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During a three-month residency at Arts Initative Tokyo I have researched the Japanese Tea Ceremony. The tea ceremony that can be seen as a widely spread product of traditional culture of Japan, simultaneously is a spiritual experience with a distinct aesthetic language. It incorporates philosophical, aesthetic and religious aspects based on Zen Buddhist principles. The ritualistic aspect of handling the materials and the attention given to the present moment of dealing with the tea evokes a sense of valuing. The aesthetic sensibilities of the tea culture juxtapose Western ideals of beauty, as do the spiritual concepts of Zen. An abstract analogy is made to the ritualistic aspects of making, and viewing art in the Western art world and how that is connected to meaning making and conceptualisation. With respect to the outsiders gaze the (im)possibility of coming closer with a foreign or ‘other’ cultural event is put into question. At the same time the relation between viewing, feeling, creating and projection of meaning is explored.

During the residency I kept up the blog ‘Wabi-bijin’ that was designed in collaboration with Mislav Žugaj.
link to blog

This video is made possible with the kind support of Mondriaan Fonds and the residency at AIT.