September 1st – 3rd, 2023 @ Koishikawa Botanical Garden, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo

「小さな音を聴く」

10名のアーティストが小石川植物園の空間に存在する音の間に、目では見えていないものたちの言葉では語り尽くせない可能性を奏でる。
Ten artists will play the ineffable possibilities of those unseen by the eye amongst the sounds that exist in the space of the Koishikawa Botanical Garden.

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Information to be uploaded to: https://soundinggarden.org/

Entrance to the Botanical Garden will cost ¥500. No additional fees for this particular event.
The hours are accordingly to the open hours of the botanical garden (9am-4:30pm) and its glass house (10am-3pm).

Otocare at Shinkomoji Hospital in Kitakyushu-city

Research in Progress
“Otocare the first trial report”

text: Hikari Sandhu, Nick Luscombe, Yu Morishita
The University of Tokyo, Institute of Industrial Science
Published on July 6th, 2023
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Background

Occupational health and environment

Studies of occupational health increasingly show the importance of a positive ambient environment to support workers’ health and well-being ^{1, 2}. In their studies, several elements including gender, thermal comfort, floor planning, and environmental sounds are considered to be important elements to determine the quality of work environment experience ². Further, research shows the environmental sounds and occupational stress have an important association; lower levels of ambient noise can boost negative job stress ³.

Hospital environment and sounds

Modern medicine is developed upon well-maintained hospital environments comprised of standardized hygiene practices and noise control, yet it lacks of perspectives on patients’ care. As guided by World Health Organization ⁴, hospital environments require standard principles for hygiene maintenance, which includes ventilation, spacing for each patient, quality of water, dressing of healthcare workers. As per the noise control, World Health Organization also guides noise level inside the wards as lower than 40dB during the night-time to prevent patients’ stress level ⁴. Followed by multiple guidelines the hospital environments created safe and inorganic spaces. Despite the environmental settings for any disease prevention for patients, ignorance of patients’ experience of hospital environment creates negative effects on patients’ and their family’s health and well-being such as anxiety, insomnia, and lack of motivation for treatment. Monti et al. show a positive effect of pictorial interventions to improve the perception of the hospital environment among pediatric patients’ family ⁵. The importance of positive environmental settings was clearly illustrated in previous research.

OTOCARE Project

With all background illustrated above, we conducted our first Otocare trial at Palliative care, Saiseikai Kanagawaken Hospital, in 2020 (https://memuearthlab.jp/2021/06/22/otocare-saiseikai-kanagawaken-hospital/). The result showed the potential to implement nature sounds in the hospital environment as a therapeutic use for healthcare workers. The trial was limited to a palliative care unit that focused on the calming environment as care. The first trial led us to another question: How do healthcare workers who generally work in acute medical settings react to natural environmental sounds? To answer this question, we had moved our trail location to Shinkomoji hospital in Kitakyushu-city, where had a 93.13 million population ad a 30.7 % aging rate as a comparison Yokohama city had a 372.5 million population and 24.7 % aging rate ^{6, 7}. The research aim was to explore healthcare workers’ perception of natural sounds in acute to general medical settings.

Methods

We conducted the second trial at Shinkomoji Hospital, Kita-Kyushu city, Fukuoka Prefecture. We collaborated with a nursing department to conduct this trial. The trial period was divided into two phases: The first phase was conducted from May 26th to June 8th, 2021. We targeted a total of 353 nurses (all registered nurses in the hospital), prepared five speakers that contained 12 hours of nature sounds mixed music (Scene 1), and were allocated in 5 staff rooms in 5 hospital wards. As the intervention, participants listened to the music mix at staff rooms during their break time. After listening to the sounds, the participants filled out a questionnaire (Questionnaire A) including five questions about their daily physical and psychological status and the impact of nature sounds. After the intervention period, we distributed another questionnaire (Questionnaire B) including background, music history, and detailed questions of their sound experience and preferences of environmental sounds.

The second phase was conducted from June 16th to June 30th, 2021. We expanded the participants from nurses to multidisciplinary healthcare workers to gain wide range of insights by allocating seven speakers in seven locations. Locations included a general medicine staff room, a surgical department staff room, an outpatient treatment room, a nurse station, a community care room, and an outpatient consultation room. As the intervention, participants listened to the music mix at each location during their break time. After the intervention period, we distributed Questionnaire B as the first phase, which included participants’ background, music history, and detailed questions of their sound experience and preferences of environmental sounds.

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Findings

We collected 128 responses for Questionnaire A and 76 responses for Questionnaire B for the first phase, and 125 responses for questionnaire B in the second phase. Table 1 showed the details of participants:

Table 1: Participants details

The results showed three main findings. The first finding presented listening to nature sounds music can enhance relaxation among nurses, yet it may not directly reduce stressors. Diagram 1 showed the results from nurses during the first phase, and diagram 2 showed the results of the second phase from multidiscipline, including nurses and other occupations. Both diagrams showed that over 70 % of respondents answered positively to having nature sounds music in the hospital; in contrast, diagram 3 showed that the nature sounds did not reduce stress reduction daily. That is, natures sounds based music may not be enough to induce strong stress reduction but can provide a temporary relaxed experience.

Diagram 1: Subjective impact of nature sounds in the hospital environment from Nurses

Diagram 2: Subjective impact of nature sounds in the hospital environment from Nurses + other disciplines

Diagram 3:  Subjective evaluation of nurses’ daily stress reduction by nature sounds

The second finding showed that the sound of the river, western classical music, and slow tempo music is preferred (diagram 4 and diagram 5). Among all nature sounds, river sounds or beach sounds contain mono-toned continuous sounds compared to other sounds such as birds or rain sounds containing changeable irregular sounds. The mono-toned continuous sounds may contribute to stabilizing the environmental sounds and the atmosphere created by the sounds. As for the preference for western classical music and slow tempo music, both sounds have more familiarity as the hospital usually plays mellow musical box sounds as background music. This familiarity leads to a preference of sounds and music.

Diagram 4: Preferred sounds to listen to in the hospital (Nurses)

Diagram 5: Preferred sounds to listen to in the hospital (Nurses + other disciplines)

Finally, the third finding showed that participants perceive sounds differently depending on their locations and circumstances. We allocated speakers in seven different locations as a total. Results showed that participants who listened to the sounds at a surgical department staff room had a different perception of sounds than participants in different locations. The high-intensity workplaces may need to maintain tension to keep high-quality work and productivity, which relaxational sounds, including nature sounds, may not be suitable.

Table 2:  Comparison of ‘Disagree’ responses from survey data

Appendix 1: Thematic analysis from written interviews

Perspectives-

Otocare second trial showed that nature sounds could reduce stress among healthcare workers who work in acute to general medical fields. Further, we explored river sounds or beach sounds were more preferred sounds compare to other nature sounds. Importantly we were able to collect over 100 responses that had a scientifically sufficient sample size. Consequently, Otocare trials suggest to increase implementation of nature sounds into healthcare fields as a part of psychological care for healthcare workers. To drive forward this care, we need to explore implementation methods suitable for the healthcare environment, such as allocations, sound management systems, device choices, and the sustainability of entire systems. Otocare will continue to investigate such points in collaboration with architectures, sound system engineers.

References

1. Gatti, M.F.Z. & Silva, M.J.P. (2007). Ambient music in the emergency services: the professionals’ perception. Rev Latino-am Enfermagem, maio-junho; 15(3):377-83.
2. Mulville, M., Callaghan, N. & Isaac, D. (2016) “The impact of the ambient environment and building configuration on occupant productivity in open-plan commercial offices”, Journal of Corporate Real Estate, 18(3), pp.180-193.
3. Leather, P., Beale, D. & Sullivan, L. (2003). Noise, psychosocial stress and their interaction in the workplace. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 23, p.213-222.
4. Berglund, B., Lindvall, T., Schwela, D.H .& World Health Organization. (1996). Occupational and Environmental Health Team‎. Guidelines for Community Noise. Retrieved from https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/66217
5. Monti, F., Agostini, F., Dellabartola, S., Neri, E., Bozicevic, L, & Pocecco, M. (2012). Pictorial intervention in a pediatric hospital environment: effects on parental affective perception of the unit. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 32, p.216-224. et al. (2012)
6. City of Kitakyushu (2022. Retrieved from https://www.city.kitakyushu.lg.jp/soumu/file_0311.html
7. City of Yokohama (2023). Retrieved from https://www.city.yokohama.lg.jp/city-info/yokohamashi/tokei-chosa/portal/jinko/maitsuki/saishin-news.html

Thank you to our partners –

Sound : Scene 1

Research Retreat by Rahel Craft (Composer)
October 2nd – 26th, 2022, April 25th  – June 4th, 2023 in Memu
Memu Open Week, June 6th – 10th, 2023 in Tokyo

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Echoes of Memu @ Open Week

Echoes of Memu combines soundscapes recorded around Memu between 2019 and 2023 by Nick Luscombe, James Greer, Eisuke Yanagisawa and Rahel Kraft. New sounds will be added during the Open Week, reflecting on the individual approaches of each artist and the idea of creating a collective ear. As they wandered around Memu, each person has taken different paths and chosen different perspectives. These listening points echoe the specific soundscape surrounding Memu, creating an ever-changing atmosphere throughout the week. The samples are combined and recombined to a score by Rahel Kraft, accompanied by her musical and atmospheric compositions.

Tuesday: soundscapes by Rahel Kraft
Wednesday: added soundscapes by James Greer
Thursday: added soundscapes by Nick Luscombe
Friday: added soundscapes by Eisuke Yanagisawa

「Echoes of Memu」は、2019年から2023年の間にメム周辺にて、ニック・ラスカム、ジェームズ・グリア、柳沢英輔、ラヘル・クラフトによって録音されたサウンドスケープから編成されます。オープン・ウィークをとおして、共働する耳（集合知という意味での、集合耳）という考えのもと、個々のアーティストそれぞれのアプローチを反映しつつ、新しい音が加えられて行きます。メムの周辺を探索するにあたり、各自が異なる場所を歩き、そして異なる風景を見てきました。これらの異なる場所の音は、このオープン・ウィーク中、メムを取り巻く特徴的なサウンド・スケープを呼び起こし、1週間をとおして刻々と変化する環境を作りだします。サンプリングされた音は、ラヘル・クラフトにより彼女の音楽的、また環境的作曲とともに楽譜に編成され、また再編成されました。

火曜日: ラヘル・クラフトによるサウンド・スケープ
水曜日: ジェームズ・グリアによるサウンド・スケープが編成されます
木曜日: ニック・ラスカムによるサウンド・スケープが編成されます
金曜日: 柳沢英輔によるサウンド・スケープが編成されます

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Read More @ Hills Life Daily：”Forests as Possibilities” /「森」は多様な可能性に開かれている にてインタビュー記事を掲載いただきました。

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北海道十勝地方を主たる研究拠点にするmemu earth lab では、目の前の多様な事象の関係性の理解と、そこから発想される関係性の構築（建築）について研究を進めています。

十勝平野には、比較的入りやすく、常に人に利用されてきている近くの森と、風景の中に悠々とつらなる遠くの森（日高山脈）があります。フィールドワークを進める中、この風景をなす近くの森が、日々の生活の中で比較的疎遠になってしまっていることに気がつきました。この場所における次々世代の人と森の関係性とは。

目の前の風景を多様な視点とともに巡る、資源再読フィールドワーク（rereading fieldworks）の一環として、映像作家の茂木綾子さんと森に入りました。きのこや山菜を採取（サンプリング）するときとは異なり、映像や音源を森からサンプリングするときは、その場所に三脚を立て、10分程度静かに森と向き合うという、普段とは異なる人と森の時間がありました。季節の変化とともに31ヶ所の森に入り、得られた「森の時間」の断片（fragments）を、映像「rereading forest」として連ねました。

この映像は、森の時間に身をゆだね、各々が森のことを考える資源（リソース）として考えています。課題解決や結果報告、ドキュメンタリー、表現でもなく、資源としてのメディアについて考えてみました。この資源を介して、みなさんが各々の森を感じ、多様な森が重なりあうことで、その可能性に開かれた会話（relation）がうまれることを期待しています。

みなさまの自由な感想を以下よりご共有いただけると幸いです。

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Credit

camera, editing: ©Ayako Mogi 2023
sound recording: Naoya Sasaki (all season), Nick Luscombe (winter)
organizing: Yu Morishita
produced by memu earth lab

土：この場所に応答する衝動, April 2022

土を介して、どのような場所への衝動的応答 (impulse response) を人々は持つのでしょう。

今回は、そのような衝動に際して、感じるだけではなく、表現手法を用いコミュニケーションをする技能を持つ人々、すなわち応答を期に関係性／リレーションを作る方々にフィールドワークを行なって頂きました。

その観察者として、これまでなぜ人は絵を描くのかという探究を、チンパンジーや幼少期の人間を対象に、「新しいことへの応答」、またそれを介した認知の形成を見てきた認知科学者にお願いしました。

この場所への衝動的応答から見える、この場所の可能性の束を言葉で記録しました。そのような記録を通して、線画、映像、絵画、レリーフなどの作品群がこの場所に残りました。

2022年4月

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rereading fieldwork by

Taku Furukawa
Keiji Ito
Kintaro Takahashi
Jun Tsunoda
Aya Saito
Takeshi Horie

nourishment by Eriko Kishimoto & Kaori Yokokawa

a video work by Ayako Mogi
camera, editing Ayako Mogi
sound recording Naoya Sasaki

organization Ichiro Miyagawa, Hinata Matsumura & Yu Morishita

©️2022 Ayako Mogi
Produced by memu earth lab

Research Retreat by Eisuke Yanagisawa (Field Recordist, Anthropologist)
April 20th – May 8th, 2021, March 2nd – 14th, 2022

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Voices of Memu is a collection of recordings by field recordist Eisuke Yanagisawa made at numerous locations in and around Taiki, Hokkaido, during his five-week stay at memu earth lab in the spring of 2021 and winter of 2022.

Venturing into the wilds with his audio equipment, at different times of the day and night, Eisuke sought out new sounds in an unfamiliar place. As well as the voices of the land, Eisuke also turned his attention to the words and activities of local residents in the town of Taiki, and at the farms that are scattered across the area.

The result is a captivating series of sound environments that portray the essence of the area with a deep sense of place, in the way that only pictures painted by sound can realize.

Eisuke Yanagisawa
Title/ Voices of Memu
Label/ MSCTY EDN (MSCTY_EDN_004: Link to Bandcamp) 
Release Year/ 2024.09.06
Format/ 2CD + Booklet (48 pages)

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「Voices of Memu」

text by Eisuke Yanagisawa

北海道の東部、十勝の南部に位置するメム（大樹町）を拠点とするmemu earth labに2021年と2022年の冬から春にかけて計5週間ほど滞在し、周辺の様々な場所の響きを収録した。

録音機材を車に積み込み、さて今日はどの辺りに行こうかと広大な大地を車を走らせながら考える。周辺には森林や川があり、海岸沿いには湖沼群が点在している。市街地から離れると通り過ぎる車や人の姿はほとんど見かけない。一方、野生のキツネやタンチョウ、リスの姿は時折見かけるし、雪の上には何かの動物の足跡が点々と残っている。適当なところで車を停めて、機材を入れたバックを担ぎ、面白そうなポイント、何かが録れそうな雰囲気のするポイントが見つかるまでひたすら歩く。このようにしてたまたま出会ったさまざまな音がこの作品には収録されている。さらにこの土地で暮らす人々にも話を伺った。彼／彼女らが日々の暮らしの中でどのような音をどのように聴いているのかに興味があったからだ。

雪が積もった朝方、滞在していたバンガローから外に出ると耳が詰まったかと思うぐらいの静寂に慄く。自分の耳には「自然」の音しか聞こえないように感じられる場所でも、マイクロフォンが捉えた音からは人間の活動に伴う様々な音が聞こえてくる。例えば、大型トラックが国道を走る音、山で猟師が獲物を猟銃で撃つ音、上空を通過する飛行機の音、近隣の住居の室外機の音、そしてもちろん私自身が無意識のうちに立てている音もある。それでも、背景のノイズが少ない、小さな音が明瞭に聞こえる場所というのはそれだけで価値がある。ここはまさにそういう場所だ。

メムで出会った環境音、人々の声、それらを区別することなく、この土地の声として捉えてみる。土地の声に耳を澄まし、それらを録音し、録音された音に耳を傾けるという行為を通してどのような世界が立ち上がってくるだろうか。メムという言葉はアイヌ語で「泉の湧き出るところ」という意味があるそうだ。これらの音がリスナーそれぞれの記憶や身体的経験と結びつき、湧き水のように世界に対する想像力を涵養することを願って。

I stayed at memu earth lab, based in Memu (Taiki Town), located in the southern part of Tokachi, eastern Hokkaido, for a total of five weeks during the winter and spring of 2021 and 2022, and recorded the sounds I encountered at various locations around the area.

Loading the recording equipment into the car, I drive on the vast land while thinking, “Where should I go today?” There are forests and rivers all around, and lakes and marshes dotting the coast. Away from the city center, one rarely sees passing cars or people. On the other hand, wild foxes, red-crowned cranes, and squirrels can be seen from time to time, and the snow is dotted with tracks of some animal. I parked the car at a suitable spot, carry our bags of equipment, and keep walking until I find a point that looks interesting or has the atmosphere of something I can record. The various sounds that I encountered in this way are recorded in this work. In addition, we talked to the people who live in the area because I was interested in how and what kind of sounds they hear in their daily lives. Through their words (voices), the way you listen to these recorded sounds, in other words, the world reconstructed by the recording, is also likely to change.

When I stepped out of the bungalow where we were staying on a snowy morning, I shivered with such silence that I thought my ears were clogged. Even in places where it seems like one can only hear the sounds of “nature” with their own ears, the microphones captured a variety of sounds associated with human activity. For example, there are the sounds of large trucks driving on national highways, hunters shooting their prey in the mountains, airplanes passing overhead, the sound of the outdoor units of neighboring residences, and of course, the sounds I myself make subconsciously. Still, a place where there is little background noise and small sounds can be heard clearly is worthwhile in itself. This is just such a place.

Considering the ambient sounds I encountered in Memu, the voices of people, without distinguishing them, I try to perceive them as the voice of this land. By attentively listening to the voice of the land, recording them, and attentively listening to the recorded sounds, what kind of world will emerge? The word ‘Memu’ apparently means ‘a place where a spring wells up’ in the Ainu language. It is my hope that these sounds will intertwine with the memories and physical experiences of each listener and nurture their imagination towards the world like a spring water.

CD1
1 Dawn Forest　         8:23
2 Cowhouse             9:11
3 Living with Cows       9:36
4 Memu River           4:43
5 Stream near Banseisha  11:04
6 Life in the Past         8:42
7 kim-un-to             6:36

CD2
8 Listening through the Tochka   7:21
9 Horse Meals                  6:35
10 Living with Horses           7:17
11 kamuy-kotan 　　　　　　　　5:50
12 Rain, Harp and the Tochka 　 8:08
13 Walking on Melted Snow 　　 1:42
14 Frozen Memu River　　　　  7:44
15 Asahihama Fishing Port 　　 10:29
16 Midnight Forest 　　　　　　5:23

recorded, edited and mastered by Eisuke Yanagisawa
design by Takamitsu Ohta
photography by Takehito Goto
additional photography by Eisuke Yanagisawa
produced by Rereading Company
published by MSCTY + memu earth lab

Memu Open Week 2023

June 6th – 10th, 2023 @ S-Building Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo

6月6日

10時よりS棟110ギャラリーにて、メムにおける人と森の関係性を再読するフィールドワークを通して作られた、茂木綾子さんによる映像、rereading forestをスクリーニングします。約2.5×6メートルの大きな壁面に映し出される映像と現地で収録された環境音は、十勝平野のさまざまな森の春夏秋冬の姿を捉えたもので、１年かけて制作されました。

この映像の背景となる一連のフィールドワークについて、下記にてインタビュー頂きました。

Forests as Possibilities「森」は多様な可能性に開かれているー東京大学 memu earth lab 「再読」フィールドワーク②

映像は86分で、10日の17時までループ再生されます。ご自由に出入りください。
6日は茂木さんも参加されます。

12時より、メムのResearch Retreat / リサーチ・リトリートに滞在し、音を介してその場所を再読してきたメンバー、野村誠さん、柳沢英輔さん、ラヘル・クラフトさん、ニック・ラスカムさんによる、メムの音を用いたパフォーマンスを行います。@S棟エントランスホール

12：30〜14：00 休憩

14時より作曲家、野村誠さんが、2020年暮れのメム滞在を通して制作したアルバム「MEMUSICA」のCDリリースとトークを行います。@S棟エントランスホール

15時より文化人類学者、フィールドレコーディストの柳沢英輔さんと、2021、2022年のメム滞在と通して制作され、2023年にリリースされる予定のアルバム「Voices of Memu」にまつわるトークを行います。@S棟エントランスホール

16時より今年4月、5月とメムに滞在し、湿原の音を探求してきたラヘル・クラフトさんによりメムの音源を用いた実験、「Echoes of Memu」を行います。@S棟エントランスホール

なお、お昼からのトーク、ラヘルさんの実験はメムのオンライン・ラジオ、Memu Radio でもライブ配信します。

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Sounding Garden of Koishikawa

@ Koishikawa Botanical Garden, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo

Koishikawa Botanical Garden (小石川植物園, Koishikawa Shokubutsuen, 40 acres, 16 hectares) is a botanical garden with an arboretum operated by the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Science. They are located at 3-7-1 Hakusan, Bunkyō, Tokyo.

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Brief of the Open Call for Ten Soundworks

Rereading our environment in front of us through diverse mediums, memu earth lab explores how we can architect relationships that can utilize the bundle of possibilities that exist in front of us.

As a study field, we have so far conducted numerous sound-based rereadings of places at Memu in Hokkaido and at the Fuji Iyashino Mori Woodland Center in Yamanakako. This time we will conduct experiments at the Botanical Garden, a field where scientific exploration of nature takes place in the heart of the city.

At the garden, we would like to discuss how we imagine the potential future of space with a high concentration of living organisms in the urban context. Some questions are suggested through its history that it acted as a place for curing people, current scientific research that is redefining our perception of plants, and others that render toward us through careful listening of the place.

Botanical gardens originated in the West as a place of educating scientific knowledge and enlightening new entities called the public while also acting as an instrument in the process of colonization of the unknown ecosphere.

The Koishikawa Botanical Garden, on the other hand, started as an urban sanatorium for the poor, and a medical plant garden in the heart of Tokyo. The past of the garden suggests to us, a securing of different temporality. During the great earthquake in 1923, the garden became a space of evacuation toward safety and calmness. Today, many urban dwellers gather daily to harness its spatial offering toward their physical well-being.

Information also evacuates into this different temporality. The physical connection to nature, or the touch point to physicality itself, is now a contested subject in the age of digital transformation. Here at the garden, the roles of information (DNA) kept in the physical plant archives are starting to enlighten us with the possibility of restoring vegetation on the brink of extinction, which digitalized visual data would not have. We are still assigning new scientific and informatics roles to physical matter.

Today, diverse cutting-edge research is being conducted in the botanical garden. Efforts to understand plants in terms of their relationships with insects, animals, and other organisms suggest that we are much more connected to other organisms than we have previously isolated ourselves. The reasons for the shape of the leaves? There are so many phenomena that have been questioned but never yet explained in the past that are beginning to come into focus of the science frontier.

With this past and present in mind, how will we change the education of the next and succeeding generations? The phylogenetic system of plants has been revised, the next generation is beginning to perceive nature from a different perspective than now, and children are seeing relationships that were not visible before. What will the botanical garden of the future look like?

We would like to explore the possibilities of this place through sound to manifest those that are yet invisible or those that cannot be fully expressed in words. It is to navigate the questions that this place inherits and to create a time and opportunity to communicate them openly together beyond the walls of the garden.

We have selected ten sites and studies from the Botanical Garden that suggest questions that should be explored, reread, and to be shared.

2023 marks the centennial occasion of 1923 September 1 great earthquake. Overlapping people’s movements, one evacuating toward safety and calmness, we are planning to hold an event to reread the botanical garden and its potentialities through sound and gathering.

メムアースラボでは目の前の空間を多様な媒体を通し再読し、そこに拡がる可能性の束を活かすことのできる関係性の建築を実験しています。

これまでにも音を介した場所の再読を北海道のメムのフィールドや、山中湖の富士癒しの森研究所で実施してきましたが、今回は自然を対象とした理学的探究を都心で繰り広げるフィールド、東京大学附属小石川植物園にて実験を展開します。

植物園を舞台に、都市というコンテクストにおいて生物が高密度に存在する空間の将来的可能性について議論を試みたいと考えています。そのための題材は、人を癒してきたこの場所の過去や、我々の植物に対する理解を再定義しようとする現在の科学的研究の見知、またこの場所に聞き入ることから読み取ることが出来ます。

植物園は、西洋では科学的見知の啓蒙、市民教育と同時に、未知であった生態系の植民地化にその発端をみます。

一方、小石川植物園の前身は、都心における貧困者のための療養所とそのための野草園でした。また100年前の大震災の折には、人々の安心と平穏のための避難所になるなど、その過去には、西洋の植物園とは異なる時間の流れ、人を受け入れ続けて来た場所の歴史が存在しています。今日においては、都心に居住する人々が心身の健康を求めこの空間に集まります。

この異なる時間の中には、人のみではなく、情報も存在・避難しています。昨今のデジタル・トランスフォメーション期においては、自然との物理的な関係性、あるいは身体性との接点そのものが議論の対象となっています。多様な情報がデジタル化に向かう一方、植物園の物理的な植物のアーカイブは、DNA情報を伝え、例えばアーカイブに存在する種子が絶滅に瀕する植生の回復に可能性を照らし始めています。デジタル化された視覚情報では不可能となる身体性の意義、新しい科学的情報の役割が日々再読されています。

現在の植物園では多様な先端的な研究が行われています。植物を、昆虫や動物などの生息圏を共にする生物の関係性から理解しようとする取り組みは、自分達（人）を生態系のつながりの中に戻そうとします。また葉っぱの形状の理由など、これまで、言われてみれば疑問に思うも説明されて来なかった目の前の事象に、ようやく科学の先端が追いついて来ています。香りの分子分析から見えてくるこれまで目視しようとしていた生態系の理解。これらの知見が捉え直す目の前の自然の可能性を改めて再読する必要が感じられます。

これらの歴史や知見は、次世代、次次世代への教育をどう変えていくでしょうか？植物の系統体系が改められ、これまでとは異なる観点で次世代は自然を捉え始めようとしていること、見えていなかった関係性が聞こえ、感じられる子どもたち、将来の植物園の空間はどのような姿をしているのでしょうか？

目では見えていないものたちの、また言葉では語り尽くせない可能性を一つの空間に奏でることで、顕在化させることを今回実験したいと考えています。音という視覚ではない媒体を介し、この空間の可能性をナビゲートし、それを広く、植物園の壁を越えて共有する時間と機会を建築したいと思います。

今回、植物園の中から、再読すべき疑問を示唆する10の場所や研究を選びました。これらの疑問を音を介しより多くの人と共有することがオープンコールの目的です。

2023年は、1923年9月1日の大震災から100年が経ちます。過去に安心と平穏を求め集まった人々の流れに重ね、今日、この場所の可能性を探索する人の流れを考えています。

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What we are looking for in Soundworks

・We are looking for a total of 10 high-quality new Soundworks by Japan-based sound artists engaging with the past and present research and events taking place at the gardens, which are represented by 10 locations across the site.

・Each Soundworks will be presented via a simple speaker system at each given location during a weekend of events in September 2023. Beyond this weekend, the work will be available to listen to via QR codes at each location and also online via a dedicated webpage.

・Durational sound pieces of 5-10 minutes. 

・Sound work designed for active listening as people wander through the gardens and around each locations. We want people to “lean in” to the sound and discover it among the other sounds that permeate the locations.

・Therefore it is important to consider that each sound work will be presented outdoors alongside the natural soundscape of people, birds, insects, and wind. 

・Each Soundworks will be played at a sound level in harmony with the surrounding sound environment; therefore, it should be designed with that in mind.     

サウンドワークに期待すること

今回の公募では、日本在住のサウンドアーティストに対して、小石川植物園の過去から未来に向けた研究や出来事を象徴する園内10か所にまつわる10の新しいサウンドワークを制作してもらいます。

2023年9月始めの週末に開催されるイベントにおいて、各サウンドワークは、簡単なスピーカーシステムを用いてそれぞれの場所にて発表されます。イベント後は、植物園のそれぞれの場所に設置されるQRコードを介して、また場所を問わずオンラインから聴くことができるようにします。

各サウンドワークの長さは5分から10分を想定しています。

これらのサウンドワークは、訪れる人々が植物園の各ロケーションを散策する際に、能動的傾聴を促すものとなります。サウンドワークに寄り添うことで、植物園の空間に存在する他の音の間に、今回の一連の音を見つけてほしいと考えています。

これらのサウンドワークは、屋外で既に存在している人、鳥、虫、風と言ったサウンドスケープの中で、また周りの音環境と調和された音量にて音が流されることを想定してください。

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What we are offering

・Artist Fee 150,000 yen / soundwork

・PR as part of the overall project

・Opportunity to discuss soundwork at the launch event in September 2023.

・To be part of a compilation album featuring all ten pieces.

公募が準備しているもの

・活動費15万円／サウンドワーク

・プロジェクト全体を通したリレーション・ビルディング

・2023年9月のイベント時に作品について共有する機会

・10作品のコンピレーションアルバムへの収録

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How to apply

・All interested artists are requested to send a maximum of A4 / 2 pages in English or Japanese explanation of their approach to the work they would create should they be selected.

・We are looking for how you would connect to the research and to the physicality of the location itself, as well as how you feel your work may contribute positively to the overall sonic ecosystem of the space.

・We ask that you select one of the locations listed as a case study on which you may base your concepts.

・Please note: should you be selected, the panel will allocate the actual location to each artist, so we understand that your approach may differ if you have to work on a different location than the one in your example.

応募方法

・書類による一次選考を行います。プロジェクトに参加するにあたり、どのような制作のアプローチを取るのかを、A4サイズ2枚までを用い、英語または日本語で説明してください。

・特に植物園という物理的な場所と、そこで展開する研究とどのように関与して制作に取り組み、また作品が植物園の音環境全体にどのように貢献していくのかを明示してください。

・下記10のロケーションのひとつを選択し、ケーススタディとして、自身のコンセプトを説明してください。

・選考の末、実際に制作に関わることになるロケーションを各アーティストに割り振ります。応募の際には、ロケーションが異なることでアプローチも変わるということを当方が理解しているものとしてください。

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10 Locations

1: Main building and type specimens in Herbarium

Built in 1939 and designed by Yoshikazu Uchida. Stores a collection of over 1,900,000 dried plant specimens collected since the Meiji Period. These become references to naming new types, DNA analysis, flora survey, and much other adaptive research. It also acts as a seed bank for endangered species or those extinct, where the physical collection carries value.

2: Glasshouse

Contains around 2,000 tropical and subtropical plants. Exhibits live mutualism between a plant (Breynia vitis-idaea) and a tiny moth that pollinates it and depend on the plant’s fruit for larval brood site. The approach toward mutualism between plants and insects is an academic frontier where new findings are discovered daily.

Reference: Atsushi Kawakita, Makoto Kato. Obligate pollination mutualism in Breynia (Phyllanthaceae): further documentation of pollination mutualism involving Epicephala moths (Gracillariidae). American Journal of Botany , Volume 91, Issue 9 p. 1319-1325.

https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.3732/ajb.91.9.1319

3: GC-MS laboratory

One corner of the main building processes plant volatiles into pieces of ion fragments using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The ion fragments are pieces of the puzzle that reveals the identity of the constituent compounds. Some of the research leads to the discovery of a flower that mimics dead ants or that imitates mushrooms.

4: Isodon nursery

Grows Isodon plants of various leaf shapes. Isodon leaves are utilized by a leaf-rolling weevil (Apoderus praecellens) that artistically rolls up a single leaf for larval shelter and food. Leaves with deep lobes prevent weevils from correctly executing the rolling behavior and escape herbivory. There are many unknown aspects regarding the shapes of leaves and its morphology, and fundamental research is just beginning to take place.

Reference: Higuchi, Y., Kawakita, A. Leaf shape deters plant processing by an herbivorous weevil. Nature Plants, 5: 959–964 (2019).

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-019-0505-x

Press release (in Japanese): https://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/ja/research-news/2019-09-05

Yumiko Higuchi, Atsushi Kawakita, Shape-dependent leaf manipulation in the leaf rolling weevil Phymatapoderus pavens (Coleoptera: Attelabidae), Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 136: 1–12 (2022).

https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blac016

5: Ogasawara Islands plant nursery

Maintains around 90 species of endangered endemic plants of the Ogasawara Islands. Conservation program in Koishikawa Botanical Garden has prevented species such as Rhododendron boninense and Melastoma tetramerum from extinction in the wild. The most story-telling plant would be Rhododendron boninense (Munin Tsutsuji), classified as critically endangered (CR). There is only one individual left in the wild, but the garden has propagated individuals from cuttings and reintroduced them to the original habitat, resulting in a population of 60 individuals and saving the species from extinction. The same has been done for Melastoma tetramerum (Munin no Botan), which now produces seeds in the wild and regenerates naturally.

6: Ginkgo biloba

Sakugoro Hirase discovered the sperm of Ginkgo biloba from this tree. Around the turn of the century (1900), there were many discoveries around the world pointing at the Gymnosperm having sperm. Angiosperms, often called flowering plants, fertilize by pollen tubes, whereas bryophytes and pteridophytes fertilize by sperms. The discoveries bridged the gap in the fundamental understanding of the grouping the plants. Hirase originally came to the garden as a painter, soon turning into a researcher.

Reference: THE SEA IN THE SEED-Sperm of Ginkgo biloba and Reproductive Evolution in Plants – Planned and produced by Tokyo Cinema Shinnsha Co., Inc., 2000. 35min https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqWrlWUoRBU

Detailed Article on Hirase’s discovery: https://bsj.or.jp/jpn/JPR/digital/icho2.php

7: A grafted Newton’s apple tree

Sir Isaac Newton’s apple tree helped him devise the law of gravity. Newtonian physics provided us with ideal space and absolute time, which gave us specific ways of understanding resources, in turn, how we look at nature and what is in front of us. Now, if the understanding of the law of physics is shifting, how do we perceive nature, and what would we see in the falling fruits and the space of the botanical garden?

8: Systematic Garden

A collection of around 500 species as a living illustrated book of plants for educational purposes. It is under a transplanting process to adapt from the current phenetics-based Engler system into APG (Angiosperm Phylogeny Group) system based on molecular phylogenetics analyzing DNA and RNA.

9: The former well of Koishikawa Yojosho/Medicinal plant garden

The well used to cure the sick at the Koishikawa Yojosho hospital during the Edo period was mainly aimed at those in economic need due to the population growth of Edo. Exhibits a collection of medicinal plants used at that time.

Painting (partial and detail) Chikusai Kato, Shokubutsuen Ichiran Zu: overview picture of the botanical garden, April 1876 (Meiji 9)

10: Monument to the Tokyo Earthquake

A memorial stone was placed by the people evacuated to the gardens following the Great Tokyo Earthquake of September 1st 1923. 30,000 people have used the garden as refugee, the last refugee left the garden on January 1925.

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Key Dates

Below are the key dates of the open call. 

December 1st, 2022: Open Call Announcement / 公募開始

January 31st, 2023, 1800 JST – Submission date for proposal entries / プロポーザルの提出期限

Submission Deadline has been Extended to February 15th.

2月15日まで締切を延長いたしました。

February 1st 16th – March 15th, 2023   – The panel will review all entries / パネルによる選考期間

April 1st, 2023 – All successful artists will be notified by email. As we expect a large number of entries but have limited resources, we apologize in advance for being unable to contact people whose work is not selected.

選考されたアーティストには、電子メールにて連絡が入ります。応募数にもよりますが、当方の人的資源の都合上、選出されなかったアーティストの皆様には連絡を割愛させて頂きます。

April TBC – Meeting online or at the location with each artist. / 各アーティストとオンライン、あるいは現地にてミーティングを行います。

July 1st, 2023 – Final deadline for each sound work, delivered as an unmastered stereo WAV file / 作品の締切日、マスタリングをしていないステレオWAVファイルの提出

September 1st, 2023   – Launch of tracks at the events / イベントにおける作品の公表会

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Language / 言語

Japanese and English

• Applicants can submit their proposals in either one of the languages. The program will be conducted bilingual and welcomes Japanese and English speakers. 
  
• バイリンガルプログラムですので、日本語か英語にて応募ができます。

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Submissions

• The call is open to the public located in Japan.
• 日本在住の方に対する公募です
• The submissions could be made as a team or as an individual.
• チームあるいは個人での応募が可能です

Submission Deadline: January 31st, 2023. The submission was closed on February 15th.

一次選考締切：2023年1月31日  / 2月15日に応募の締切をいたしました。

Required materials to be submitted:

Concept idea:  For this, we will require two pages of A4 in PDF explaining your approach and planned process. How you will work to develop your piece, what resources you might need, and how you imagine it working within the context of the program.

提出物：

コンセプトをまとめた書類による一次選考を行います。プロジェクトに参加するにあたり、どのような制作のアプローチを取るのかを、A4サイズ2枚までを用い、英語または日本語で説明してください。

It must be submitted as one pdf file. Please name your file as First name_Last name_Proposal.pdf  ex: Xxxxx_Proposal.pdf

PDFファイルにて提出ください。ファイル名は、英字で、First name_Last name_Proposal.pdf  としてください。

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The Program Host

memu earth lab in collaboration with researchers at the Botanical Garden of the University of Tokyo & MSCTY

address: 158-1, Memu, Taiki town, Hokkaido, Japan, 089-2113

Contact

Please get in touch with the program host below for inquiries.

Nick Luscombe (MSCTY) and Yu Morishita

info (at) memuearthlab.jp (memu earth lab)

プログラムホスト

memu earth lab と東京大学植物よる園の研究者による協働プログラムです

〒089-2113 北海道広尾郡大樹町芽武158-1

コンタクト

ご質問等は以下のメールまでご連絡ください

ニック・ラスカム (MSCTY) 、森下　有

info (at) memuearthlab.jp (memu earth lab)

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 デザインチーム選考の発表 

「リサーチ・デザイン・ビルド共同プログラム」の公募に応募頂きました皆様に心より感謝申し上げます。

今回の評価委員会を構成しました東京大学の今井公太郎（教授）、安原幹（准教授）、横張真（教授）、丹下健（教授）、齋藤暖生（講師）により、応募されたプロポーザルは慎重に評価され、2022年10月14日に最終候補者の面接を行いました。委員会は、プログラムのテーマが如何に分かりやすくコンセプト化しているか、また、次世代に向けた人と森の関係性の構築という観点の可能性を高く評価して、受賞案を選出しました。

チームTAYKの雨宮知彦さん、小林国弘さん、吉田葵さん、金田泰裕さんが、この度のデザインチームに選出されました。これより1年間、memu earth labと共同で活動を展開していきます。

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the Design Team is selected

We would like to express our sincere thanks to everyone who submitted their proposals to the call for  <<Collaborative Research + Design + Build Program>> and helped make it a success.

The esteemed evaluation committee of Prof. Kotaro Imai, Assoc. Prof. Motoki Yasuhara, Prof. Makoto Yokohari, Prof. Takeshi Tange, Lect. Haruo Saito of the University of Tokyo has carefully evaluated the submitted proposals and interviewed the finalists on the 14th of October 2022. The committee selected the winning entry based on how well it conceptualized the theme of the program, presenting the strong potential for the development of architectural interventions toward building people-forest relationships for the next generation.

Our special congratulations go to the team TAYK – comprised of Tomohiko Amemiya, Kunihiro Kobayashi, Aoi Yoshida, and Yasuhiro Kaneda. Using complementary skills, the members generated synergy to develop the most outstanding proposal and joined us as the “Design Team” of the Traveling Forest project.

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