OCHIISHI PLAN is a project started in 2008 by two copperplate engraving artists, Sotaro Ide and Toshiya Takahama, and continues to this day.
The purpose of this project is to explore new ways of communication from the standpoint of relaying messages, and by fitting it into the format of a tea room, to create an extremely private space for conversation in the public space that was previously open to the outside world as a radio station.
– Extract from the OCHIISHI PLAN website
SOTARO IDE
1966 Born in Tokyo
1991 Completed the major in painting and oil painting at the Graduate School of Fine Arts, Aichi Prefectural University of Arts, Aichi (JP)
TOSHIYA TAKAHAMA
1966 Born in Hyogo
1988 Graduating from the Department of Painting, College of Art and Design, Musashino Art University, Tokyo (JP)
1990 Completed postgraduate studies at the MAU Graduate School of Art and Design, Tokyo (JP)
In the summer of 2023, I visited Cape Ochiishi at the base of the Nemuro Peninsula to see the OCHIISHI PLAN, which was held for the first time in four years.
A square building suddenly appears out of the thick fog. It’s the same scene I happened to come across 50 years ago. This is the Ochiishi Radio Transmitter Station, which was under the jurisdiction of the former Ministry of Communications and where the event will be held. Built in 1908, it had already fallen into ruins 50 years ago, but is now the studio of printmaker Ryoji Ikeda. Ryoji Ikeda called out to them and started the project, OCHIISHI PLAN.
The only light sources are natural light and candles. The decaying building, corroded copperplate, changing light, and the passage of time at different speeds all intertwine to create a space that resembles a place of prayer. The decaying walls. The ceiling has been waterproofed, but the decaying windows have been left as they are. A thick mist of falling rocks, rich in salt, is eroding the building and causing it to decay at a faster rate than usual.
Inside the building is a teahouse made from scrap copperplate. Etched plaster cubes are stacked on top of each other to form the exterior. Tea ceremonies were held here, but the foundations have begun to deteriorate, so it is no longer possible to enter the building. Even now, the cubes are being stacked in layers, increasing the thickness of the walls.
It takes about three hours by car from Kushiro Airport to Cape Ochiishi, located at the base of the Nemuro Peninsula in eastern Hokkaido. The car navigation system shows the road next to Ochiishi Port, but the coastline and fishing boats are not visible due to the thick fog. I encountered wild animals and had to be careful of them jumping out.
If you walk along the road beside the venue, you will come across a boardwalk. If you go straight ahead, the Pacific Ocean will spread out before you. To the northwest of the Nemuro Peninsula, the Sea of Okhotsk, with Kunashiri in close view, and the marshland of the Konsen Genno stretch out before you. The main character is not humans, but nature.
– FJ