21_21 DESIGN SIGHT於2023年7月14日舉辦“Material, or”展覽開幕。展覽總監吉泉聰（Satoshi Yoshiizumi）以不斷從通過自主研究專案開發的獨特視角展示創新設計而聞名。

21_21 DESIGN SIGHT holds an exhibition “Material, or ” opening on 14 July 2023. The exhibition director Satoshi Yoshiizumi is renowned for continuously presenting innovative designs from a unique perspective developed through self-initiated research projects.

展覽總監｜吉泉聰

Satoshi Yoshiizumi

Photo｜Tsujii Shotaro

我們在日常生活中遇到大多數物件都是以某種方式設計的。吉泉認為，製造物件的過程包括原材料成為創造媒介的過程。他表示，一種之前沒有特定意義的原始材料，被賦予與物件相關的意義，並透過與人或其他生物的關係成為一種媒介。

Most of the objects we encounter in our everyday lives were designed in some way or another. Yoshiizumi says that the processes by which objects are made include processes by which raw materials become medium for the purpose of creation. What he means is that a raw material, which did not have a particular meaning beforehand, is assigned meaning relating it to an object and becomes a medium through its relationship to people or other living things.

當我們思考使用物品的物質存在時，可能會考慮人類如何賦予該媒介意義。換句話說，當我們觀察一個創造的工件時，可能會思考它是由什麼東西製成的。然而，人們很少會想到原始的、未經加工的原始材料。以一張看起來舒適的椅子為例，往往會認為它是由木頭製成的，但很少關心其原始的、生活中的樹木形態。這次展覽提議，設計物品的意義應該來自與原始材料的開放對話。自歷史初期以來，人類就被這些材料所包圍，並通過與這些原始物質的交流創造了某些東西。然而，現代社會的發展方式卻使我們喪失了這一點。今天的大多數人在設計或製造中都沒有任何作用，所以他們與周圍事物的原材料完全脫節。

When we think about the material presence of an object we use, we probably do consider how the human assigned meaning to the medium. Otherwise put, when we look at a created artifact, we might well ponder the stuff from which it is made. However, we are most unlikely to think of the original, pre-processed raw material. Take the case of a comfortable-looking chair. We recognize it as made of wood, but rarely give attention to trees in their primordial, living sense. This Exhibition proposes that the meaning of designed objects ought, rather, to come from open dialogue with constituent raw materials. Humanity has been surrounded by such materials since the dawn of history, and people have created something through interchange with these primordial things. And yet, modern society has developed in such a way as to deprive us of this. Most people today play no role in designing or making and so they are divorced from all sense of the raw materials from which the things around them derive.

與原材料的對話當然與控制它們不是一回事。在當今世界，工人決定原材料的形式和功能，將其修改為介質。創作者接管並使用它。但這是正確的事件順序嗎？當代生活方式產生了嚴重的環境危機。我們必須就自然和社會可持續性進行根本性的辯論。我們必須取消對設計和成品的所有優先權，以恢復後面的基本原材料的首要地位。

A dialogue with raw materials is certainly not the same thing as taking control over them. In today’s world, a worker determines the form and function a raw material is to have, modifying it into medium. A creator takes this over and uses it. But is this the right sequence of events? Contemporary lifestyles have generated severe environmental crises. It is imperative for us to engage in fundamental debate about natural and social sustainability. We must strip off all priority given to the designed and finished object so as to restore the primacy of the essential raw material lying behind.

Untitled (Your Materials #63–126), 2023

Image courtesy of Nippon Design Center and Studio

展覽從三個出發點探索人與原材料的關係。

The Exhibition explores the human relationship with raw material from three starting points.

第一部分著眼於原材料如何適應媒介，以及我們如何藉由這個過程反思賦予意義。思想接管並賦予材料意義，但與此同時，我們的介入導致發現物質本身中潛在的意義。這種關係的歷史可以從社會創造的藝術、手工藝品和設計中辨別出來。

The first looks at how raw materials are adapted into medium, and how by this process we assign meaning. Thought takes over and attributes significance to the material, but at the same time, our intervention leads to the discovery of meanings latent within the material itself. The history of such relationships is to be discerned in the art, handiwork and designs that societies create.

▸ A conceptual sketch by Satoshi Yoshiizumi

展覽的第二個出發點是感受和思考世界是如何與原材料糾纏在一起的。動植物，甚至我們自己，都是原材料領域的一部分。如果我們把注意力轉移到這些關係上，可能會找到一種方法來恢復失去的相互聯繫。展覽提供了治療可能如何受到影響的線索，將我們與世界重新聯繫起來。我們介紹了人類，非人類行為者和設計對象之間聯繫的研究結果。

The Exhibition’s second starting point is to feel and consider how the world is entangled with the raw materials. Flora and fauna, and even we ourselves, are all part of the domain of raw material. If we redirect attention to these relationships, we might just find a way to restore lost interconnectedness. The Exhibition presents clues to how a healing might be affected, reconnecting us to the world. We present the results of research into liaisons between humanity, non-human actors and designed objects.

▸ A conceptual sketch by Satoshi Yoshiizumi

第三個出發點採取案例研究的形式。我們提供了與這些材料的人際關係更新的例子。人、動植物都處於共同異質性中，正是在這些條件下，我們將原材料加工成培養基以供使用。這些關係可以是排他性的，也可以是包容性的。倘若每次將原材料拿到手中時都採取這個前提，可能會發現對物體設計的看法和態度產生，根本性的變化。通過各種方法、技術實現處理媒體和與之相關的專案範例，介紹恢復與原材料關係研究的成功案例。

The third starting point takes the form of case studies. We provide examples of renewal in human relationship to those materials. People, flora and fauna are all in co-heterogeneity, and it is under these terms that we process raw materials into medium for use. These relationships can be exclusive or inclusive. If we adopt such a premise each time we take a raw material into our hands, we may find perspectives and attitudes on the design of objects start to radically transform. This section exhibits examples of processed media and projects relating to them that have come about through various approaches and technologies. We present successful case studies of the revival of links to raw materials.

▸ A conceptual sketch by Satoshi Yoshiizumi

“Material, or ”很高興地感謝藝術人類學家Toshiaki Ishikura與仿生學設計師 Jun Kamei 的慷慨合作。他們的角色是運用文化人類學的視角來梳理人類如何操縱自然。由此，他們確定了如何運用技術和材料科學的最新發展來喚醒我們對原材料的敏感性。 

“Material, or ” is happy to acknowledge the generous collaboration of art anthropologist Toshiaki Ishikura and biomimetics designer Jun Kamei. Their role has been to deploy cultural-anthropological perspectives to tease out how humanity has manipulated nature. From this they identify how to revive our sensitivity towards raw materials using recent developments in technology and material science.

此展旨在重新發現和重新詮釋人與原材料的關係。它追溯了地球上廣闊而無盡的故事。我們為參觀者提供了一個重新思考生活與原材料交織的世界的機會。

The Exhibition seeks to rediscover and reinterpret the human relationship to raw material. It traces this across the vast and endless story of the Earth. We provide an opportunity for visitors to rethink a world in which life is interwoven with raw material.

ACTANT FOREST "Comoris BLOCK"

Shinya Aota "Accompanying Forms (Nishinari)"

Formafantasma "Bladders Water Containers"

Photo | Luisa Zanzani

BRANCH "'Sculpture of Nature' Marble"

Jun Kamei (Amphico) “AMPHITEX” Photo | Keizo Kioku

21_21 DESIGN SIGHT Gallery 1&2

Jul 14 (Fri.)  – Nov 5 (Sun.), 2023