Can the perception of a dancing monkey interfect the host Japanese mentality beyond the gaijin entertainment value? The imposed condition of alien, foreigner and outsider was integral in revealing the other side in this case study commissioned by the Osaka College of Technology.
The competition proposal for a bellybutton in Osaka interprets the repeated destruction of the Tennoji Bridge, fabled for being a historically crucial crossing point of the Yodo River to Osakajo castle. The Yodo, once a vital trade route and the source of fresh water for the city, is the metaphoric an umbilical cord flowing from the Biwa Lake in the mountains around Kyoto, the symbolic mother. The bellybutton is a scar, a monument in twisted bridge symbolic of the loss of mother, inhabited by the lint of the city.

Competition Proposal / 70 x 150 cm / Pencil and Collage, Model
Studio lectures and workshops at the Osaka College of Technology, Japan. Presentation at Takenaka Corporation Osaka.

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Osaka College of Technology