THAT'S BECAUSE

▷LITERATURE

photographed by Souichiro Ota

That's because I love you

written by Souichiro Ota

why I met with you

that's because I love you

why I'm talking with you

that's because I love you

why I go to where you are

that's because I love you

why I look you

that's also because I love you

why I know your name

that's because I love you

why I remember what you said

that's because I love you

why I care about you

that's because I love you

why I send a letter to you

that's because I love you

why I have a meal with you

that's because I love you

why I worry about you

that's also because I love you

and why I'm writing this on here

that's because I love you

TIME TO FIND OUT A SELBSTACHTUNG

▷ PHOTOGRAPHY 

photographed by Souichiro Ota

model : moé suzuki

t  i  m  e      t  o      f  i  n  d      o  u  t      a      s  e  l  b  s  t  a  c  h  t  u  n  g

To accelerate with a rapid speed of nowadays, in combination with internationalization of development, Japanese aesthetics spread to the worldwide, and be recognized, began to attract attention in any fields. Formerly in painting area, Tsuguharu Fujita, Hokusai Katsushika, Hiroshige Ando (Utagawa) played an active part, and Yohji Yamamoto, Rei Kawakubo, Issey Miyake, Kansai Yamamoto did in fashion area, and in the photograph case, Daido Moriyama, Hiroshi Sugimoto, in the film area was Yasujiro Ozu, Akira Kurosawa has so many enthusiasts even in the foreign countries, in the literature, of course " Yukio Mishima Nerd " are existing not only in Japan. And in particularly, as recent topics, Japanese cuisine called " Washoku " was certified to Intangible Cultural Heritage also fresh in our mind. And commonly referred to as " Tokyo Street Fashion " is going to be target and subject to be gaze from various designers and artists. And what to call Japan Quality is not only for making things, it is beginning to consciousness as important elements of engagement and courtesy in the world. It is no exaggeration to say that it might have been that Japan is a big fad now in the world. ; as far as I intended to used an expression of modesty. In fact, the number of that people who came from oversea visited to japan in this year was forty thousand eighty. this is twenty-five percent increase over last year.  And if it is, it's sure that Olympiad in 2020 will be peak of first phase and one stop. It's enough to time of having a confidence on own country's culture, every national should have.

昨今の急速な早さで加速し、発展する国際化も相まって、日本の美感が世界に広まり、認知され、あらゆる分野において注目されるようになりました。絵画においてはかつて、藤田嗣治、葛飾北斎、安藤広重らが懸命に活動し、ファッションでは山本耀司、川久保玲、三宅一生、山本寛斎、写真では森山大道や杉本博司、映画では小津安二郎、黒澤明らが海外でも熱狂的ファンがみられるし、文学ではやはり"三島由紀夫オタク"は今や日本に限った話ではなくなってきている。そしてとくに最近では日本食が世界無形文化遺産になったのも記憶に新しい。そして数年前からの俗にいう"東京ストリートファッション"も今や様々なデザイナーやアーティストが題材にしたり、注視する的だ。そしてジャパンクオリティーと云われるのは何も物作りに置いてのみではなく、礼儀作法やアンガージュマンとしての重要な要素だと世界で意識し始められている。いま世界で日本ブームだと言っても過言ではないかもしれない。（出来る限りの謙虚さを持ち合わせた表現にしたつもりだ。）現に、今年日本に訪れた外国人の数は84万人だ。これは去年の25パーセント増である。そして今のままなら、東京オリンピックがまず第一段階のピークであり、一区切りになることは間違いないだろう。もう日本が、国民全体が、自国の文化に自信を持ってもいいんではないだろうか。

AICHI TRIENNALE IN OKAZAKI PART 5

▷ART / EVENT

R O O F

by studio velocity

my friend who visited here said to me " the most bright place ever I've visited " that words were so impressive and it acted to let me go there. actually I already visited twice when the fireworks festival in okazaki in early august. however, at that time here was quite changed to dark coz of in night, and I couldn't see the complete view. and other time were totally overcast day. therefore, it was exactly third time lucky. this works named " roof " was made by studio velocity which constructed by kurihara kentaro and iwatsuki miho literally located on the roof of CIBICO where going to be main venue in okazaki. ここを訪れた僕の友達がこう言った。"今までで一番眩しい場所だったよ！"そしてその言葉はとても印象に残り、よし、行ってみようという気にさせた。実は以前に二回来た事があったが、８月初めの岡崎での花火大会の時は完全に夜だったので闇に包まれていて完成図を見る事はできなかったし、別の時は完全に一面曇り空でした。したがって、正に三度目の正直となりました。この栗原健太郎と岩月美穂によって構成されるstudio velocityによって作られた"roof"という作品は文字通り岡崎のメイン会場になっているシビコの屋上にあります。

Studio Velocity

Kurihara was born in saitama prefecture and Iwatsuki in aichi prefecture, both in 1977. these two young architects both worked with junya ishigami + associates before setting up studio velocity in 2006. they gave birth to a new architectural vision, in which avant-garde designs coexist with the cute. this has brought them a lot of attention in japan and overseas. in their "curved little house ", built as a nagoya beautician's premises, they made clever use of a gentle curve to increase the internal space. they have designed several homes in okazaki, including the " montblanc house ", distinctive for its high triangular roof with the space beneath divided into multiple small rooms, terraces and courtyards, and " sky-view ground floor, city-like top floor" which is circular in form, with each floor creating a totally different world. construction of their " aichi sangyo university educational center for language and IT ", plans for which were displayed at palazzo bembo during the 13th venice architecture biennale, has just been completed in 2013. their solo exhibition, entitled " fluctuation " featured some exquisite environmentally sensitive installations, such as a free-standing structure made with ultra-thin film only 0.25mm thick, and micro-models likening the scratches and cracks on the floor to landscapes.

埼玉出身の栗原さんと愛知出身の岩月さんは共に1977年生まれで、石上純也建築設計事務所勤務を経て、studio velocityを設立。前衛的なデザインとかわいらしさが共存する新しい感覚の作品によって、国内外の注目を集める若手建築家ユニット。名古屋の美容室"曲線の小さなワンルーム"では敷地にぐにゃっと湾曲するボリュームを巧みに配置。岡崎では、"白い山のような家"や"空の見える下階と街のような上階"などの住宅を手がける。前者は大きな三角屋根の内部に小さく分節された部屋群、テラスや中庭を抱え、様々な見せ場を持つ。後者は円形のプランの上下に別世界を展開させる。第１３回ヴェネチアビエンナーレ国際建築展で展示した"愛知産業大学言語・情報共育センター"は2013年に竣工し、彼らの最新作となる。また、ゆらぎを意味するタイトルの個展、"fluctuation" では、0.25mmの極薄フィルムを垂直に自立させた構築物や、床の傷やひび割れをランドスケープに見立てたマイクロ模型など、環境に応答する繊細なインスタレーションを発表した。

can you believe what this all white were repainted by two of studio velocity!? this venue, cibico was actually decrepit department store. I have no idea how many white paint cans were used for this. unfortunately, I couldn't photographed on the picts, (tbh, I forgot to take for only.) in this work, the thin kite  strings which can not be visually are spread around as diced state at approximately 2 meters overhead of us. I promptly felt one thing. the landscape which I see through the strings was as if like the digital picture which is pixelated. this impressions was figured out coz of I am photographer. I intuitively felt something like resistance notion which against to disrupting the aesthetics in this digitalize society. and this inescapable blindness is exactly makes me feel that blind development of modern era by digitalize, and we feel that are concerned it might be connected to loss of eyesight someday.   

このあたり一面の白をstudio velocityの二人が塗り替えたのを信じれますか！？この会場、シビコは事実、老朽化した百貨店でした。いったいいくつの白ペンキが使われたのか想像もつきません。残念ながら、写真に残すことはできませんでしたが、(実際は忘れてました。笑)この作品にはおよそ頭上２メートルほどの所に賽の目状に視覚できないほど細い蛸糸が張り巡らされているのです。僕はすぐさま感じ取りました。その糸を通して見た景色は、まるでピクセル化されたデジタル写真のようでした。これは写真家としてだからこその感想かもしれませんが、何かデジタル化する社会における美意識の破壊のようなものを直感的に感じました。そして避けられないこの眩しさこそ、そのデジタル化における現代の盲目的発展、そしていつかそれは失明に繋がってしまうのではないかという懸念さえ感じます。

words and photography by Souichiro Ota