The little garden pavilione at Baba-Nakayama temporary housing 2012/04/28-2012/05/06

Posted on 23 May 2012 by admin

Garden Pavilione at Baba-Nakayama

Temporary Housing site in Minamisanriku.

Constructed: Golden Week May 2012 by Dream Team_3

仮設住宅地の間にあるこの場所で。

完成後をイメージしながら、建物の位置を決め、基礎を並べる。

建設のための素材には、それぞれ物語りがある。この庭石もそのひとつ。

その記憶をもった貴重な庭石をいただくことができ、私たちは、それをこの場の象徴的な場に設置した。この大きくて、大切な石をみんなで運び、みんなで設置した。

切り出した木材を仮組みしている様子

約1週間の建設期間に、様々な人に協力していただいた。この日は、多くの学生が集まってくれた。

庭木もいただいたもの。

落成式には素晴らしい詩を披露していただいた。

中の様子。瓦、飛石、竹、縄のれん・・・それぞれの素材が調和している。

地元の方の、力強いメッセージ。

落成式後、地元の方々と談笑を楽しむ様子

建設メンバーで、完成を祝う様子

とても素敵な笑顔をみせてくれた、地元の方々

縄のれん越しに見える、憩いの風景。

Fall 2011 MIT ACT lecture now online

Posted on 13 April 2012 by admin

We now have the opportunity to view online Shun Kanda and Jim Wescoat’s November lecture on the Japan 3/11 Initiative and the “Beauty of Place” in the reconstruction process.

The professors had spoken as part of the Fall 2011 “Zones of Emergency” lecture series, hosted by the MIT Art, Culture and Technology (ACT) Program.

Students present gifts in Minami-Sanriku

Posted on 11 April 2012 by admin

: MIT DUSP student Samira Thomas and MIT ACT Professor Jegan Vincent de Paul with students in Minami-Sanriku.

In the last week of March 2012, a small group of students from the MIT ACT class ‘Artistic Intervention: Creative Responses to Conflict and Crisis,’ taught by Jegan Vincent de Paul, visited Minami-Sanriku over their spring break to present gifts to the people there. The gifts were conceived and designed by students this past Fall. The gift called “There is a village” was given to a group of 10 primary school-age children on Thursday March 29th in the town of Minami Sanriku. It was given at a children’s care center located within a temporary housing area in the town. It was given by MIT ACT Prof. Jegan Vincent de Paul, Samira Thomas (an MIT student) and Professor Yoshihiro Hiraoka from Miyagi University in Japan. The second gift titled “A Ritual for Memory” was received by Prof. Yoshihiro Hiraoka and will be given to a junior high school class when they return to school from spring break this month. The giving was facilitated by Prof. Shun Kanda of MIT and Prof. Yoshihiro Hiraoka of Miyagi University, who are both Collaborating Directors of the MIT Japan 3/11 Initiative.

Event / For Those Within From Those Abroad: A Gift for Minami Sanriku

Posted on 1 December 2011 by admin

For Those Within From Those Abroad is a public presentation of works created during this Fall’s class Artistic Intervention: Creative Responses to Conflict and Crisis, within MIT’s Arts, Culture + Technology program. Two group projects on view explore the notion of a gift as a way of responding to situations of conflict and crises from afar. The students specifically address the people of Minami Sanriku that were severely affected by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in the Tohoku region of Japan.

The event will take place in E15-001 (The Cube of the old Media Lab) on December 5 between 7 and 9 pm to see the gifts produced and the context behind them.

Artistic Intervention: Creative Responses to Conflict and Crisis is co-taught
this fall by Initiative collaborators Associate Professor and Program Head Ute Meta Bauer with Lecturer Jegan Vincent de Paul. Continue reading →

Wescoat and Kanda on the “Beauty of Place”

Posted on 29 November 2011 by admin

Professors Shun Kanda and James Wescoat talked about their intervention in the tsunami hardest hit town of Minami-Sanriku in Japan. An intervention, MIT Japan 3/11, was created right after the disastrous tsunami that hit Japan in March this year. The images of the damage formed the collage of our news images for many days and many posts on Facebook read, ‘God Save Japan’. The presentation titled, “Beauty of Place: An Overnight Tragedy” described how overwhelming the task was. MIT collaborated with two universities in Japan, Miyagi University and Keio University. Continue reading →

Japan 3/11 Initiative at USJI Week

Posted on 5 November 2011 by admin

In mid-September, MIT Professor Eran Ben-Joseph (Joint Program in City Design & Development, School of Architecture + Planning) spoke at the US-Japan Research Institute (USJI) Week “Reconstruction after the Great East Japan Earthquake” conference.

As a panelist in a seminar on post-disaster restoration and alternative planning, he presented a portion of the Initiative’s work from this past summer to a captive audience in Washington D.C. He advocated for the audience to rethink the way researchers and academics approach the reconstruction process, and to develop a new model for community engagement through design and planning.

For more information, see Professor Ben-Joseph’s presentation and the summary of the panel in both English and Japanese.

Event // Carl Steinitz at the GSD

Posted on 23 September 2011 by admin

On October 3rd, professor emeritus Carl Steinitz will be speaking at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design about the role of landscape and planning in the Tohoku Earthquake in Japan. See the following for details.

Continue reading →

Event // Profs. Wescoat + Kanda in Fall ACT lecture series

Posted on 21 September 2011 by admin

Mark your calendars! Professors James Wescoat and Shun Kanda will be speaking on November 14th at MIT about the Japan 3/11 Initiative in the Institute’s Art, Culture, and Technology fall lecture series entitled “Zones of Emergency: Artistic Interventions – Creative Responses to Conflict & Crisis.” Collaborator Jegen Vincent de Paul will act as respondent.