The ICA Commission on Art & Cartography invites you to participate in their Pre-Conference Workshop “Reclaiming through Mapping: Olympic Sites of Tokyo.” Some of these spaces, including the main conference venue, are on reclaimed land or artificial islands in Tokyo Bay built out of waste landfill. This workshop investigates the question of how place is constructed and mapped, using an experimental methodology developed by the artist-research collective Hamilton Perambulatory Unit, who will lead a participatory mapping walk in Tokyo that looks to uncover the layers of urban development history of the 2 Tokyo Olympics and the high-growth (1964) and post-growth (2020) periods they represent. This interdisciplinary workshop uses hybrid spatial and sensory ethnography and intermedial approaches to map a site and distinguish the layers of time, history, materiality, and digital city-image. Participants will be asked to contribute to the final multi-media strata-map of Tokyo’s Olympic sites.
To begin this two-day workshop, we will meet at the Tokyo Metropolitan University for short presentations to contextualize our experimental and sensory mapping methodologies, before continuing the discussion on the trains while heading towards the Toyosu fish market for lunch (45min from Akihabara). We will then visit the nearby construction site of the Athlete’s Village on Harumi Island while we give some background on the area, and spend some time mapping the site. On the second day, we will meet at one of the 1964 Olympic sites to further explore mapping methodologies before heading back to Tokyo Metropolitan University to share results. The data collected will help answer the following research questions: How does the official Olympic narrative affect the sites? How do experimental cartographies work to investigate how place is constructed?
Registration
The workshop is open to everyone with an interest in sensory mapping art practices and experimental cartographies. Registration is required and is free of charge. Please note that it is not necessary to be registered for the main ICC conference (which requires fees) to be able to attend the workshop.
For more information or to register, please contact Taien Ng-Chan taien [at] yorku.ca or Sharon Hayashi hayashi [at] yorku.ca. Please include a short bio and indicate your interest in the workshop.
