 |
| Photo by Yukiko Koshima |
（日本語は下にあります）
We're back in Western Massachusetts just in time to see the new green of Spring opening wide for Summer! We have a lot to do now but wanted to take some time to write our reports on the events we did not get around to talking about during our trip.
The first of these is
Wayfinding! It was an amazing experience for us! A form of something we've been wanting to do for a long time, this exploratory workshop is hopefully something we will be able to repeat in the future.
A two day workshop at
Myonichikan with the same schedule on both days, we were surprised to find Wayfinding a completely different creature from the 5th to the 6th. On the 5th, the participants were primarily children while on the 6th only adults attended. We did not set out to have the workshop be for one or another age group, it was advertised as being children friendly (which we took to mean all ages).
Below we will talk about how each day played out!
As we wrote before, Wayfinding is a workshop we set up for making a personal constellation based on points of interest picked in a certain area. Our process in creating this constellation, this time, was to walk around a small area, picking out interesting locations and marking them on a map each participant carried with them. The maps then had transparencies placed over them and each point was marked with a paint marker and connected with straight lines. The participants would read these simple point-and-line layouts and find what creatures or objects they could see and then draw what they saw around the
points and lines.
新緑のマサチューセッツに戻ってきました！
ここから、たまっている制作に追われつつもまだ書いてないいくつかのイベントの事を写真と一緒に振り返っていこうと思います。
まずは、５／５と５／６の２日間豊島区の
自由学園明日館で行われたワークショップ「
Wayfinding」から書いてみようと思います。５日と６日と、全く違う感じの雰囲気でどちらもとても楽しかったです。
このワークショップは私たちが普段の生活の中でどのように世界を作っているかを簡単な方法で一緒に体験してもらおうというもので、今回は豊島区の明日館周辺を地図とともに歩いて自分の気になるポイントを探し（私たちがあらかじめ見つけたポイントも地図上に載せています）、それを集めて明日館に戻り、集めたポイントの様子を元に、自分の中から湧き出てくる町の／自分のオリジナル星座を作ってもらいました。
 |
| Photo by Yukiko Koshima |
 |
| Photo by Yukiko Koshima |
On the first day, 5/5, mostly parents and their children attended and all our explanations and background planning was thrown out the window to get outside and start finding interesting points!
We were at first concerned the children would forget the goal and process of the workshop for simply playing outdoors (the weather was beautiful), but to our surprise they followed our course of the area and marked point after point, drawing our attention to all sorts of interesting objects and locations we had not noticed or considered. With these fresh perspectives the course we had gone over multiple times took on a new look and the day went beyond what we had initially imagined.
After a few hours exploring and marking points outdoors we returned to Myonichikan and transferred the points to the transparencies and for a little while everyone was lost in drawing what they saw in their stars of interest. Afterwards, we each briefly talked about what we drew and why we chose some of the points we did. Both the children and their parents surprised us with the thought they put into choosing their points and what they saw in their decisions were beautiful and revealing.
Working with children and adults together was a great experience and we would like to see an even greater mix in the future!
まずは５日。
この日はお子さん連れの参加が多く、明日館での作品の説明などもそこそこにして天気のいい外に出ちゃいましょう！と子供達と、お父さんお母さんとマップを持ってポイント探しに出かけました。
子供達は開始すぐにポイントを見つけ地図に書きまくり、父兄のみなさんはいろいろ考えてゆっくりと地図上のポイントを増やしていきました。
Jasonは子供達になぜか「ハカセー！」と呼ばれ（ヒゲ？）慕われていました。まあどこか博士らしいとこはあるのかな…？
鬼子母神の古ーい駄菓子屋さんでみんなでサイダー飲んで一休み。そこから明日館に戻っていきました。
戻って地図からポイントを選び、それを星座にします。
このワークショップは昼の１時から夕方の６時までと拘束される時間が長いものでしたが、こどもたちは誰一人途中で投げ出す事なく最後までやりきってくれて嬉しかったです。
 |
| Photo by Ken Iijima |
 |
| Photo by Ken Iijima |
 |
| Photo by Ken Iijima |
 |
| Photo by Ken Iijima |
 |
| Photo by Ken Iijima |
 |
| Photo by Ken Iijima |
 |
| Photo by Ken Iijima |
 |
| Photo by Ken Iijima |
 |
| Photo by Ken Iijima |
 |
| Photo by Ken Iijima |
 |
| Photo by Ken Iijima |
 |
| Photo by Ken Iijima |
 |
| Photo by Ken Iijima |
 |
| Photo by Aya |
That being said, the second day, 5/6, was all adults and ended up being an incredible and different experience all together. At first we were able to elaborate on the background of the workshop and share some of our animation. When we started out, the weather was very nice, and we all agreed it would be pleasant to have a drink while strolling the area of Toshima-ku and picking out interesting points (public drinking is legal and perfectly acceptable in Japan). So we picked up drinks and walked the first leg of the course and everything was going beautifully.
Then suddenly the sky went dark and it began to rain. This began our adventure, where the weather started from nice to lousy to cloudy to lousy to a drizzle to hail and heavy winds and finally back to beautiful. We would run and take cover from the rain and then continue, then take cover and then continue again. At one point we considered canceling the remaining parts of the course and returning to Myonichikan but everyone was in favor of finishing what we had started.
The last burst of the storm hit us with hail and powerful winds and we wondered if would have to find taxis to take us back, but then the clouds lifted - just as we reached Mejiro Teien, an amazing secluded garden in the middle of the city.
We completed the course and returned to Myonichikan and like the previous day, everyone lost themselves in transferring the points and creating their constellations.
６日は、参加者が大人ばかりでこれまた全然別の感じで楽しかったです。
この日はみな落ち着いて話を聞いてくれたので（笑）このワークショップに対して思う事とか、作品作りとどういう関係があるかとかも少しお話しできました。
二つの作品（Ludic Chase／BLESS）を見てもらいながら、この作品達が私たちの生活のどういう部分とシンクロして、どういう風に無意識の部分から拾い上げるのか…などなどです。
明日館を出発した頃はとってもいい天気で、いい気持ちだねーなどと言いながらどんどん歩いてポイントを集め、鬼子母神近くのスーパーでコロッケや飲み物を購入したり、鬼子母神境内の古い駄菓子屋さん上川口屋（創業1718年！）でまた駄菓子を買って…と盛り上がっているうちに急に暗い雲が立ちこめて雨が降り始めたのです。そこからが２日目チームのアドベンチャーの始まりでした。
ブワっと降って上がり、またブワッと降る合間を縫ってヒャーと言いながら小走りで軒先を借りながらポイントを収集するみなさん…大変ですがみんな顔はニヤニヤと楽しそうです。
３つの大きなポイントのうちのひとつ、目白庭園ではほんとうにタッチの差で入り口の屋根の下に全員走り込み、暴風雨と雹の嵐をまぬがれました。
みんなで「すごいねえ」などといいながらバラバラとすごい勢いで降ってくる雹を見つめていた時間、実は私はとっても楽しかったです。
雨もやみ何もなかったように晴れ間が広がるなかで明日館にもどり、地図からポイントを抜き出して星座を作って発表会までもとても良い時間でした。
 |
| Photo by Aya |
 |
| Photo by Aya |
 |
| Photo by Yukiko Koshima |
 |
| Photo by Yukiko Koshima |
 |
| Photo by Yukiko Koshima |
 |
| Photo by Yukiko Koshima |
 |
| Photo by Yukiko Koshima |
 |
| Photo by Yukiko Koshima |
 |
| Photo by Yukiko Koshima |
 |
| Photo by Yukiko Koshima |
 |
| Photo by Yukiko Koshima |
 |
| Photo by Yukiko Koshima |
 |
| Photo by Yukiko Koshima |
 |
| Photo by Yukiko Koshima |
 |
| Photo by Yukiko Koshima |
 |
| Photo by Yukiko Koshima |
 |
| Photo by Yukiko Koshima |
 |
| Photo by Yukiko Koshima |
As we said, both days were successful as they were different, and as the middle Magi Nigh event between
Lodge in Yufuin, a children-heavy event, and
Ritual Exchange at Super Deluxe, an adult-heavy evening, Wayfinding stood as more as a crossover than we could have planned.
We look forward to doing this workshop again, in Japan and hopefully other countries as well!
３つのマジナイイベントの真ん中で、子供満載の湯布院
Lodge、そしてアダルトな音楽イベント
Ritual Exchangeの間で偶然にもちょうどよく世代が混ざったワークショップでした。
こういう風なワークショップをまた日本でも（次はもう少し深く！）、そして他の国で＆違う文化・世代の人ともやってみたいと思いました。
とても楽しかったです。
参加してくださったみなさん、どうもありがとう！またやりましょうね。
