PROGRAM

©倉金章介／ぴえろ

This is the samurai era in the late 17th century in Japan. There is a princess called Sugar Princess, who is a bright and cheerful girl. Sugar Princess is loved by not only her retainers in the castle, but also people in her whole town.
Strange and amazing things happen around her. Although it is still the 17th century, people drive cars and use high technology. Sugar Princess has friends from overseas and knows an inventor who creates new devices. She even encounters a UFO! Sugar Princess has many misadventures and causes trouble in her town. The whole town and castle is full of surprise!
Adding the latest technology and culture to a Japanese traditional society, the story of Sugar Princess creates a special dream-like world of joy.

Inspired by Ursula K. Le Guin's The Author of the Acacia Seeds and her broader work, I intend to investigate the concepts surrounding the "Association of Therolinguistics"—a fictional institution focused on studying the language and poetics of non-humans, such as animals, plants, and minerals. In her text, Le Guin imagines a vast realm of languages that we may or may never be able to fully understand. Being immersed in another culture and language opens us to the unknown and to different methods of understanding. I believe this residency will provide the ideal inspiration to investigate these ideas of Therolinguistics. Which non-human creatures constitute this environment, and what do their languages look like? I want to gather inspiration from Hiroshima’s environment, culture, and mythology to produce hand-drawn loops showing the language of beings that humans cannot fully comprehend. I’d like to explore the structure of diagrams—carrying an exact, scientific code—to express things that are deeply mysterious and inexact. These drawings and loops will serve as the starting point for developing a short film based on Le Guin’s text.

The idea for this project stems from exploring the city through my own eyes, combined with the lived experiences of its residents. What daily scenes do those who live in the city see? And if asked, "What is your favorite part of the city?", what would they answer? It could be a park bench, a single tree, a specific building, or perhaps even a particular person at their favorite bar. I intend to organize workshops where participants can express their own interpretations of this simple question. Whether through drawing, painting, or creating small sculptures, the method of expression is free. The final outcome will be a published art book gathering the participants' creations into a unique "guidebook." Alongside this, I will produce an animated film about my journey, guided by this one-of-a-kind "map of Hiroshima."

High above a war-torn Earth stands the Pax Æterna Resort, a luxurious sanctuary for Peace Doves that has, over time, become a hollow institution, cynically capitalising on the idea of peace. Run by pigeons, the resort caters to guests who lounge in comfort while the world below burns. Jona, an idealistic young mail pigeon on her second day at work, discovers an urgent delivery: an olive branch addressed to the last remaining peace dove. As a mail pigeon, she must obtain the dove's signature to complete the delivery, or risk losing her job. But the aging dove, disillusioned after a lifetime of carrying olive branches that led nowhere, refuses to accept it. Instead, she takes Jona on a tour of the resort, determined to show her its true nature. Together, they encounter guests who speak endlessly about peace while doing nothing to achieve it: fake activists, religious tourists, criminals, and queer ravers. Jona's journey is a story of hope and disillusionment. The dialogue spoken by the resort's guests is based on recordings from real interviews about peace. Blending satire, allegory, and recorded testimonies, the film investigates what meaning, if any, the word "Peace" still holds. Or perhaps just a fragile attempt to give this conversation a place in the world again.