A special message in March, 2021

 

Field Trip Project was erected in 2012, a year after the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster. We were given used elementary school backpacks “Randoseru,” and artists from Canada and Japan converted them into mobile artworks. It has traveled to 20 destinations in Japan, and 3 cities in Canada. Later, we have started Field Trip Project Asia that has traveled from Tokyo as its preview showcase, to Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, and Taiwan. Localized at each destination, the project was well received and attended.

The backpack artworks can be touched, played with, and the audience became part of the artworks by being carried together with. Dialogues through such lovely experiences led the audience to the narrative that the project started as a response to the 311. Tragic experiences of the natural disaster were transformed into a variety of artistic expressions by the artists, and that made it possible to carry together among people of the World.

Field Trip Project and Field Trip Project Asia have been traveling for so long outside Japan. At the 10th anniversary, they are coming home to Japan. To the coastal areas of Miyagi Prefecture where the backpacks were originally from. We will hold exhibitions there, also in Tokyo, and after that, we will pose our journey and have our loot in the local contexts.

It’s not just the COVID-19 pandemic and global warning, many changes are now taking places around the globe. In recent years, the destinations of Field Trip Project Asia, such as Hongkong, Thailand, Taiwan and especially Myanmar today, are experiencing historical turmoil. They prayed for Japan a decade ago. Our sincere thank you! And Now I think a lot about them.  The term ‘Resilience’ and the action of ‘Carrying together’ comes to my mind, and I feel that it is important to remember what happened 10 years ago and how we have lived since then.

 

March, 2021

Daisuke Takeya, Representative/Curator, Field Trip Project & Field Trip Project Asia