「箱って？」は、わたしたちの価値観や「箱」というものの謎めいた魅力、そして商業的・社会的な交流の場としての「まち」の関係を探ることを目的とした、 スー・ヘイドゥのプロジェクトである。 4日間の会期中、一番町四丁目のメインストリートから少し離れた静かな空間で、ヘイドゥがサイゴンから持参した箱と、仙台の人々が持ち寄った箱との「物々 交換」が行われる。彼女と参加者との対話で交換されるのは、箱だけではなくその箱にまつわる記憶や物語なのだ。
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アート仙台場所では今年は「商い」というテーマのもとに一番町四丁目の公共スペースを使ってアートプロジェクトを発表する。 一番町四丁目は、かつては街でも中心的なショッピング通りで賑わいをみせていたが、 昨今は新たなシッピングエリアの勢いに押され気味である。現代の街では、人々は絶えず急ぎ足、人との関わりも出来るだけさけて通り過ぎて行く。インター ネットの時代、交易の持つ社会的な役割も失せている。「 箱って？」は個々の感情のこもった"物々交換"を通して交易の持っていた社会的交流をよみがえらせ、街の通りが社交の場としての活気を取り戻すことを目標 にしている。
四丁目の静かなスポットにテーブルと二つの椅子が設置された小さなブースがある。社交のもっとも基本のために用意されたとてもシンプルで快適なスペースである。＜あなた＞と＜私＞はここに一緒に対面して座る。私たちは初対面。私たちは何を持ち寄る事ができるだろうか？
サイゴンから私が持参した「箱」にはそれぞれストーリーがある。＜私＞は＜あなた＞に箱をあげて、そのストーリーを話す。このストーリーと＜あなた＞が ＜私＞のために持参してくれた「箱」のストーリーと同等の価値があることを望んでいる。＜あなた＞がお持ちの「箱」の中でどの「箱」をあなたは手放せるだ ろうか？その「箱」は＜あなた＞のこれまでの人生の中でどのように関わったのだろうか？思い出やストーリーはあるだろうか？あなたの家にいろいろな物が仕 舞い込まれたまま忘れ去られた一角はないだろうか？今まであなたの記憶から忘れられていた「箱」は、ないだろうか？見知らぬ他人である＜私＞にだから打ち 明けられる「秘密の箱」はないだろうか？
日本のお弁当箱の文化や漆をほどこされた箱など、箱はそのものが美しいオブジェクトである。あなたの家でかつては価値のあるオブジェクトだったもの、大切 な宝物入れでそれは非物質的で精神的な意味の古い箱が眠っているかもしれない。＜あなた＞の人生の来し方でとっくに、その「箱」は過ぎ去っていても、そこ にまだ「箱」は手放しがたいものとして存在しているかもしれない。「 箱って？」は人々が既存の人間交流や金銭的価値では計れない実際のオブジェクトをとおして感情的な価値を交換する広場である。＜私＞が渡す茶色の紙袋に 入っている小さな「箱」は、我々の視点を"単なる消費の日々"から、"感情の解放と互いへの思いやりに基づいた交換"へ、と新しい方向付けをする。
高度な資本主義精神において-利益尊重の価値観、生産力、分刻みで計算され請求される費用など-、１時間を見ず知らずの人間と道端でお喋りに費やすことは 一見したところ具体的に得るものがないように見える。「 箱って？」は改めて"特別なことは何もしない"ただひと時の時間を共有し交流を計ることの 精神的価値を再発見するためにある。
HAKOtte? is a survey of the street as a site of trade & social exchange, of our sense of value, and the appeal of boxes. Over the course of four days, the artist will barter boxes that she has brought from her city of residence with boxes owned by local Sendai people in a small booth set up a quiet part of Ichiban-cho 4-chome shopping street.
Art Sendai-basho presents art projects in the public space of Ichiban-cho 4-chome and this year's theme is trade. Ichiban-cho 4-chome was once the city's pre-eminent shopping street, a place of bustling trade which is now being eclipsed by other shopping areas. On the streets of the modern city, we are all rushing, and do our best to ignore the strangers around us. In the age of internet commerce, trading loses its social face. HAKOtte? aims to bring the social exchange embedded in trading to the fore through personal and soulful barter, thereby energizing the street as a space of social engagement.
In a quiet spot in 4-chome, a small booth with a table and two chairs - a simple and comfortable space for the most basic kind of social exchange. You and I have come together, sitting here, face to face. We are strangers. What can we bring to each other?
Each of my boxes from Saigon will come with a story. I will give you the box and tell you the story. I hope that this will be reciprocated with a box and story that you have brought with you for this occasion. What boxes do you have that you could part with? Is the box associated with an incident in your life, a memory or a story? Is there a corner of your house that could do with some clearing? Something long-forgotten, or a secret that could only be divulged to a stranger?
Boxes are beautiful objects in themselves; simply think of Japan's bento boxes or lacquerware. You may have old boxes around the house that were once objects of value, or that perhaps held a treasure, even as immaterial as a memory. Your life may have moved well beyond this, but the box is still there; it can feel hard to part with. HAKOtte? is a forum in which participants can barter objects of material or emotional value that is measured against the perceived value of human interactions and not a monetary figure. A little box in a brown paper bag re-orientates our focus form the accumulation of consumer objects to trading based on release and reciprocity.
In the ethos of high-capitalism-of the values of profit-making, performance, and accountability down to the very last minute-to spend an hour chatting to a stranger on the street can appear to have no quantifiable outcomes. HAKOtte? will re-visit the soul-value of "not doing much", of simply interacting and being together.
Art Sendai-basho presents art projects in the public space of Ichiban-cho 4-chome and this year's theme is trade. Ichiban-cho 4-chome was once the city's pre-eminent shopping street, a place of bustling trade which is now being eclipsed by other shopping areas. On the streets of the modern city, we are all rushing, and do our best to ignore the strangers around us. In the age of internet commerce, trading loses its social face. HAKOtte? aims to bring the social exchange embedded in trading to the fore through personal and soulful barter, thereby energizing the street as a space of social engagement.
In a quiet spot in 4-chome, a small booth with a table and two chairs - a simple and comfortable space for the most basic kind of social exchange. You and I have come together, sitting here, face to face. We are strangers. What can we bring to each other?
Each of my boxes from Saigon will come with a story. I will give you the box and tell you the story. I hope that this will be reciprocated with a box and story that you have brought with you for this occasion. What boxes do you have that you could part with? Is the box associated with an incident in your life, a memory or a story? Is there a corner of your house that could do with some clearing? Something long-forgotten, or a secret that could only be divulged to a stranger?
Boxes are beautiful objects in themselves; simply think of Japan's bento boxes or lacquerware. You may have old boxes around the house that were once objects of value, or that perhaps held a treasure, even as immaterial as a memory. Your life may have moved well beyond this, but the box is still there; it can feel hard to part with. HAKOtte? is a forum in which participants can barter objects of material or emotional value that is measured against the perceived value of human interactions and not a monetary figure. A little box in a brown paper bag re-orientates our focus form the accumulation of consumer objects to trading based on release and reciprocity.
In the ethos of high-capitalism-of the values of profit-making, performance, and accountability down to the very last minute-to spend an hour chatting to a stranger on the street can appear to have no quantifiable outcomes. HAKOtte? will re-visit the soul-value of "not doing much", of simply interacting and being together.
