"Folding Cosmos" is a traditional Japanese tea ceremony, held in New York on Sept 3-11, 2011 to commemorate the events of September 11, 2001 in New York City and March 11, 2011 in Japan. This exhibit is both a commemoration and symbol of hope for the rebuilding of those communities devastated by tragedy.

To imply the idea of a miniature universe, Miwako Kurashima named this project “Folding Cosmos,” saying, “Together, we will travel around the universe in the ‘ark,’ in this case, expressed in the most minimal space found in a Japanese tea house: the alcove.” Takeshiro Matsuura, an explorer who lived in the closing days of the Tokugawa shogunate, used “The One-Mat Room,” a single tatami mat in an alcove in his final residence. This serves as the motif for this project’s concept.

The idea of appreciating the contemporary expressions of our artists over a cup of tea stems from the traditional tea ceremony in Japan, which treasures every meeting as a “once in a lifetime” experience. By doing this, we would like to share not only the contemporary and traditional part of Japanese culture but also its view of the world and even its hidden miniature universes.

Music by sound artist Mamoru Okuno

foldingcosmos.org/journal-en/

INTERVIEW REI WATANABE BY ALBERTO MORO / ALESSIO GUARINO

渡邉　麗 (Rei Watanabe)
現代書家、1948 年生まれ、日本大学芸術学部文芸学科卒
「誠心社」代表（誠心社：日本及び国外に約300名の会員を持ち現代書の研究を行う）
現代書のパイオニアとして世界的に活躍した書家、故國井誠海(Seikai Kunii)長女
6 歳より書を学び、現在、書作品の中に銅版書・ブロンズプレート書、和紙照明書、
立体書など独自の創作活動を展開。日本及び海外（米国、カナダ、メキシコ、ベルギー、
中国、韓国、台湾、シンガポール他）にて展覧会招待出品、個展（日本、イタリア）やグループ展多数開催。
国内外にて受賞多数。
文化庁管轄公益信託「国井誠海書奨励基金」運営、選考委員として若手書家育成、現代書の普及を目指す。
seishin-sha.co.jp/

video imagemaker studio Tokyo.

A teaser for the feature documentary "Jiro Dreams of Sushi"

Kazuyo Sejima (Cersaie 2011)

Video made for Giorgio Armani commissioned by La Sapienza University in Rome for an exibition on Tadao Ando's architecture.