Walls that separate us

These days we often hear the phrase, “the last (something or other) of Heisei.” The upcoming TERATOTERA Festival is also the last one of the Heisei period, so I want to take a brief look back at the era.
The media’s assessment of Heisei has been harsh on the whole. It is revealing to look back at aspects of this era of economic slowdown: the “lost 20 years” that followed the collapse of the “bubble” economy; the unprecedented calamities of first the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and then the Great East Japan Earthquake; and the accident at TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, a situation that shows no sign of being resolved. Overseas too, a large number of people were displaced after the series of terrorist attacks and military retaliation that followed 9/11. Various countries around the world are turning from cooperative to jingoistic tendencies, and confrontation and division is deepening. The border wall that President Trump is calling for seems to be a grotesque caricature of reality.

For this year’s TERATOTERA Festival concept, we talked about the challenges each of us encounters: disparity or discrimination due to poverty and disability; challenges to or rejection of diversity in gender and sexual identification; words and actions that do not hide a hatred for certain nationalities or ways of thinking…. The word that emerged as the keyword underlying efforts to divide people was “wall.”

Some of these barriers have already emerged and been identified as social problems, while others are “invisible walls” that remain under the radar. There are probably also “soft walls” inside us that we lean comfortably and unconsciously against. Following that discussion, the concept for this year’s festival became “Walls that separate us”.

At this point I want us to recall the fact that in 1989 (the first year of Heisei), the wall that once divided Berlin was brought down by the energy and passion of the citizens who tried to cross it. This triggered the end of the so-called Cold War, and raised hopes for a world without walls. What’s more, two years before this an artist had done a live performance in West Berlin near the wall. It was English musician, David Bowie. It is easy to imagine that the music of Bowie echoing over the wall shook up and motivated the citizens of East Berlin, even to a modest extent.

Art can play a role in pointing to problems. In this year’s TERATOTERA Festival, we hope artists will confront these “walls,” and we want to help them do so. I’m not just referring to the walls that remain firmly in force, but also to the invisible walls, and the walls that creep insidiously into our hearts and minds. We anxiously await whatever walls should emerge.

Teraccollective

Teraccollective
Formed in 2018 by 16 core members from among past TERRAKO volunteers. Their occupations, ages and genders may differ, but they share a passion for supporting artists and the front lines of art, and building them up together.
TERATOTERA Festival 2018 is the first project for Teraccollective to be involved in. Members will remain behind the scenes for the collective’s initial engagement, supporting the various people involved in art, and creating a festive onsite atmosphere.

*The program is subject to change.