Credits

Creative Director : Kaoru Kudo / Hiroki Sato
Movie Director: Daisuke Takahira
Producer : Takuya Inagaki

“UTSUSHI”
Director : Yuki Saito 
Programmer : Seiya Takasawa / Keita Abe

“MONYOU”
Director / Designer : Mayu Kobayashi
Director / Programmer : Yuya Umeta
Designer : Shinya Kikuchii

The Shape of Prayer

Research Project|2021
WOW’s original project “The Shape of Prayer” has opened to public. This is a research project in which WOW, which has previously published the installation works “BAKERU” and “POPPO,” which rediscover the traditional culture of the Tohoku region through contemporary expression, will produce an original work based on the information learned from fieldwork concerning traditional prayer and its form.

Since ancient times, people have experienced awe and gratitude towards invisible things and natural phenomena, and have coexisted with them by giving them various “forms.” When we look at the meaning of the shapes that remain today, we can see the rich spirituality of our ancestors. “The Shape of Prayer” is a project that aims for us who live in the modern world to gain new insights and discoveries by experiencing traditional culture, which we have become less aware of in our daily lives, through contemporary media expressions.


Project background
Prayer has been practiced in various eras and places since ancient times. Performing arts, crafts, festivals, paintings, customs, food, music, architecture. People's prayers have taken on various forms to spread to many people and have been passed down through time. Some of these forms reflect the characteristics of local culture, while others have a commonality that transcends time and place. There are many occasions of praying for something even today, but we don't often have the opportunity to become aware of the culture behind it. We decided to take a fresh look at the spirituality that has been passed down from generation to generation and the culture behind it through the forms of prayer that are still around us today.

Project Contents
We will conduct research and fieldwork on the themes “katashiro” (a human-shaped talisman), “patterns,” “mountains,” and “sake,” which have been associated with prayer since ancient times, and in the end produce four installation works. The entire process will be documented on video, which will be made available online as a video work. In addition, we have deepened our research on a wide range of topics concerning prayer in collaboration with Miyagi University DESIGN STUDY CENTER. The video work to be released online will also be sequentially shown at the Design Research Building of Miyagi University (public release is scheduled for this summer).

“The Shape of Prayer” Official website

Credits

Creative Director : Kaoru Kudo / Hiroki Sato
Movie Director: Daisuke Takahira
Producer : Takuya Inagaki

“UTSUSHI”
Director : Yuki Saito 
Programmer : Seiya Takasawa / Keita Abe

“MONYOU”
Director / Designer : Mayu Kobayashi
Director / Programmer : Yuya Umeta
Designer : Shinya Kikuchii

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