Relay Column: “Desires & Choices” (Tetsuta Tsurumoto)

I want to talk about something that may seem obvious. However, truly obvious things can be so commonplace that they are hard to notice, and just because something is obvious does not mean it can always be conveyed through words. Without words, people cannot even think concretely. Good words or significant concepts are things we have heard or encountered since childhood up to now. Yet, we may not recognize or feel them because they seem too commonplace, or although we understand them through words, they might be concepts we have yet to experience.

The "Waves" of "Words" & "Images"

In the post-war period and towards the end of the 20th century, as illustrated by the term “computer,” Japan rapidly shifted from ideographic expression to phonetic script due to an influx of new concepts driven by the expansion of economic spheres. The unique ability of the Japanese language to incorporate foreign words phonetically in katakana came into play. (Naoki Wakabayashi, "退屈な美術史をやめるための長い長い人類の歴史" 2000)
The various words (foreign script) that we casually use today emerged en masse during this transitional period, with the term “fashion” already having been sublimated into the phonetic form “ファッション (fashion)” before it created and embedded a new concept in Japanese. Before reaching the conceptual level that the term represents, it functioned as a word that obstructed thought, almost like an ambiance. Moreover, in the present age of social media and content overload, such words and their accompanying technical images function as new codes, not only existing in a one-way direction from the foreign to Japan but gushing forth from all directions. Words generated from all sides disrupt order, and we find ourselves unable to notice that we are still floating amidst these diverse and saturated waves of words and images.

Originally, sounds, images, and words emerged from a world devoid of meaning, serving to assist us humans. As beings capable of recognizing the world as a world, we are solitary creatures who cannot live continuously in the moment like animals; we must find meaning in life to survive. Living in a world of meaning allows us to create order and communicate, helping us to forget our loneliness and enabling communal existence. However, by living in this overwhelmingly obvious world of words (meaning), we forget this backdrop. Currently, the words and images surrounding us constitute our world, and the endless influx of content accompanied by constantly synchronized, unexperienced information increasingly leaves our bodily experiences behind. In a lifestyle defined by unfamiliar values, words gradually become the wall of self-evidence, confining the realm of experience within language and further reinforcing the perception that this content is the world, due to the algorithms extracting it. We often discard our experiences and words that could serve as our own order, drifting amidst the accelerating tides of change, lost and unfulfilled by something elusive that generates a sense of emptiness and anxiety. This cycle leads us to forget our recognition as a community, solidifying a shell of individualism that amplifies conflict among humans, despite being able to connect with people all over the world today. These waves gradually swell, unwittingly involving and toying with others.