About MINDSCAPES TOKYO WEEK
MINDSCAPES TOKYO WEEK
What is Mental Health from an artistic and cultural perspective?
"Wellcome supports science to solve urgent global health challenges but science cannot do this work alone. Working closely with cultural practitioners – with artists, writers, curators, designers and film-makers - and bringing people with widely varying disciplinary and professional backgrounds together, we are interested in what we can do together that we couldn’t do alone. In this, Wellcome is uniquely positioned to join the dots and forge connections between knowledge, culture and action. By engaging with the specificities of place, language and feeling, Mindscapes illuminates the ways that science will always be profoundly local. We hope it will inspire more culturally-relevant conversations about mental health.”
Danielle Olsen (Cultural Partnerships Lead, Wellcome Trust)
As the importance of mental health has become increasingly recognized in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Mindscapes, an international cultural program, started in 2020 with the purpose of fundamentally addressing and reexamining the understanding and discussion of "Mental Health," in collaboration with partners in four cities across the world: New York (USA), Bengaluru (India), Berlin (Germany), and Tokyo (Japan).
Through diverse cultural and artistic activities such as artist-in-residence programs, it attempts to explore how people and communities living in different environments confront mental health challenges and provide new perspectives on this issue.
In the spring of 2022, NPO inVisible became a project partner in Tokyo, organizing a dialogue-focused gathering "Convening" to deepen discussions from various perspectives and learn together and working on the "Urban Investigation Project," an experimental art project that collectively investigates the state of mental health in cities from the perspectives of artists and youths.
And as the culmination of this year's endeavors, a project report and social event titled "MINDSCAPES TOKYO WEEK" will be held from February 20th to 28th (9 days), 2023, at Yurakucho Art Urbanism YAU. We hope that through this event, attendees will have the opportunity to learn about Mindscapes' activities and engage in discussions about "mental health," leading to further learning and taking tangible stes towards concrete actions.
Outline
Dates: February 20 - 28, 2023 (Open to the public)
Time: 12:00~19:00 （programs are scheduled after 19:00)
Venue: YAU STUDIO (Yurakucho Bldg. 10F 10-1, Yurakucho 1-chome,Chiyoda-ku,Tokyo)
Admission: Free
WEB: https://www.invisible.tokyo/mindscapestokyo/en
Contact: Click here for inquiries
Organizers: Wellcome Trust, NPO inVisible
Venue cooperation: Yurakucho Art Urbanism YAU
Convening
Project cooperation: Mori Art Museum, The Komine Institute
Urban Investigation Project
Project cooperation: N High School and S High School of Kadokawa Dwango Educational Institute, Tokyo Garage, SHIONO KORYO KAISHA, LTD., KITCHIBE CO., LTD.
Equipment Cooperation: FUJIFILM Imaging Systems Co., Ltd.
Event Contents
Urban Investigation Project
-Co-creative investigation with artists and youths to explore mental health-
The Urban Investigation Project is an art project that challenges a collaborative and experimental research on the nature of mental health(※1) in cities, using perspectives, ideas, and approaches from artists and youths.（※2）
This year, UENO Senzo (video artist), HAYASHI Takatsune (architect and carpenter), and yoyo. (cook) will lead the project as Lead Investigators, alongside youth investigators ranging from teenagers to their twenties. The project will explore three themes related to the topic of "city and mind/mental health.
The crucial aspect of this project is the process itself. By incorporating the understanding, discoveries, and insights on mental health in cities into each project, the project drives further learning and creates opportunities for communication through the creation of "proposals" in the form of "artworks" such as unique solutions, thinking tools, and action perspectives. Additionally, Artist NISHINO Masanobu leads a documentation team, along with four young individuals, to create an archive of the Urban Investigation Project and produce video documentaries.
As lifestyles change with the times and mental health becomes a major social issue in modern society, it is becoming increasingly difficult for people to talk about their own state of "Kokoro (mind). The urban living environment, in particular, is plagued by factors that can harm mental health, such as loneliness and stress. The acceleration of digitization due to the COVID-19 pandemic also poses the risk of causing damage and cracks to the nerves that govern human psychology and emotions, often before people are even aware of it.
The Urban Investigation Project involving youth investigators is an opportunity for exploratory and experience-based learning that prioritizes intergenerational exchange and dialogue. By utilizing the unique experiences of each participant beyond age boundaries, which is one of the features of Mindscapes, and exploring the responsibilities of art and culture along with the generation that will share the future, this project hopes to become a catalyst for considering the "health of our mind."
※1 The World Health Organization (WHO) defines mental health as "a state of well-being in which an individual recognizes their own potential, copes with the normal stresses of life, works productively and is able to make a contribution to their community."
※2 In collaboration with the N High School and S High School of Kadokawa Dwango Educational Institute, a total of 15 students who are recruited through an open call process are participating as youth investigators in this project.
Convening
-A dialogue gathering to examine "mental health" in Japan from multiple perspectives-
Convening is a dialogue-focused gathering that strives to discuss and learn from one another about mental health from an artistic and cultural perspective with participating members who have various backgrounds in agreement with the purpose of Mindscapes.
This project has been held in four Mindscapes partner cities since its inception in New York in 2020. Issues related to mental health unique to each city, such as the impact of urbanization, racial discrimination, discrimination and exclusion, gender, poverty, disasters, and the spread of the novel coronavirus infection, have surfaced, and specific themes associated with them have been raised, generating concrete ideas for solutions. Ultimately, the learning in each city will be shared and linked to further learning and action.
Convening, held in four parts from May 2022 to February 2023, is a collaborative project in planning by the Mori Art Museum and the NPO inVisible, with venues in Tokyo and Tomioka-machi (Fukushima), poses the question "Can museums and art projects become mental health clinics?"
The participating members are practitioners and researchers from various fields such as art, medicine/welfare, law, and education, who face mental health issues in their daily professional settings. A series of closed-door convening sessions have been held to ensure a secure environment for honest communication to take place.
The first Convening "#0" took place online for the members to get to know each other. The next "#1" was held at the Mori Art Museum, where the participants had a group discussion on the roles of museums, artists, and artworks as referencing the theme. In "#2" they traveled to and visited museums in Tomioka-machi, Fukushima, which is still affected by the Great Tohoku Earthquake and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. By utilizing the context and characteristics of Tomioka-machi, focusing on the lived experiences and stories of local residents, and taking resilience and recovery after the disaster into account, the participants have been energized to exchange opinions and emotions related to the main theme.
During the final Convening session #3, we will summarize the direction and approach towards the proposition "Can museums and art projects become mental health clinics?" and devise plans to move towards a more tangible next phase of activity.
MINDSCAPES TOKYO Planning and Operation Team
Artistic Director of Mindscapes Tokyo: KIKUCHI Hiroko
Chief Manager of Administration/Operation: ISOGAYA Kayoko
Manager of Administration/Operation: ARAO Masami
Project Coordinator (International Relations, MTW Youth Committee): TOGASHI Taki
Project Manager（Urban Investigation Project): TOTSUKA Manami
Project Staff: Lee Yubin
Project Staff: Mi ShuZhen
Intern: KARAKAWA Mayuko
Director of Documentation for Mindscapes Tokyo: NISHINO Masanobu
Video: NISHINO Masanobu, Woomin HYUN
Photo: TOMITA Ryohei
Graphic Designer: TANAKA Seri
Editor: NAKAMURA Shiho
Writer: SHIRASAKA Yuri, SUGIHARA Tamaki
Mindscapes Curatorial Research Fellow: NOBORI Kukiko
Producer: HAYASHI Akio
Special thanks:
AKIMOTO Nanami, KASAI Yuka, KASAI Takayuki, SATO Yukari, SHITAEDA Yokonori, SUGIYAMA Yuka, MORI Kentaro, humunus (Kiyosuyosuku, KOYAMA Kaoru)