Exchange project
Methods:
The participants are actively involved in the preparatory work for the excursion. On a practical level by finding collaborators in Tokyo, organizing accommodation, etc., but also in terms of content: prior to the trip, a reading group and several gatherings are organized in order to find common interests, roughly outline potential projects and anticipate a challenging and convivial collaboration. Enthusiasm, commitment and an independent yet social spirit are crucial prerequisites.
Goals:
Intercultural competence. Collaborative, artistic practice in a self-organized space. Internationalization. Producing a piece of work in an unfamiliar environment.
Quintessence:
Over the course of two weeks, a group of seven students and alumni developed KŌRYŪ 交流, an ongoing collaborative exchange project between artists, photographers, architects and book designers from Zurich and Tokyo. The excursion discussed a peripatetic way of making and thinking and asked the following questions: How to navigate as an outsider; explore; synchronize with the rhythm of a foreign culture? How to enable a critical stance towards preconceived ideas, projections and clichés and work towards a genuine contact whilst taking into account broader cultural, economic and socio-political contexts? How to position oneself in a metropolis that thrives on speed and renovation, but is simultaneously rooted in traditions of structure and (inner) tranquillity? During our stay, we organized and took part in several formal and informal happenings, such as a bookbinding workshop, an architectural guided tour, a full moon walk, portfolio viewings, a public lecture at an IMA concept store, etc., to explore the city and get in touch with Tokyo-based artists. Finally, we produced a publication and organized an exhibition at YOUKOBO Art Space in Tokyo with 20 participants from various backgrounds and disciplines. The exhibition/publication format was simple: the participants provided answers (text, audio, image, moving image) to 13 specific, yet freely interpretable questions, such as: Where to go?, What is a dark sound? and View out of your window?
Dossier commission amount as discussed: CHF 6000