以行動與倡議滋養社會–京都的「社會廚房」

       一個以社會為名的廚房，究竟經營的是何種料理之道？

        在探訪社會廚房(Hanare x Social Kitchen，以下簡稱社廚)之前，我對於京都的刻板印象如同一般的旅人一樣，不外乎是傳統建築、日式和服、古老町屋，不知不覺似乎大家遺忘了京都在二十世紀日本史中，它深受歐陸左派社會思潮影響所激發對於政治舉措的批判行動力。

        鄰近同志社大學與相國寺，社會廚房並不像是常見的日式咖啡廳過度裝飾與設計一般甜膩，反而多了一份獨立空間充滿個性的直爽與溫暖。初次造訪社會廚房的當晚，正巧遭逢在地社群所舉行的再生能源研討會，我沒有感受到過度激情訴求團結的運動氛圍，倒是看到攜家帶眷的參與者對於永續發展再生能源的殷殷期盼。

        在簡短說明我的來意之後，社廚的主要經營者–須川咲子(Sakiko Sugawa)女士熱情地向我說明社會廚房的現況及發展。社廚是一個根植於在地社區內結合社會運動意識與藝文活動發展的獨立空間，從一樓對外營業的咖啡廳、二樓的彈性藝文活動空間、三樓的聯合行政辦公區域，看似迷你，這其中乘載的卻是十分遠大的運動理想性。細數發生於社會運動的活動，我們可能驚訝於蘊藏的活動持續性能量與意志力。從311震災後發起的「震災/原發」工作小組，至廢除特定秘密法案的連署行動、藝術團體contact Gonzo的表演、藝術家加藤翼(Tsubasa Kato)的紀錄片放映會，社會廚房扮演的不是靜態、死寂、無機的功能性空間，而是面對日本右翼及獨裁政治勢力不斷快速擴張下，結合藝文活動發表的社會行動平台。   

        透過社廚在京都的人文社會思想與文化行動上人力的連結與媒合，須川咲子、高橋由布子(Yufuko Takahashi)、山崎伸吾(Shingo Yamasaki)及其餘共同協力夥伴，透過持續舉行的放映會、交流講座、表演、小型研討會、調查研究工作小組等不同活動型式，開展連結自京都地方意識對於日本整體社會文化現況的正向積極關懷力量。沒有來自政府及民間大型企業等日本主要資源贊助者的支持，不舉性勸募活動，社廚營運三年至今仍然總是得獨立面對鉅額虧損、入不敷出的窘境，然而對於自身空間所主導及協辦的活動卻依舊謹慎，因為她們了解社會廚房並不只是一般純然放鬆舒適的藝文空間，僅止於吸引文青聚集喝咖啡、聊是非之地，一直以來她們期盼在政治與藝術活動策辦之餘，社廚能夠更為凝聚在地居民的公民社會關懷意識，讓彼此理解在習慣息事寧人、以靜制動的日本日常社會氛圍中，維權意識為何如此關鍵？面對日本右翼極權專制的政府治理規劃趨勢，公民應當如何奪回屬於自身土地的權利，突刺關乎公民生存的社會議題討論可以攤開在陽光下，驅使公民可以更自由獨立地表達對於自身、他者與環境未來的意見。

        簡短談論後，我真切地向須川女士表達社廚對於京都乃至於整個關西地區，已可視為極具有指標性的獨立藝文空間。她仍只是感嘆此種空間經營十分困難，但她也知曉面對現下處境更為艱難，相較於過往在日本已委靡許久的左派運動意識形態，社廚的存在意義更顯重要，畢竟在這個國際情勢危機四伏、政治風險陡然升高的年代，我們需要的已不再只是軟性的頹廢與抑鬱，如何紮根與公民一同發聲、共同戰鬥，相信這股在社會廚房汨汨流洩的正向關懷能量，正悄悄不斷地發揮影響力呢！

 

  

Soundscape No.2: The Last Dialogue

The Last dialogue

Artist Statement


“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” in the Bibel Rev 21:4.

What are the sounds of dying？How to present the bitter feelings and painful emotions behind the sounds？It’s really hard to image clearly. Compare with the classical works in the visual art history, using sounds to describe death is quite a complex problem. An important sound artist, Yannick Dauby, have tried to record the sounds of an insect dying before. It sounded quite peacefully, leaded the listener to think about death in an alternative way.

In this work , i did not capture the last picture of a human life journey. It recorded ordinary scenery happened in a ward with my family, estimating the blood pressure, the tender reminding etc coincidently.

Suddenly, my mother passed away the day before yesterday, and it just became the last dialogue between us. It sounds ridiculous for me because somehow I try to find the sounds describing death difficultly. Finally, the last words spoken from my mom to me is powerful and heart-breaking than any other sensational sounds. I just try to maintain the original sounds recording, using less post-production techniques in this work to memorize my mom and invite the audience actively listen the trauma behind the sounds with me.

Pipe!Pipe!Pipe! TNUA Soundmark (II)

pipes~~~

It's quite weird and interesting sounds from those "pipes". Noises are full around this area. After a few minutes, your mind will get more and more peacefully by these low frequencies sounds. Please enjoy it!

Practice makes perfect! - TNUA Soundmark (I)

Vocal-instrument rehearsal-II

This is a soundmark belonged to TNUA Soundmap Project, recorded in TNUA Music Department.

Sound diary No.6 - 20111108

Recently, my mon's physical condition is coming rapidly worse and worse. Sometimes it's really hurt to listen to her weak breathing and small volumes speaking like whispering. Beyond the weak voice, i just feel strong spirits behind. Although i know maybe we are closing the moment to face her death, these sounds of dying still make me feel so afraid. Because it's really too harsh to be true.

Sound diary No.5 - 20111102

What an interesting listening experience happened this evening between a cat and my friend. This friend of mine really likes cats. She likes to play with cats. But she use an interesting way to play with the cat: Imitation the sounds of cat. And as the cat seems cannot differ it's a kind of sound from a cat or from a human-being. So they seems like to be the same species in some alternative way: from listening experience!

Soundscape No.1: Public fears in the private spaces

Public fears in the private spaces by teddysteve


Artist Statetment

The work "Public fears in the private spaces" i made from recording the private experience in my dailylife. For taking showers and going pees in my daily life, these are quite normal but individual privacy experieces.

Nowadays, in the digital age, we have easily gotten a virtual identification in the reality world, even if we can pretend to be anyone in this virtual world, we still have to face to our isolate real world. We even do not know ourselves.

From this work idea, i just want to expose the reality behind the sounds in our daily life with nature habits -- the water noises by cleaning behaviors. I hope listening the water nooises may awake some parts of our awareness to realize: the relationship between each other in the real world is quite unique and valuable. Maybe the real fear is not in the publics, always behind in our private spaces.