Program /

TURN LAND

In this program, social welfare facilities and communities plan participatory programs together with artists. Added to the sites’ original functions is a different role as a cultural facility open to the community where members of the public can gather, creating a setting for the day-to-day implementation of TURN.

*In 2020 as part of a plan to make places and communities more accessible we will also roll out and run some participatory programs online.

Examples of program activities

  • Atelier La Mano (Machida City)

    Atelier La Mano in Machida City, Tokyo, makes hand-dyed and hand-woven products using natural dyes under the philosophy of connecting with society through artisan production and handwork. Spring 2018 saw the start of the “Hand Project: From Cotton to Thread”. Together with artist Yasuaki Igarashi, in cotton is grown from scratch. Focusing on actions, practices, and creative expression related to the hands, in the “Hand Project” they cultivate fields from scratch to make cotton with members of the community and the public. The online-based Tele-Hand project has been running since FY2020. From sowing seeds in spring to harvesting cotton in fall, La Mano staff, facility users and project participants have shared things they discovered or noticed during the process of cultivating cotton at home.

    (Program introduction)
    Activity Report : “Tele-Hand project” 2020: “From Cotton to Thread” Vol.5 (2021)

    [Atelier La Mano] Profile[Yasuaki Igarashi] Profile

    “Hand Project” archive

  • Harmony (Setagaya-ku)

    Harmony is a place where people living with mental illness in the local community can gather in the daytime. In FY2017 the “Kamimachi Harmony Land” project was initiated with artist Takafumi Fukasawa, a series of programs allowing participants to share the ups and downs that Harmony facility users experience. In FY2018 the facility opened its doors to the local community with the “No-charge Cafe” initiative. The launch of “Cafe” events which anyone including locals can join in, has created a relaxing environment for Harmony members and staff to socialize and interact with a variety of people who take part. In FY2021 cultural activist Wataru Asada supervised “Human-powered Slideshow of our daily experiences” set in Harmony.

    (Program introduction)
    Activity Report : “No-charge Cafe 3 : in my brain” (2021)
    Activity Report : “Human-powered Slideshow of our daily experiences”(2022)

    [Harmony] Profile [Wataru Asada] Profile

    “No-charge Cafe” archive
    “No-charge Cafe 2” archive
    Archive “Human-powered Slideshow of our daily experiences”

  • Itabashi-ku Komone Fukushien welfare facility (Itabashi-ku)

    Itabashi-ku Komone Fukushien is a drop-in welfare facility offering daily life caregiving and services and Type B employment continuation support. Involved with the TURN Interactive Program since 2015, Itabashi-ku Komone Fukushien began TURN LAND in 2017. Artists Kentaro Onishi and Atsushi Miyata visit the facility regularly, gradually opening up Komone to the community in ongoing projects developed with its users and staff members. Projects include the “O Dance Project”*(1), and the “Kirari-gutto” initiative*(2). From FY2019 onwards, “Komone-za ‘O’ Dance – Liberation Day” started, in which members and staff of Komone Fukushien, and artists worked as one. In FY2020, “Remote Correspondence Theater: Komone-za ‘Yonkoma Biome’”, was hold in which new stories were made using the four-frame comics received from Komone-za members. Building on this project, FY2021 saw the showcase of “Yonkoma Manga Correspondence Theater: Komone-za ‘Lightning! Giga-Mass Biome,’” an online event in which “Komone-za” members interacted with outside participants.

    *(1) “Hand conversation”: wordless communication through expression using the hands and entire body. In this enjoyable interaction, participants say “O” when they are moved by the non-verbal communication between two people.
    *(2) An initiative to recognize and record moments when facility users are animated / engaged (kirari) or emotional (gutto).


    (Program introduction)
    Activity Report : “Remote Correspondence Theater: Komone-za ‘Yonkoma Biome’” (2021)
    Activity Report : “Yonkoma Manga Correspondence Theater: Komone-za ‘Lightning! Giga-Mass Biome’”(2022)

    [Itabashi-ku Komone Fukushien welfare facility] Profile[Kentaro Onichi] Profile[Atsushi Miyata] Profile

    Itabashi-ku Komone Fukushien “O Dance Project” web page

  • Kimagure Yaoya Dandan (Ota-ku)

    Kimagure Yaoya Dandan in Ota-ku is a neighborhood greengrocer engaging in activities rooted in the community, such as the Kodomo Shokudo (children’s café) initiative and “Terakoya” basic educational / vocational classes. It organized the “Otona Zukan” project together with artists Daisuke Nagaoka from 2017 and with Tappei Noguchi from 2020, to give children the chance to meet adults (otona) whose lives and work are unusual compared to their everyday experience and sphere. In 2018 and 2019, Dandan initiated the “Dandan HEKIGA Project” creating murals with local children on the wall of their shop. And in the “Machi ni derunba” project (2020), they went around the local streets pulling a handmade cart, aiming to expand and strengthen ties and connections between Dandan and the community by creating a series of random or chance encounters with people and things. In FY2021, with gathering and socializing made difficult under the pandemic, Dandan teamed up with some nearby facilities for interactive activities related to the keywords “tsutsumu” (“wrapping”) and “hiraku” (“opening up”). Based on these activities, Dandan then held the online event“ Quiz! Tsutsumunba: “What is “wrapping”in order to “open up”?”

    (Program introduction)
    Activity Report : “Documenting workshop ‘Inakatta hito ni Tsutae-runba’(‘Telling people who weren’t there’)” (2020)
    Activity Report : “Machi ni Derunba” (2021)
    Activity Report : “Quiz! Tsutsumunba: “What is “wrapping”in order to “open up”?”(2021)

    [Kimagure Yaoya Dandan] Profile[Daisuke Nagaoka] Profile[Tappei Noguchi] Profile

    Kimagure Yaoya Dandan “Otona Zukan” web archive

  • Institute for Sustainable Agro-ecosystem Services (Nishitokyo City)

    This project was launched in 2017 on cultivated land belonging to the Institute for Sustainable Agro-ecosystem Services, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Tokyo as a joint research project with the University. The aim was to create with artist a “third place” for people from partner facilities of the Interactive Program and local residents to gather, enabling TURN activities to be put into daily practice. Together with artist Satoshi Iwama, Shure University and Sakuranosono, a support facility for people with disabilities, organizers run a monthly program that combines agricultural activities and art activities. The kind of effect that working on this project has on participants is being measured and assessed using physiological, behavioral, psychological and social indicators. In 2019, the “Sunflower Maze” was created as part of TURN FES 5 – with the cooperation of local volunteers and opened to the public.

    [Institute for Sustainable Agro-ecosystem Services] Profile[Shure University] Profile

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