tea talks お茶と祖国
kyoco taniyama BijlmAIR artist-in-residence
17 juli 2016 - 31 juli 2016
The research-based art project titled Tea Talks by Japanese artist Kyoco Taniyama at Bradwolff Projects is presented in collaboration with the BijlmAIR residency program of the CBK Zuid-Oost and the SMBA. The title Tea Talks refers to the conversations Taniyama held with immigrants of various nationalities living in the Bijlmer. For the exhibition, documentation is being collected and Taniyama is placing a special tea table in the space. During the opening on July 17, the participants will take their seats for a tea ceremony performance.
“Who am I and where do I belong?” is the central question in the work of Kyoco Taniyama. Inspired by memories from her childhood, Taniyama delves into people’s backgrounds and places to uncover an answer to this question. As a child, she herself moved early on from her native Japan to a small village close to the jungle in Malaysian Borneo. After four years, her mother returned to Japan; a place that was always described as ‘home’ within her family felt unexpectedly unfamiliar to Taniyama upon her return. Due to the frequent moves caused by her father’s employment at a large trading company, Taniyama developed a need to store the various places in her memory as accurately as possible.
Since 2011, when the east coast of Japan was struck by a severe earthquake and tsunami and people lost their geographical position beneath the devastated area, the artist also began documenting places that were important to the people around her. For instance, she worked with latitude and longitude to document the geographical position of ‘ubieties.’ Using the Japanese concept of “shozai,” which means both ‘address’ and ‘being’ in the world, Taniyama explores the relationship between our identity and the world.
The exhibition Tea Talks consists of images, scents, and tastes based on the conversations the artist held with people she met during her visit to the Bijlmer, a community comprising more than 150 different nationalities. As a starting point for this project, Taniyama took the traditional Japanese way of drinking tea. In the Bijlmer, she sought out other ways of drinking tea and various tea recipes that evoke the flavors of places from people’s memories. By reintroducing traditional tea drinking, Taniyama enters into a dialogue with the meanings of the concept of ‘homeland’ .
Tea Talks presents dialogues that transcend boundaries and differences in society. Hidden behind the various tea recipes are stories that stretch from the river in Suriname to Asmara in Eritrea. Beyond the rich history of tea, it holds diverse symbolic meanings within various traditions around the world. It plays an important role that is often overlooked: Tea Talks is a moment of gathering and exchange. A moment where cultural differences can be revealed, helping us realize who we are and where we come from. In this way, Taniyama shows us that our identity manifests itself in a specific taste or aroma: thus, a single cup of tea can be filled with rich meanings of humanity.
Kyoco Taniyama [1972, Aichi, Japan] studied at Musashino Art University. In 2012, she received a grant from the Asian Cultural Council Fellowship program for a residency in New York. She has exhibited internationally at Art Center in Los Angeles, the Echigo-Tsumari Satoyama Museum of Contemporary Art and Museum Haus Kasuya in Japan, the Westbeth Gallery in New York, and the Ivan Dougherty Gallery in Sydney, Australia, among others.