Musubi: documentary of how to face to the dead ムスビの現場

Why do people believe in the necessity of proper “funeral rites”?

That must be because people instinctively know that creativity (Musubi) is involved in the funeral rites.

Human ancestors conceived the tertiary idea that “the dead” do not return to nature directly after death, that they do not die totally, but pass through an intermediate process in which people are not ‘living things’ nor ‘inanimate objects’. They invented the funeral rites ceremony in order to return the dead to nature, in which they have a communication with something non-existent.

Living people change their mind in the course of dialogue with the dead/non-existent. I can view the source of creativity through those changes in such a way that I see the magnificent creativity from the art.

Living people are asking the dead, “What do you want me to do?” They are trying to listen to the dead as if the dead were sending out very slight signals and to deepen their awareness, while knowing it might be a fruitless call. This call also forces them to remind themselves when they were once with the dead. It requires tremendous patience and psychological energy to frantically catch messages from their subconscious. Therefore, they certainly feel the change of their mind and body in this process. What they find by deepening their awareness may not be just beautiful memories. The reason why people patiently sink into themselves in any way could be that they are instinctively aware of the existence of creativity in the silent dialogue with the non-existent. The art is born in a similar process.

People can dialogue with the non-existent. After people have such an experience, they will revitalize their dialogue with real people, who actually do exist. If they can dialogue with the non-existent in a patient manner while not expecting any answer, they should be able to dialogue with real people who can talk, be touched and listened to.

Similar to the opportunity of “funeral rites”, which facilitates the dialogue with the non-existent and existent, the art can be assumed as a visualization of objects which are apparently disconnected from each other, within the context of Musubi=creativity. I think, in any case or any process, a beautiful Musubi=creativity is involved to connect people, minds and opportunities.


The exhibition consists of two parts, having different sights: one is the “private funeral rites” by HANAZAWA, SHINOBU, who experienced the death of her aunt intimate to her, and the second is: a video recording of Hanazawa’s “funeral rites” procession from the view of TOGUCHI, RIE who is an outsider of the private event.

In May 2014, the first part of the exhibition was held, in which HANAZAWA created a private personal space for the funeral rites of her aunt. As it was a kind of pseudo funeral and her personal event, only a limited audience was invited.

In the second part of the exhibition, TOGUCHI created the documentary video movie in which the procedures that HANAZAWA went through, together with the memories of dead person during the funeral rites, and how the audiences were involved at the funeral site, are all recorded.