On 9th and 10th March, we held a workshop “Go in ACAC! Two days of invisible journey” by NAKAJIMA Yuta.

“Invisible journey” starts with blinding with an eye mask and walking.
The participants who gathered in the lounge learned about the precautions for walking in blindfolds from Nakajima. we walked to the studio while blindfolded according to attendants.

When we can’t see things with an eye mask, put their hands in front of body to check if there is anything in the way ahead or try to listen to the voice of the person who guides them. They will sharpen their senses well.
Attendants tell what there are on the road and think what they should tell the blindfolded person to walk safely.
The weather was fine on that day, in the long corridor on the way to the studio, the glass was reflected and some small rainbow-like spectra appeared. They made a fuss because The blindfolded person couldn’t see.

Arriving at the creative building, we all thought about what would happen if we could not see .
There are opinions -various senses can be obtained by touching / smelling / feeling the temperature / steps, slopes, curves and other feeling by foot / vibration, wind, etc.

The studio has a long corridor. We divided the person who made the eye mask and the person who led and tried to walk around the room through the corridor.
The attendants looks at the surroundings and explains in words, such as how the road is, what kind of things are there, and how many steps there are after that.
People who walk with eye masks listened to the guidance and walked while feeling the change in sound conditions and temperature.

 

Outside we enjoyed the sound and foot feeling when we stepped on the snow. We could imagine that snow was a sandy beach or a desert.

The sound and voice we hear, the temperature feel with skin, the tactile sensation of things, the feeling of walking, etc, by blinding, we can greatly expand our imagination.
The trip is to go to see what you want to see, but we can not see here, we made a journey we wanted to see for ourselves.

We made trips using materials such as drawing paper, pen, slippers, and tape while remembering what we noticed by blindfolding.
There are many tools and materials in the studio. In addition to the prepared materials, we tried to combine them with the materials.

We considered where it is best to put the trips.
The weather was very good, so arranged them in a long corridor outside.

A hot spring where we can enjoy various tactile sensations, a country above the clouds with a rainbow, trains, and there was a floating yacht in the sea with a sound of wave.
We went around like a tour, participants guided the journey, one after the other.

On the 2nd day.
We tried blindly walking in the studio as in the first day.
The participants on the previous day and those on the first day of the day blindfold and went around the table and returned to their original seats. Walking while following the position of a table or chair is quite difficult.

 We imagined a waterfall that thaws water flowing from the roof, or blindfolded and walked on the outside snow, we imagined a sandy beach from the crisp feeling we felt with feet.
By replacing something we usually see with another one, we may be able to create a different place. On the second day, we challenged to change things around us to something different.

 

It is important to observe the surroundings, find various materials and try them out on a invisible journey. With the staff and their parents, we tried out the materials and methods we usually do not use and enjoyed creation.

Trains and stations needed for the journey, a post where letters are delivered to cats, a shrine where you can make a fortune, and a banner for the festival was set up at the material store.

Because it was hard to walk when I blindfolded, a drawbridge was set to the step in the door.

The kaleidoscope painted in a beautiful color made it possible to change the surrounding landscape just by looking over it without moving it.

It seems that we were able to concentrate on production from free ideas to realization.

With imagining in mind, it was two days to create a different place, “journey”.