What is “A Certain Window”?

The window is a device that connects living space with the outside environment. The landscape is cut out by window frames, enters into our lives, and even influences our emotions and actions without us even knowing.

What could you see from the window?
What was your life like in the room with the window?
What do you remember when you look at the window?

How are the landscapes that have featured in individuals’ lives uncovered and talked about today?
The landscapes of the past in someone’s distant memory, the process of extraordinary change, and the vivid details visible only to that person are sure to emerge through stories.
Days as newlyweds; times of childrearing; what people talked about when they got together with friends; tranquil days spent quietly alone.
The streets have also changed moment by moment, alongside each person’s life.

In this project, together with ten researchers chosen through an open call, we have listened to various stories about “windows” in Koto-ku.
Individual lives in a large housing complex; the changes observed while running a store for many years; landscapes with similarities to one’s hometown across the ocean.

This exhibition is based on research conducted in the coastal area of Tohoku in 2018 and new research conducted in Koto-ku. It comprises a booklet of stories about “A Certain Window,” photographs of windows that encompass the landscapes of the various communities, and related materials.

The landscapes that have been seen or can be seen from each window are all different.
However, when we look through these windows again through someone’s story, and through their memories and perspectives, there may be landscapes that you or I have seen before, or that we would like to see some day.
Then and now, that place and this place, you and I; all of these intersect through “A Certain Window.”

Natsumi Seo/Daichi Nakamura (NOOK)