Creative Well-being Tokyo Open Access to Culture Project

Intensive Sound Co-Creation Workshop Camp "Resonant Bodies"

Reference Image Photo: Motoi Sato

Utilizing approaches from inclusive design, this “camp” sees not only disabled people and specialists but all kinds of people with different cultures, languages, and mindsets collaborate in seeking out new ways of enjoying arts and culture. Featuring three specialists from Japan and overseas as directors, the five-day workshop program will bring together participants recruited from the general public. Through lectures and group work, the workshop will engage in collectively developing prototypes and propose new ways to enjoy music. Along with facilitating networking among participants, it aims to build a community in which those with and without disabilities share and co-develop musical instruments.

Cooperated by Ferris University, Kobe Design University
3D printer provided by APPLE TREE CO ., LTD.
AkaDako provided by TFabWorks Inc.

Directors’ Statement

Resonant Bodies

Since ancient times, we have used musical instruments to produce different kinds of music and sounds. Instruments have become an essential part of our culture, with various kinds of sounds played by various bodies. We have built instruments that have become the signature music and sounds in both rituals and our daily lives. We learn how to use and build specific instruments as a means of communication and extending our bodies and sensory organs. With advances in technology, the relationship between human and instruments is becoming even more seamless.

People have long considered musical instruments to be an extension of their bodies and sensory organs. Instruments have gone beyond being just tools for communication and information transmission. They form parts of our social and cultural identity as well as the signatures and traditions of our rituals, and express our emotion in ways not possible through words and language alone.

Today, with the democratization of various technologies such as digital fabrication, sensor technology, and machine learning, anyone can design and experiment with the relationship between people and tools/machines. Through collaboration between people from different disciplines, we have the potential to create new instruments and/or recreate old instruments that give broader access to people with a range of sensory and physical characteristics. We have the chance to not only shape the sounds of an instrument, but also adjust its properties for people with different abilities.

In this workshop, we will learn about the sensory and physical characteristics of participants and observe the relationship between the body and sound from a variety of perspectives, and together think and shape new, accessible “instruments” for the present and future. We want to unlock the potential of co-creation to develop the blueprints of future musical instruments, and to nurture the process of co-playing in which people with different abilities can interact with each other while also expressing their own personal emotions. We hope that this workshop forms a pilot project that can continue to be developed in the future.

Do you want to play a musical instrument? Do you want to collaborate with various other people? The workshop will realize such aspirational thoughts and feelings about sound, allowing participants to exchange their newly created sounds and so nurture a vibrant community.

This five-day intensive workshop will bring you the joy of “sound” via physical experiences, co-creating, and co-playing with fellow participants.

Let’s learn together, think together, and play unknown music through trial and error.

Program Curricuram

Day Zero

Remote Sessions & Communication

Details of Day Zero will be provided with the notification of results.
To facilitate casual interaction among directors and participants, we will utilize some communication tools. It will also be announced later.

Day 1 (June 28th)

Introduction

Lecture #1

Lecturer: 
Nagatsu Yuichiro (Faculty Member of Graduate School of Art and Design, Kyushu University / Arts Management)

Fieldwork

Guest Facilitator:
Laila Cassim (Designer / Research Fellow of the University of Tokyo Center for Philosophy (UTCP))

Group Work #1

Idea Sketch Workshop

Idea Sketch Workshop
Idea Sketch Workshop

Performance Sessions

Performances by the directors!
Photo: Shunsuke Yasui (Left)
Performances by the directors!

Day 2(June 29)

Lecture #2 (tentative)

Group Work #2

Participants will try to develop new functions of musical instruments, using the Musical Instrument Creation Toolkit.

Performances by the directors!
Performances by the directors!

Day 3(June 30)

Group work #3

Using digital fabrication machines, participants will improve and form their ideas while improving.
Equipment: 
3D printer, laser cutter, DIY tools

Group work #3
Group work #3

Day 4(July 1st)

Group work #4

Participants complete their instruments.
Equipment: 
3D printer, laser cutter, DIY tools

Group work #4
Group work #4

Jam Session

Participants play new instruments!

Day 5 (July 2)

Setup of artworks at the showcase venue, the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum (Taito-ku, Tokyo).

*Details of Day Zero will be provided with the notification of results.
*Communication tools will also be used to promote casual interaction among directors and participants. It will also be announced later.

Program Directors

Kanebako Jun’ichi (Associate Professor, Kobe Design University / Musical instrument interface researcher)

Born in 1984 in the village of Asashina (now part of Saku City), Kitasaku District, Nagano Prefecture, Kanebako Junichi completed graduate studies at the Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences, and then worked in planning for a toy company, as a teaching assistant at Joshibi University of Art and Design, and as a researcher at the Graduate School of Media Design, Keio University. He was a professor of innovation for design and engineering at the Advanced Institute of Industrial Technology, before taking up his current position at Kobe Design University. His research deals with what he calls kyōyū musical instruments, “co-playing” interfaces for people to enjoy music together, regardless of ability or disability.
Based on his experience of making Wearing Musical Instruments, Kanebako contributed to the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. He also undertakes various commercial projects for clients. His two 2021 works On Ring – Shinano and Vibracion Banco are part of the collection of Nagano Prefectural Art Museum.
http://www.kanejun.com/

金箱淳一

Nakanishi Yoshihito (Associate Professor, Ferris University / Board Director, A-KAK Co., Ltd. / Musical instrument designer / Sound designer)

Nakanishi Yoshihito develops and researches musical interfaces and digital musical instruments compatible with diverse forms of performance. He has created such digital musical instruments as The Cell Music Gear, B.O.M.B., and POWDER BOX, which he performs internationally. His wide-ranging work with sound and music also includes making digital musical instruments in collaboration with educational institutions and corporations involved in the development of sensor technology. Nakanishi has won such accolades as the Electronic Crafts Contest Excellence Award (2011), Asia Digital Art Award Excellence Award (2014), and the Yuichi Kishino Prize at the Chiyoda Arts Festival 2014. He was selected for the Residence program at Laval Virtual ReVolution 2014 and a finalist at Georgia Tech’s Margaret Guthman Musical Instrument Competition 2017.
https://yoshihito-nakanishi.com/biography/biography_en/

中西宣人

Andreas Siagian (Artist / Engineer)

Andreas Siagian is active in a wide range of practices, in particular DIY electronics and interdisciplinary art. He co-founded Lifepatch–citizen initiative in art, science and technology in 2012, and was co-director of HackteriaLab 2014, organized by Hackteria and Lifepatch. He participated in the Instrument Builders Project in 2013 (in Yogyakarta) and 2015 (at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne). In 2018, he was the co-director of BioCamp: Gardens as 'Biotechnik', artistic director of Indonesia Netaudio Festival, co-host of Hacklab Nusasonic, and facilitator of Arisan Tenggara. In 2019, he co-hosted MusicMakers Hacklab – CTM Festival in Berlin, and curated contemporary audio visual performances at Yogyakarta Cultural Festival. Siagian is currently focusing in creating his own musical instruments, which he documents on his website instrumentasia.
https://instrumentasia.net

アンドレアス・シアギャン

Instructors / Facilitators

Yuichiro Nagatsu (Arts management researcher, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Design, Kyushu University / Arts manager, Cultural policy researcher)

Yuichiro Nagatsu is a researcher who works in arts fields wherever diverse relationships emerge. His research specializes in arts management and cultural policy, with a focus on arts activities by people from diverse backgrounds, including people with disabilities. As an arts manager, he is also involved in education related to music and workshops, as well as management and production in the fields of theater and dance. Nagatsu has served on several committees of the Agency for Cultural Affairs and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare related to the expressive activities of people with disabilities. Since 2016, he has been an assistant professor at the Faculty of Design, Kyushu University, and from 2022, head of the Social Art Lab, which is part of the Social Inclusion Design Initiative attached to the faculty.
https://hyoka.ofc.kyushu-u.ac.jp/search/details/K006290/english.html

Yuichiro Nagatsu

Laila Cassim (Designer / Research Fellow, University of Tokyo Center for Philosophy)

After graduating from Edinburgh College of Art, Laila Cassim trained in various design studios before undertaking her postgraduate studies at Tokyo University of the Arts, gaining an MA in 2012 and PhD in 2016. Through collaborative design, she links creative activities at social welfare workshops with design skills in product development and various projects. Along with social inclusion and financial independence for people with disabilities, Cassim works to encourage social understanding among designers and corporations. One such project is SHIBUYA FONT, where she is art director and which has received many accolades, including a Good Design Award in 2019 and the Judge’s Choice Award at the Japan Open Innovation Prize 2022. She is also a research fellow at the University of Tokyo Center for Philosophy and tutor at Kuwasawa Design School.

Laila Cassim

Marc Dusseiller (Transdisciplinary scholar / Cultural facilitator / Artist)

Marc Dusseiller works in an integral way to combine science, art, and education. He runs do-it-yourself workshops in lo-fi electronics and synths, hardware hacking for citizen science, and DIY microscopy. He has co-organized Dock18, Room for Mediacultures, diy* festival (Zürich, Switzerland), KIBLIX 2011 (Maribor, Slovenia), poolloop festival 2009–15, and workshops for artists, hackers, schools, and children as the former president (2008–12) of the Swiss Mechatronic Art Society. Dusseiller has worked as guest faculty and mentor at various schools, including Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore (India), UC Santa Barbara (USA), and FHNW, HEAD, and ETHZ (Switzerland). In collaboration with Kapelica Gallery, he started the BioTehna Lab in Ljubljana (2012–13), an open platform for interdisciplinary and artistic research on life sciences. Currently, he is developing Hackteria, a platform for undertaking bio- and nanotechnology research and dissemination in a DIY fashion in kitchens, ateliers, and the Majority World. He was the co-organizer of HackteriaLab 2010–2014 in Zürich, Romainmôtier, Bangalore, and Yogyakarta.
sceseAWX

Marc Dusseiller

Date

June 28 (Tuesday) - July 2 (Saturday), 2022 / 11:00 - 18:00

Public presentations by participants will be held from July 2 (Sunday) to July 7 (Thursday). July 7. Details will be announced at the camp.

Venue

LIFULL Fab(https://fab.lifull.com

Address

1-4-4 Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0083, Japan

Access

Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line "Hanzomon Station" 2 minutes walk from Exit 3A,3B

Please refrain from contacting the venue.
If you have any questions regarding the venue, please contact the following:

Arts Council Tokyo Planning Department
Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture
TEL: +81-3-6261-5420
Hours: 10:00 - 18:00 (weekdays)
Email: programs-inquiry@rekibun.or.jp

Participation Fee

Free

Accessibility Support

  • Japanese consecutive interpretation
  • Japanese-to-Japanese Sign Language
  • Japanese character display (UD Talk)
  • Provision of slide materials in advance

Please indicate any requests for additional accessibility support at the time of application.

Applications (Closed)

Application Period

April 28 (Thursday) - May 27 (Friday), 2022

Participant Numbers

Max. 20 external participants

Participation Requirements

  • Be able to participate in the whole program during the session
  • Have a proven track record of research or creative activities
  • Be able to apply the content of the workshop to their own future activities
  • Be enthusiastic about the theme of the workshop

Examples of Expected Participants

People interested in research and development of new possibilities for music

  • Designers, musicians/composers, DIY electronics builders, product designers, and others from the creative industries
  • Engineers, programmers, digital fabricators, and researchers from science fields
  • Researchers involved in information accessibility, informatics engineering, information design, and information support
  • Professionals from cultural institutions, social welfare facilities, educational institutions, and the arts and cultural sector

Selection Criteria

In the event of applications exceeding capacity, the organizer will select the participants based on the application details.

Notification of Application Results

Applicants will be notified of the results of the selection process via email by early June.

Application Process

Please apply using the application form. Alternatively, please send an email (programs-inquiry@rekibun.or.jp) with “Intensive Short-Term Camp Application” in the subject line.

  • Name
  • Birth Date
  • Nationality /Contact information (Office or current address)
  • Contact information (Email Address)
  • Occupation and Affiliation
  • Area of Expertise;
  • Music, Art,Design,Programmer,Engineer,Architect/interior design, Social welfare, Education, others
  • Why do you want to take part in this event? (approx. 200 words)
  • Please let us know of any further accessibility needs that you may require.
    (Examples: finger Braille interpretation, tactile sign language interpretation)
  • Please attach your portofolio if any.