of trust developed through past participants on this exchange programme, together with a cumulative desire to realise the artwork. After much late night editing, the work was installed at Visions Gallery in Tokyo, with the opening party attended by students, staff and general public.

Tokyo is a city of contradictions. There are the neon signs surrounding every road junction and the super efficient metro moving people around in vast numbers. The urban landscape of concrete towers can be oppressive. The restrained nature of the Japanese character, where consideration for the good of everyone is paramount and of more importance than concern for the self, does engender a feeling of security. Tokyo has one of the lowest crime rates in the world.  However routes for personal expression and individuality are minimal and the arts provide a vent for spontaneity and individuality.

Galleries are often grouped several into one building each occupying a floor or room. Most are small, reflecting lack of space and appear to exhibit mainly solo shows. This makes it possible to see prints, installation, photography, video and painting all within the same building but as separate shows. Artwork frequently reflects traditional influences of Japanese printing, minimal design and the country’s love of manga.

Four weeks in the Artists’ Space at firstsite, Colchester provided the perfect opportunity to distil the Japanese experience once back on home soil. This space provides and artist with a working studio environment to explore their ideas within the gallery. It is an interesting concept and one that has very particular demands for the artist. Placing unresolved work into the public domain requires careful consideration and whilst talking to the public - allowing them a glimpse of the artist at work – was rewarding it also made for a broken work pattern. In Japan, it is unusual to be both a working woman and mother, as marriage, children and a domestic life is the traditional path. This feeling of being an outsider was the main concern for a video work that combined sound to engender a feeling of displacement, with footage of the many train journey made when in Japan. It is evident that the Japanese culture is shifting as it absorbs and adopts western ways and young people challenge age-old boundaries. A neon text work highlighting the four principles of the Japanese tea ceremony - HARMONY, RESPECT, TRANQUILITY, PURITY has been the most conclusive piece from the experience. Words of a dying tradition are transferred into the bright visual language of the young as they test and reject their roots and heritage for the influence of western life.