Wa Wa Project, 2013
https://tm19950117.jp/
Photography: Sai
In the wake of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, we were trying to find ways for the design industry to support the recovery of the disaster-hit areas. We also thought that there may be others who shared the same intention as us, such as people who wanted to do something but were hesitant because they didn’t know how. This inspired us to design a predicted timeline—one to which we can refer to for discovering what kind of things are happening, when and where, in the case of a large crisis—and began to further explore this idea. After a period of trial and error, we consulted Hirokazu Nagata, an expert in producing creative disaster prevention and recovery initiatives, and learned that developing a forward-looking timeline would be too hard. Instead, we decided to develop a chronology of past initiatives, in collaboration with Mr. Nagata, which led to the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake + Creative Timeline Mapping Project, a research project to build an archive of the creative industry’s efforts to support communities hit by the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in 1997. Serving as the promoter for the project, we started research activities in April 2011 in which all the identified efforts were chronicled in the form of a timetable. The outcome was unveiled in the exhibition, Post 3.11—What Design Can Do from Now, hosted by the AXIS Gallery in 2011. In 2013, the timetable was also presented at the Making as Living exhibition. This exhibition was organized to provide opportunities for viewers to actively think about the future through their participation in various creative activities related to the two earthquakes. The Kobe exhibition was held at Design Creative Center Kobe, a creative hub in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture; it was also featured in the Tokyo exhibition at 3331 Arts Chiyoda, an art center in Chiyoda Ward in Tokyo. Since then, this work has been shown at multiple exhibitions.
Project Promotion, Art Direction & Design: Spread / Exhibition: The Great East Japan / Earthquake: Making as Living / Dates: January 17–27, 2013 (Kobe) / March 9–31, 2013 (Tokyo) / Venue: Design Creative Center Kobe (KIITO)(Kobe) , 3331 Arts Chiyoda (Tokyo) / Organizer: Wa Wa Project (Planning & Production: command N), Design Creative Center Kobe(Kobe), Wa Wa Project. (Planning & Production: Command N)(Tokyo)
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