where the story started

"On a day of April 2010, I moved in to one of the studio at Tokyo Wonder Site Aoyama. It was the studio that I would be living and working for a year. There was a bed, desk, chair, and this big window.The empty room was completely silent. I didn't hear any traffic even though the Aoyama street is just behind a building.

I looked outside the window. There were a concrete building and the concrete court yard, where no glass grew. The only thing that got my attention was the sun light. It was so strong.

I actually had other projects in mind; however, the moment I entered in to the studio, I knew what I would have to do. I needed some living creature in the room, so I started to grow plants. I decided that I would start etude no.36 water and dry earth in this place."

photo: studio view, Tokyo Wonder Site Aoyama 2010

wall: etude no.36 poster prints, 2011 (no.36 instruction, carrots, tomatoes, watermelons, american cherry.)
front/middle: etude no.36 garden of left over, 2011
right/behind: etude no.36 variation for American Cherry, 2010
right/front: etude no.36 variation for growing mandarin seeds from Nikitari village in Cyprus, 2011

etude no.36 garden of left over

2010-11, dimension variable
left over seeds and stems (carrots, radish, tomatoes, lemons, apple, watermelons, plastic containers, paper cups, cardboard paper, wood, plastic rag

”I started to collect all the seeds and the stems from my cooking, the left over, and also started to make planters from the plastic and paper cups that I normally throw away. I planted them, watered them, and putting my ears close to them to listen to the sound of the earth absorbing the water.

They started to glow.

I realized after a while, I was looking at things differently in the supermarket when I did grocery shopping; I was looking at the carrots, for example, and thinking if they would grow good or not, not just if they would have good taste or not.

I got to know the flower of carrot or tomato for the first time in my life. Then the garden of left over was created.”

a visitor with the etude no.36 lemon

etude no.36 variation for American Cherry

2011, dimension variable
monitor / DVD(2010, 5:22, color, stereo), a withered American Cherry

images from the DVD

story about an American Cherry

"After eating the cherries with my friends, I had planted it and watered it. Through listening to the sound of watering the soil, I made a video work about it, and it kept growing. When the summer had arrived, they were infected by some leaf diseases and became very week. All the leaves were gone by winter. I told the two friends that had the cherry with me in the first place about the situation. We were very sad, but there was nothing we could do. Although, I felt very alone in my studio, I remembered that I still have some seeds left. If they really died, then I may plant on of them one day again. "

a withered American Cherry

etude no.36 variation for growing mandarin seeds from Nikitari village in Cyprus

2011, size variable
glass furniture, monitor / DVD(2011, 9:10, color, stereo), earth, small stone and plastic bottle from Cyprus, Map

images from DVD

story about a mandarin

"When I visited Cyprus. I met a farmer on the bus that was going to the Nikitari village. He took me and my friend to his house and gave us some food to eat, and some mandarins on our way back. I brought back the seeds from the mandarin, some stones, and plastic bottles from Cyprus and brought to Japan. I planted it, played and listened to the etude no.36 with it. Then it started to grow."

etude no.36 mandarin

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