From September to November 2022, I had the pleasure of contributing to the film work by the artist Wendelien van Oldenborgh.
The film work 'of girls' focuses on the lives and creative work of two female Japanese writers: Fumiko Hayashi and Yuriko Miyamoto. My contribution, following an invitation by the author, was to provide architectural commentary on the house of Fumiko Hayashi.
Hayashi's house was completed between 1939-1941. She took a significant interest in the making of her house. Together with an architect and a carpenter who were to design and build her house, she undertook research trips to Kyoto, where the group studied examples of traditional Japanese architecture. Hayashi paid attention to the location of spaces in the house, and their relationships to one another. She carefully considered many details of the house, picking materials for its different parts.
Today Fumiko Hayashi's house is open to visits by the public. Opening parts of the film were shot on site, in Hayashi's house. In those parts, I provide architectural commentary on the house's architecture.
Below: film still, courtesy Wendelien van Oldenborgh.
Below: film set at Fumiko Hayashi memorial house-museum.
All photos are courtesy of Veronika Ikonnikova.
Below: interior of the house
The film was premiered alongside other works by Wendelien during her solo exhibition unset on-set at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo.
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, street sign
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, entrance sign
Below: the film is up on screen in the exhibition at MoT.
