MANIWA Yuki

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MANIWA Yuki

Participating Project	Local Emerging Creator Residency Program
Activity Based	Tokyo
City / Place stayed	Tokyo
Period	2023.9 - 2023.11

Purpose of the residency

In this program, I will focus on the theme of “publicness”. In 2021, the Tokyo Olympics were held amidst the divisions caused by the coronavirus. With the event, political intervention in public space was seen everywhere. Now that the event is over and time has passed, I will explore the publicness of the present using the traces left behind as clues.

Plan during the residency

• Research on the “public sphere” and “public space” in Tokyo today (documented with photographs and videos as needed), produce a map from this research, and verify what specific divisions are being made. 
• Research (documented as needed with photographs and video) the “loggia”, an architectural space with an ambiguous function of connecting inside and outside, and interview the creator if possible.
• Through the above research, what kind of image is hypothesized when public space is regarded as a camera obscura? I will create artworks based on the temporality of the traces left at the site.

Activities during the residency

To explore the boundary between private and public space, I began researching loggias, architectural spaces with ambiguous functions that are located between the interior and the city. However, since there are few loggias as architectural structures in Tokyo, I switched my focus to the exploration of "alternative loggias.” In the process, I positioned "liminal spaces" and " roadside trees and street gardens" as alternative loggias. At the Open Studio in November, I exhibited a picnic installation that straddled the inside and outside of the studio, a video work that crossed snapshots taken during my residency with essays I had written, and a photographic work that captured public spaces with a pinhole camera using fallen leaves from roadside trees as a lens.

Outcome of the residency

During the first half of my residency, I visited several care facilities that had loggia-like spaces, which allowed me to actually experience the spatiality of loggias, which became a major guideline in my search for alternative loggias.
In Tatekawa, Sumida-ku, where the residence is located, it was more obvious that the roadside trees were planted in a planned manner due to the high artificiality of the streets, which are organized in a grid-like pattern. Also, there was a lot of street gardens, probably due to the comparatively wider the streets in Tokyo. The fact that these were always viewed around the residence, helped to convince me that "street trees and street gardening" were alternative loggias. In particular, I was highly interested in a spot near Exit A5 of Morishita Station, which I was told about by a staff member of the residency at the beginning of my stay, where there were cherry blossom trees surrounded by street gardening, which looked just like a loggia. Whenever I went to Morishita Station, I made it a point to stop by. Eventually, I set a pinhole camera of my own making, using the fallen leaves of the trees as a lens, at this spot and created a photographic work, which I exhibited at the Open Studio.
In October, with the cooperation of TOKAS Residency, I was able to interview several roadside tree experts. The selection of roadside trees is mainly determined by the intentions of the government, the opinions of local residents, and the views of the experts, but I was able to hear about the process and the ins and outs of the selection process. I was able to gain a higher resolution in looking at urban green spaces and open spaces than before, and it helped me to write the essay used in the video work.
As for future developments, I will continue my research on street trees and street gardening, and at the same time, I will search for new alternative loggias, develop the picnic installation I exhibited at the open studio, and create new video works.
During the residency, I had mentoring sessions with two curators who were in the residence at the same time, received advice on research and production from studio visit guests, and had several opportunities to present my own activities, which gave me the chance to think about how to express and structure my work in a way that is easy to convey to others. I was also given time for training, and I was greatly impressed by the help I received from the people around me during these sessions.

Creator Information