Overview
The essence of chanoyu (tea ceremony) is the discarding of the fiction of the secular world and the enjoyment by the host and guests of a new fiction created within the space. A nijiriguchi is a tiny doorway to a tea room which guests crawl through to enter that spiritual world. Japan’s Warring States period saw strong hierarchical relationships, but the contrivance of the nijiriguchi ensured that all guests, regardless of social standing, transcended their positions and met as equals.
This work extracts and expresses technology that neutralizes a nijiriguchi-like fiction, paradoxically to pursue fictional mechanisms. Humans have in-built perceptional bias, as typified by the “halo effect” (or “halo error”). There is no doubt our assumptions are complicit in strengthening power structures. In this age of deepfake, where anyone can freely manipulate highly realistic falsehoods in an instant using artificial intelligence, nijiriguchi-style technology is essential. But this error, obtained through our long struggle for existence, is not entirely bad. Surely being able to help ourselves is also an existence that we should treasure.
Artist
Art collectiveThe TEA-ROOM
Tokyo-based art collective creating alternative tea ceremony
The TEA-ROOM is an art collective exploring tea ceremony as it could be.
Tea ceremony (cha-no-yu) is not just serving and drinking tea but one of the fine arts of Japan, consisting of gardens, architecture, paintings, calligraphy, incense, flowers, sounds, bowls, food, clothing, and rituals.
We have been translating this concept into new style through such means as using technology and adopting street culture to design new spaces, to produce experiences, and to create works of art since 2015.