A Tea Space with a Sphere
The Japanese “Art of Life” is embodied in a tea ceremony, or the way of tea, through which we contemplate the whole universe in the void of a small tea bowl (“The Book of Tea” by Tenshin Okakura). The tea ceremony space is designed as a multi-media complex, composed of various items (utensils, hanging scrolls, etc.) which are supposed to imply messages concerning the specific time (season), the theme of gathering, and social/ecological circumstances, to mediate the effective communication between the host and the guest, man and nature.This modern portable tea space designed by Shigeru Uchida, in which a digital globe and smartphone windows connected to various sites around the world (“live” image; each 2-hour time difference from one another) are representing the conditions of our living planet, is a humble step to rejuvenate the concept of traditional tea space for mediation and meditation.
(This exhibit was planned as a set with “The Earth Clock” at ROPPONGI HILS West Walk South, which makes use of 12 globes in its installation. That one begins on February 16th, but please make sure to see both. )
This exhibition is presented in conjunction with Uchida Design Inc, Weathernews Inc, Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd, Japan Asia Group Ltd/Kokusai Kogyo Co., Ltd, AZLAB Inc, Hajime Fukuda, Ajinomoto Co., Inc, JVC Kenwood Corp, and Sony Corp.
Artist Profile
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Shinichi Takemura / Earth Literacy Program(NPO)
竹村眞一/ELP（Earth Literacy Program；NPO）
Anthropologist, professor at Kyoto University of Art and Design, the director of Earth Literacy Program. In 1997, Takemura produced a virtual pavilion “Sensorium” which won the Golden Nica prize at the Ars Electronica. In 2005, he conceived the world’s first multimedia globe “Tangible Earth”, which has been exhibited at G8 Summit (2008), COP15 (2009), Davos Forum (2011/12, in China), Milano Expo (2015), etc. Since 2012, Prof. Takemura and ELP have served as a concept designer for UNISDR and produce a “tablet” version of Tangible Earth called “GfT”. In 2018, Takemura and Jun Nishimura (CTO at ELP) launch the advanced model of Tangible Earth “Sphere ME”, here at MAT.