TJITSKE HEMKES

'SPACE OUT OF SPACE’

Experiencing a Japanese tea ceremony made a big impact on us. It was magical to enter a small room, squeezing through a tiny entrance. Inside it felt like being in a womb where everything is serene. It’s a place outside the concepts of time and space, only experiencing the here and now, making you very 'zen’. For us the performed art of making the tea was also a very surreal experience to witness because every movement is choreographed by very specific rules. We wanted to recreate this experience in our own way. We discovered that in Japan people often honor things by making a smaller version of it. For example many streets have an altar in the shape of a miniature version of a temple. Since we live and work in a traditional Machiya we wanted to honor it by making a smaller version of it from hand dyed kimono textiles. A Machiya inside a Machiya, a space in a space that will take you to a different reality. In the performance we used a ceramic tea set that we made with our eyes covered. Each cup was made thinking of a specific word that represents one of the many experiences and impressions that we gathered in Japan. We invite the visitor to experience to same confusion and wonder that we felt being in a new culture.