for Cities Week 2021
We showcased the works selected through the Open Call and also hosted exhibitions and workshops in Tokyo and Kyoto to explore ideas gathered from around the world on for Cities.org.
1 WEEK EXHIBITION
9 ideas were selected from an open call to be presented and tested at for Cities Week.
7 WORKSHOPS
Along with the exhibition, various workshops were organized to bring people together and test some of the ideas submitted to for Cities.org
2 CITIES
for Cities Week 2021 took place in Tokyo (Nishiike Valley) and Kyoto (Bridge to Kyoto)
Program
A mobile exhibition to learn and experience practices for thinking about the future of cities was held in two locations in Tokyo and Kyoto. The event will move from one site to the other for a week, exchanging, verifying, and practising each other's practical knowledge under the theme of "making urban life with our own hands”.
Exhibited works
Neo Ergonomic Culture
by Studio PLiZ
Studio PLiZ challenges the obsession with comfort in our daily lives through the introduction of non-ergonomic elements into existing infrastructures. By making the human body uncomfortable in certain areas, they seek to encourage semi-sport activities and exercise in the everyday lives of individuals.
Invisible in Visible
by Carlos Soler Eugene Architect
The current pandemic has seen changes in our social and urban context through social distancing. This installation explores the body and its relationship to our surroundings by giving urban, in-between spaces throughout Kyoto a physical form delineated by inflated balloons. These inflatable objects temporarily interrupt and reveal connections as the body navigates our environment and our relationships with each other.
Small Spaces of Anarchy
by Chris Berthelsen
Small spaces of anarchy are zones of human(e)-scale action, attachment, and care. They can 1) Supplant state control in an aspect of city life, 2) Exist outside majority rule, and 3) Promote unimposed order as a style of working. For this exhibition, Chris Berthelsen’s previous project archives were presented as books, photographs, and videos.
Oggetti Socievoli
by Melita Studio
During the harsh, socially-isolated period of lockdown between March and July 2020, the Oggetti Socievoli (Sociable Objects) project was started as a way to investigate, discover, rediscover, and reinterpret home-objects. The Oggetti Socievoli project sought to build community and share lockdown experiences by asking people to send photos of their home-object along with a short description.
Nippashi’s Tokyo Pavilion
by Yoshimitsu Nippashi
This project is a series of illustrations based on the theme of reimagining relationships between the old and the new. Berlin-based Nippashi created six original pieces for the show - “Tower of old coffee shops,” “Out of Style Landfill,” “Reggae Park,” “Waikiki Apartment Complex,” “Restrooms in Shibuya,” and “Nakagin Capsule Sauna.” This work proposes a series of humorous ideas for preserving old architecture and culture for the future of a city.
A whole generation: development while you have to stay at home
by Rik Stabel
During lockdown we were creatively challenged to continue our cultural development. This series of illustrations by Rik Stabel, depicting Tokyo, Kyoto, and Amsterdam, is an ode to everyone who tried to make the most of this strange and difficult time.
Nikawa - Soft Structure
by Nikawa Lab
Soft Structure is made by saturating textile products with glue dissolved in water. This process provokes a transition from the soft quality of the fiber to its hardened state. In addition to the performance of these material properties as everyday objects, the team used this installation as an opportunity to demonstrate Nikawa’s architectural potential.
Pseudo-Maintenance of Bridges
by Maintenance Club
In this project, the Maintenance Club has conducted temporal, performative maintenance on some of the bridges of the Jodo-ji neighborhood in Kyoto. This act of maintenance is not about simply restoring the bridge to its former state; rather, it is about imagining its past and generating time in which it will continue to exist and be sustained.
Workshops & Activities
In addition to the week-long exhibition, various workshops were organized to bring people together and test some of the ideas submitted to the for Cities platform. These included a walking tour, neighborhood clean-up, meditation, outdoor theater, and a repair cafe.
Through these workshops, participants learned actionable ideas and behaviors capable of enriching their urban lives, both now and in the future.
Nishiike Cleanup
By 530 week & for Cities
Cleaning, this single action is a casual way to get involved in a city. Guided by a 530 week team, a series of cleaning activities was conducted in the Ikebukuro neighborhood.
Sewing Donation
By Sakura Sanchome
For this workshop, the exhibitors asked for a “sewing donation,” whereby participants donate one stitch to Sakura Sanchome to co-create a curtain for the exhibition venue.
City Exercise
By X Train & for Cities
This workshop was both a demonstration and exercise which allowed participants to experience how to physically play in the city. Under the guidance of the X Train parkour team, participants navigated playground equipment and controlled urban environments.
Lost Terminal Becak Test Ride
By Jun Kitazawa
“Lost Terminal" is a project initiated by Jun Kitazawa, a Japanese artist living in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Kitazawa works with local artisans to create various types of human-powered vehicles that pass through Indonesian streets, and installs them in Japanese town squares to create an “imaginary terminal” of vehicles which people can ride.
Sign Up
By Playfool
We are constantly surrounded by rules in the city. To challenge the ubiquitous rigidity of these rules, we instead use them as an opportunity for play, creation, experimentation, and transformation. This workshop encouraged everyone to create their own original rules for the city, thus enabling them to alter the landscape of laws in the spaces which surround them.
Roll Playing Truck
By Repipe
Roll Playing Truck is a truck with roll-shaped materials available at DIY stores which is constructed through guerilla interventions in urban voids. This single object proposes a new urban experience by purposely misreading the role of things and places.
From a scene to your rooftop
By RF Records
This workshop asked participants to bring white fabric and clothing, dye them with Setouchi lemons, and dry them out on rooftops throughout Tokyo.
Repair Cafe
By Jun Yamaguchi
for Cities, in collaboration with maker Jun Yamaguchi, organized the first Repair Café in Kyoto. Jun, a repair expert, was available during the exhibition week to help make all types of repairs.
Clothing Self-Sufficiency
By Jun Yamaguchi
Jun Yamaguchi focuses on humble, everyday works of art, including domestic chores such as cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the elderly, that are often unseen and forgotten. Making and repairing one’s own clothes also used to be part of traditional housework.
Mobile Milk Tea Bar
By Haruna Nakayama
This food stand was originally created by food designer Haruna Nakayama and Scrap Soshoku-Sha using found materials. The food stand was brought by bike and used as an experimental space in the context of Ikebukuro.
Kyoto Cleanup
By Studio B. Severin
This workshop, guided by Studio B Severin, was designed to enable participants to experience cleaning as an act of reconnecting with oneself, others, and the environment. During the event, participants cleaned up various areas of Sakyo-ku under the guidance of Studio B Severin. The aim was to use cleaning and meditation to observe and experience the city from a new perspective.
Ugly Building Tour
By for Cities
This city walk took participants to the “ugly” side of the city and encouraged them to share their dislikes and define what they consider to be “ugly.” The mission here was not to negatively criticize something specific—rather, we strove to recognize why we respond the way we do, and to discover what we cherish most in our urban landscape.
Urbanist Talk
The curation team organized a series of talk sessions with each participating exhibitor. These sessions offered an opportunity for participants to share their impressions of the exhibition and their work, while also providing a forum to discuss their previous activities and exchange their perspectives on cities.
Venues
Tokyo: Nishiike Valley
Nishiike Valley opened in April 2021 in western Ikebukuro, Tokyo. With a total area of 3000m2 across its properties, Nishiike Valley features a traditional Japanese-style house, co-working space, shared kitchen, plaza, farm, restaurants, private roads, and a terrace. Website
Kyoto: Bridge to Kyoto
Bridge to Kyoto is a residence for urbanists as well as a space for events, workshops, and exhibitions located in Kyoto, Japan. Based in a renovated Japanese-style house, Bridge to Kyoto offers both living and common spaces to anyone who considers themselves part of the phenomenon of “the city.”
Participants
What is for Cities Week?
for Cities Week is an annual research program and exhibition hosted by for Cities in cities primarily across Asia. The program is divided into two parts — a research period with participants and a presentation/exhibition period. Additionally, we conduct workshops, talk sessions, and city walks through the program. Previously held in Tokyo, Kyoto, Cairo, Ho Chi Minh City and Chiang Mai, the exhibitions have attracted over 1,000 urbanists.