“Dallas-Kalevala” is a work of Casagrande & Rintala, a two-architect- unit from Finland. They presented their journey as their work, which aimed to find the common and different points. Obihiro is located in the northern culture area like Finland. The journey lasted 24 days from Helsinki to Obihiro crossing over the Russian continent by a car. They took photos of elderly women, got axes and recorded the local radio station programmes at 24 places on the 12,000 km- long-way to Obihiro. They went back to the origin of the people living between Finland and Obihiro, as well as followed up the memories, which have been in the DNAs of people who had been coming and going between east to west, in this journey.

Dallas-Kalevala, Casagranda and Rintala (Finland)

The radio programme isounded to me like a BGM at first, but it was Japanese I heard at the 24th room in a stable. The faces of elderly women changed from the western’s one to Japanese so that I could feel the 24-day-long journey both from ears and eyes. People are in these places, where I probably will not go and have not heard before, and making their lives there. I do not know why but Casagrande & Rintala’s words “Japanese are our neighbours because people had naturally been coming and going between east and west” made me smile.

When I was living abroad, sometimes I thought Japan was too far away and I felt like I was on a different planet. Although there were no clouds in the sky, I wondered “Does this sky last to Japan?” Whenever I thought so, it was the time when something unwelcome happened to me. Thus their words “Japanese people are our neighbors” or “the same sky is above us” made me feel easy after such a long time. It was like a warm helping hand for me.

Abesent Racetrack, Tadashi Kawamata (Japan)

I saw the wooden horse many times within the venue and it is named “Demeter.” This is a work from Tadashi Kawamata. The real horse “Demeter” existed but the wooden horse Demeter symbolises the absence of the real horse while it is running on racetracks somewhere in Hokkaido. The title of this wooden horse is “Absent Racetrack.” The wooden horse “Demeter” seemed to give out the symbol-character-like-aula and people can ride on it. It is possible to move forward by pushing it from the back but people can move by riding and pushing the bars that are for putting rider’s legs on. That pushing made the rubber belt stretch out, then it moves forward.

The film of Banei horse racing (a house pulls a sleigh and gets over an obstacle), which is held only in Hokkaido, was on the screen in a stable and that recalled Demeter that is pulling a sleigh somewhere today. The wooden horse Demeter is able to run on the wooden track that is set up within the venue like a loop (the total length is about 1km). I could feel a new wooden smell from it and that smell suited the impression of this event that has just started.

nIALL Project_Obihiro/Wobder-Land-Scape (Woekshop), nIALL Cafe, Click in “Aozora”, Seeking-Terior, Pin-up City, etc., nIALL/Masato Nakamura, Kenta Kishi, Haruaki Tanaka (Japan)

A housing exhibition area at the middle of the racecourse. It looked strange, but the divided massive space that can be seen specifically in a housing exhibition area and the wideness of the race course looked similar. This is an open-process in order to step in the society and is called “nIALL” (n= not stable number, I= subject, ALL= overall). The citizens, home building companies and volunteer staff participated in this project with a leadership of Masato Nakamura, Kenta Kishi and Haruaki Tanaka. They got a clue from “Kachimai Home Centre”, which is run by Obihiro City, that sells a housing exhibition area as it is.

The fact that a living room built in the well hole style or the walls are still under construction gave me an open feeling and I could feel the wind blow through the house. I also felt a bright future is beginning from an isolated entrance and divided area with woods.