In creating large scale line art or writing essays in the past, I used to say that I care about air, space, and comfort. I still do. Then, I used to talk about relational art, and the connection between us all. Still important to me. Lately, however, I have come to understand it’s much wider than that. What I really want to do is invite you to enjoy what I have come to most find joy in, namely, the anticipation of possibilities. It might be a piece of writing, or a zine, or a conversation party, somewhere in the world. I’ve hosted them in Northern Europe and Southeast Asia, mostly, over the last ten years. Language barriers aside, I found ways to relate to the possibility of receiving something – ways to describe the many kinds of rain, a white night, a moonrise, a new friend – new.
Summer 2025, I was back in Sapporo, a place I stopped in for just a few nights while on a J Rail pass after World Cup 2002, because the big sky here had a palpable feel to it, and I never forgot that. In Japan, it’s hard to find space, as we all know, but looking up made it feel a little less boxed-in and uncomfrotable. Isn’t there a song about that? Ue o muite, arukoo… Since I was in Japan and in Sapporo and there were so many people I was meeting casually who talk with me about their tastes in ramen flavors (miso), preferences in books (ninety-year old psychologists), styles of jazz music they play (‘contemporary’), or our shared love of making zines (copy ki is best), I felt like capturing more of these tiny moments and finding a way to invite and engage passerby where we were, there at Sapporo Tenjinyama Artist Studio, to talk with me and to each other about our unique small joys.
Art, at its best, is a conversation. Let’s play. Let’s converse? My first language is English. My second is Japanese. We met at the series of events below and a popup show, Chisa na Shiawase. Yes, for me, art, at its best, is a conversation, I feel, one in which sender and receiver are locked in a suspended, timeless space. Even browsing photos in the art book collection at the Tenjinyama library, I found myself bursting into laughter as the artist’s message landed with me. A timeless, wordless connection between sender and receiver can look like this.
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Exhibition
‘Speaking in the Spaces’
https://tenjinyamastudio.jp/event/ex-dipika2025
Wednesday August 13 – Tuesday August 19
札幌天神山 Artist Studio
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Zinemaking Workshop
Monday and Tuesday August 18 and 19
Secret Location
Sapporo
Morning Party
Max 2
Tuesday August 19
9-11am
おしゃべり会
Sunday August 17
Secret Location
By invitation only
4-6pm
Book Club
コンビニ人間っていう本について話し合いましょう
Wednesday August 13
Hot Chef の前、大通り駅の地下
Max 4
Cojournal Sapporo
Journal and Talk
Tuesday, August 12
Writing your small stories
Minijournaling workshop
English and Japanese
Afternoon Party
Tuesday August 12
Mahjong Club tie-in
Sumikawa Eki, Max 3
3-4pm
小樽文学館
Otaru Afternoon Party
Thursday August 7
‘小さな幸せ’ Zine Launch Party
Tuesday August 5
Secret Location, Sapporo
7pm
Morning Party
Max 2
Friday August 1
9-11am
Zinemaking Workshop
Secret Location near Sapporo International Communication Plaza
Wednesday July 30
6-8pm, Tickets USD25
Morning Party
Sumi Cafe
Max 4, By invitation only
Sunday July 27
9-11am
Pera Pera Wednesday tie-in Afternoon Party
Sapporo International Communication Plaza
Wednesday July 23
2-4pm
Jazz Festival tie−in Evening Miniparty
New Otani Hotel, Sapporo
Sunday July 20
5-7pm
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Contact:
https://line.me/ti/p/_CQLpXn1nL
IG
N E X T
September 2026 – December 2026
Note: Cojournal – Sapporo is set to take place mid March – early April, 2027 in real life, in that city.
FAQ
Will it be recorded?
No.
Will you take pictures?
No. Privacy is very important for this to work well, so I never take pictures.