IWAKAN Volume 06: 

Masculinity — or perhaps our mistaken understanding of it — as an ideology has entrenched itself so deeply into every system that runs our society. These unequivocally male-dominated systems stare at us on a daily basis, represented by the patriarchy and misogyny we witness regularly in acts like men buying women drinks at the dinner table; reaffirming their unwavering presence and unforgiving rules. While some may find it easy to accept the system, others struggle to comply. We are those people who struggle. Those people who are tired of these outdated norms for masculinity, who are tired of it being understood solely through the lens of violence and dominance, and who are tired of the emptiness that comes from humans constantly being reduced to caricatures of themselves and forced to participate in this ludicrous system called patriarchy. Masculinity does not belong solely to those who have a penis, it is something that should be accessible to all. That is why, we want to find a new understanding of it, one that is fresh, revitalized, rich, inclusive, and diverse. It is time that masculinity changes, it is time that masculinity is liberated.

Features

The Masculinity Issue 06　違和感瞬間　男 14　Producing Sex: Images of Masculinity in the Gay Porn Industry／François Sagat 24　A Space for Men’s Confessions 32　Exploring Gender: What Can Masculinity Contribute to Being Non-binary?／Amity Miyabi 36　An Unwavering Heart Reaching for the Light／Sennosuke Kataoka 48　Imagining New Masculinities Through Music: an Interview with NoSo, Ichi Takashi, and Aisho Nakajima 52　PEOPLE VOICE OPINION Let the people speak! 60　The Unspoken Tenderness／Nelson Hor 66　Our Career Choices: A Message For the Future From a Parenting Adviser and an Obstetrician-Gynaecologist／Keito Kawanishi, Singh Ikebukuro 74　STUDY OUR ISSUE: Is “Masculinity” a Good Enough Excuse for Violence?／Noriko Yamaguchi 78　Pity for Men: the Agonies and Contradictions of Unpopular Boys.／Kai Nishii 90　The Glass House of Adonis／Andromeda 92　Exploring The House of Gay Art: The Captivating Photographs of Junichi Enya／Mika Kobayashi 96　Is Coffee Masculine? A Conversation About Coffee and Masculinity／Keita Nakamura, Yuki Shibata, Mako 108　Redefining “Realness”: Exploring the Implications and Possibilities of “Male Genital” Prosthetics／Prosthesisman.Stp.Japan 112　Disobedience, Deconstruction, and Desire: Re-Defining Bodies Through Clothing and Art／Bárbara Sánchez-Kane 122　Decoding Performance and the Body Through the Works of Kento Terada and Sota Kodera／Mika Kobayashi 128　The Exquisite Corpse of Likeness／Yuki Kasaï-Paré 137　Recognising ‘Domination’: The Beginning of Resistance／Hanae Takahashi 138　Vol.4 IWAKAN OPEN ART CONTEST 141　Radically Moderate／Nonoka Sasaki 142　A Diary of Secret Dialogues／Mitsu Tachibana 144　My Incomplete Beauty Handbook／Yuri Abo 146　Asian Gaze／Yo Katami from loneliness books 148　Let’s Talk About Politics／Ana 150　Stopped Making Sense／Noemi Minami 152　Recommendations from Contributors Cover Design: 福岡南央子

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In mere 100 years from now, the Baltic coastline as we know it will be nothing more than a beautiful memory lost somewhere in history – according to the leading experts studying climate change. The melting glaciers will swallow up Swinoujscie, whilst turning Gdańsk into the modern day Atlantis and Poznan (the author’s hometown in the Western Poland) into a slowly submerging seaside resort town. 

In view of these predictions and out of sheer curiosity, Marcin Matuszak, Poznan-based designer and artist (accompanied by his friend, Tomasz Peukert – music producer who was collecting the field recordings), decided to walk along the entire current Polish seaside, to document the current state of it and to prepare a photo album from the material collected during the journey: “500km”. 

The project of the year-long walk, divided into 12 stages of several days was called “550 km” – as the estimated coastline of the Polish Baltic Sea. After walking the entire length, it turned out to be nearly 607 km from the German to the Russian border.

The project documents the Baltic Sea through four seasons, in the full sun and when it rains, with the wind and against the wind, with stormy horizons and calming sunsets. Against this backdrop, the sand, the shells, the seals, and also the cliffs breaking off with tree roots tell the story of the shifting coastline. 

The material presented, however, is not purely documentary. It is a photo record of a moment. A maximum of a three-second pause. A snapshot that cuts the future from the past.

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Dear Friends,

We are excited to invite you to the opening of Park 2 INN on Saturday, July 1st from 7PM, a duo exhibition by Louise Verstraete and Rebecca Quix in the presence of Nissan Sunny 1.4LX and a sound installation by Lukas Katzer.

It has been a while since we have seen each other. How are you doing? I’m sorry to call you so early. Holiday schedules. MidDay sMiles. Days go by so fast. I was eating these curly fries and was thinking of you today. Lunch hour at the fuel station.  The connection got lost. My tires were losing pressure. Are you here already? Here is still there. Soon there. 

The exhibition will be on view from July 1, Monday to Saturday 12 to 8 PM until July 31, 2023. This exhibition has been made possible with the support of Flanders State of the Art.
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Louise Verstraete is a multidisciplinary artist working with the medium of textile and the performative power that the medium carries within. Her projects show an interplay between photography, textiles, scenography and performative interventions. Louise holds an MFA in Textile Design from LUCA School of Arts, Belgium and currently lives and works in Berlin, Germany.   

Rebecca Quix (BE) currently lives and works in Brussels. She holds an MFA from LUCA School of Arts, Brussels (2022) and studied at the School of Visual Arts, New York (2021). 

Pyeonsik (Picky Eating) refers to the act of not eating a specific food or eating only a specific food for various reasons or problem of taste.

It’s up to you to decide what food you eat. Strangely, the idea that you should eat well is prevalent in Korea. Perhaps it can be said that it is related to Korean food culture. In Korea, there is a culture of rice mixed with various kinds of side dishes and eaten little by little. In this culture, picky eating will be a habit that is difficult to see in a good perspective. If you don’t eat many kinds of side dishes evenly, there will be leftovers, which is an act that adults don’t like. Also, mechanical egalitarianism, which says, “What I eat should be eaten by others,” plays a part. Because Korean think homogeneity is too important, they often cannot accept the fact that others can’t eat what I eat. And also say “Why don’t you eat this?” and “Why don’t you eat this delicious thing?”

So, it is not easy to proudly say that you are a picky eater in Korea because of this view. However, there is nothing more painful than forcing yourself to eat something you don’t want to eat. I don’t have enough time to eat only what I like, but I wonder if I have to eat food that I hate while enduring this pain.

After you read it up to here, you’re like, “Oh, this person has a picky taste.” “Isn’t it just an excuse?”‘ I saw it exactly if I thought so. I’m a picky eater. Also, writing such a long article about picky eating is because I think the world is too harsh for a person who is suddenly picky.

Anyway, this book is a collection of ingredients that I don’t eat. If you look at the ingredients in it, you may wonder this man even don’t eat this? But first, I have to make it clear that I don’t eat this unconditionally. 
If the ingredients lose their original taste and play a good role in certain foods, I tend to eat. It may be a little embarrassing not to eat something, but through this book, I want to proudly reveal that I am a picky eater.

In conclusion, what I’m trying to say through this book is that I just want the world to be a little generous with people who are picky. Wouldn’t it be better to just understand rather than point your finger at picky eaters? It is possible that others may hate what I like or others may like what I hate. Just as each person has a different face, their eating habits are different. I have a very pleasant diet even though I have a lot of food that I don’t eat, so I want you to admit that it’s different sometimes. It’s just my little wish. Anyway, if you have read up to here, I hope you will accept this book with a generous heart. We are now starting to talk about the ingredients we saw from the perspective of a picky eater.

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A ROOM WITH A VIEW takes place in and around the Pensione Seguso, a historic, family-run hotel in Venice. Guided by architecture professor Verena von Beckerath as part of the homonymous seminar at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar that she led in collaboration with art historian Sassa Trülzsch, the contributions to this edition range from the historical to the anecdotal to the artistic and beyond, resulting in a holistic and comprehensive analysis of not only the pensione, but what hospitality and tourism mean today, both in Venice and the world at large.
The contributors to this publication come from varying backgrounds, and the rich variety in tone and format reflects that. A ROOM WITH A VIEW features a reflection and collage by urologist and art fanatic Albrecht Kastein, photos by architect and photographer Andrew Alberts, architect Oda Pälmke’s personal account of her time at the pensione, an insightful interview with the owners Yvonne Matijas Seguso and Lawrence Hoque, and architect, professor and editor Ludovico Centis’s historical account of Venice.
Much like the pensione, the book eludes rigid categorisation; it alternates between written pieces and photographs, each adding nuance to the work and changing the narrative perspective. As you wander through the pensione during the course of this edition, meeting the owners and venturing into the history of Venice, one question continuously arises, how can we live together?
This book is NOA 10 in the Notes on Architecture series, which is published by the Chair of Design and Housing at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.

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You see what I see? On the bed, we see the soft touch of the light filtered by the curtains that open to the morning’s gestures.
Each day images appear, certain of new discoveries in a foreign land. In the silence of the journey towards creating a picture, feet scratch the sand and the body inscribes a shape in our gaze. Now, places are inhabited by languid, curious gestures and unspoken words. In Mircea’s images, bodies speak, movements express a time saturated with waiting. The echo emerges from the artist’s expression, through the unconscious perspective of lenses, mediators of a broader vision.

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Tu vês o que eu vejo? Sobre a cama, vemos o toque suave da luz coada pelas cortinas que se abrem aos gestos da manhã. A cada dia surge o registo, na certeza de uma nova descoberta no país dos outros. No silêncio do percurso para o desenho, os pés riscam a areia e o corpo inscreve uma forma no olhar. Agora, os lugares são habitados por gestos languidos, curiosos e pelas palavras não ditas. Nas imagens de Mircea, os corpos falam, os movimentos expressam um tempo saturado da espera. O eco surge na expressão do artista, através do inconsciente ótico das lentes mediadoras de uma visão maior.

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Fruit de longues recherches dans les archives des artistes, l’ouvrage sera doté d’une riche documentation et offrira une relecture inédite de la production artistique italienne entre 1960 et 1975. Apparu dans les années 1960 en Italie, l’Arte Povera est une démarche artistique ; davantage une attitude qu’un mouvement. Théorisé par Germano Celant en 1966, l’Arte Povera s’inscrit dans une volonté de défiance à l’égard des industries culturelles, portée par une nouvelle génération d’artistes incarnant des manières inédites d’appréhender l’art et la création.
S’opposant à la consommation de masse et réhabilitant la place de l’homme et de la nature dans l’art, l’Arte Povera en renouvelle les thématiques (l’homme, la nature, le corps, le temps), les matériaux (naturels, de récupération, périssables), les techniques (artisanales), les gestes et l’intention. Il s’agit de repenser les critères d’esthétisme, de se défaire des artifices, de revenir à l’immédiateté des émotions et des sensations.
A travers la production de livres, d’affiches, de projections et d’impressions sur toile, les artistes italiens de cette époque se sont appropriés le pouvoir narratif de l’image photographique et filmique afin d’explorer de nouveaux possibles de l’art. Transdisciplinaires, mêlant photographies, films, vidéos, affiches, livres, objets, sculptures et peintures, l’ouvrage, qui l’accompagnera l’exposition, présentera plus de 300 oeuvres de figures majeures de l’Arte Povera, parmi lesquelles Giovanni Anselmo, Alighiero Boetti, Luigi Ghirri, Jannis Kounellis, Piero Manzoni, Mario Merz, Giuseppe Penone, Michelangelo Pistoletto…
Conçu comme un livre d’art et non comme un catalogue d’exposition, il donnera à voir l’extraordinaire richesse d’une période où les artistes italiens ont compté parmi les plus importants interprètes de la transformation des langages visuels. Ce nouveau regard sur une démarche artistique majeure des avant-gardes du XXe siècle proposera également une immersion visuelle dans le contexte politique et culturel de l’époque avec des portfolios dédiés au cinéma, théâtre, soirées littéraires, extraits de presse présentant les grands enjeux socioculturels d’alors.

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The Westmorland County Agricultural Society ‘WCAS’ was established in 1799, and for over 200 years has survived world wars, recessions and the Great British weather to establish itself as one of Britain’s oldest livestock agricultural events. Located on the fringes of the Lake District, Westmorland County Show has showcased rural life to the masses. The project aims to highlight the contrasts found at an event where farming communities, tourists, competitors, VIPs and shoppers explore the land in their unique ways. Through grainy black and white 35mm film, the intention was to blur the suggested timeframe by playing with the unusual sights, outfits and activities found when livestock and different communities interact in a field.

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Supplement 07: Joar Nango: Uncle Doug’s Fishing Shack

Fillip is pleased to announce the release of Uncle Doug’s Fishing Shack, with contributions by Joar Nango, Ryan Gorrie, Timothy O’Rourke, David Thomas, Courtney R. Thompson, and Jenifer Papararo.

Supplement 7 traces Joar Nango’s artistic process, mapping the development of his temporary installation and sculpture Uncle Doug’s Fishing Shack presented at Plug In ICA (Winnipeg) in 2019 as part of Stages. The publication features an interview between Nango and Indigenous architect David Thomas about an abandoned military barracks’ transformation into Canada’s largest urban reserve. It also includes a short essay by Indigenous architect Ryan Gorrie, in which he examines Circle of Life Thunderbird House in Winnipeg, designed by renowned Indigenous architect Douglas Cardinal. These texts are paired with critical writings by architecture lecturer Timothy O’Rourke and architecture scholar Courtney R. Thompson, who detail accounts of governmental suppression of Indigenous architectural and artistic ingenuity in both Australia and Canada.

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in medias res is an ongoing selective collection of seemingly random online images as well as self-taken screenshots and photography. Featuring a selection of over 1200 pictures out of the personal archive, it deals with patterns of recognition, appropriation and contextualization of (popular) cultures. By reproduction through means of hard copy a shift of attention shall be provoked (in favor of THE IMAGE).

Following musical techniques of plunderphonics, the mode of situating and framing finds manifestation from 15th century renaissance art (emblem) through to present operating principles of the social media online platform instagram (hashtags). 
Focusing on reciprocal influence and interference between text and image, the project aims to intentionally subvert cultural codes of visual content and wording by allegory and metaphor. 
Associated figures of thought, socio-political terms, new slang, ambiguous terms of marketing and connotated phrases are addressed to expand (semiotic) nuances and undertones of modern day society (consumer culture, mainstream-noise, fashion-dynamics, politics / environmental issues), thus to challenge ways of perception of cultural sets of phenomena (meme).. 
Of course, a certain sense of humor is a substantial attitude of indifference to ride the jittering stream that shapes contours of global scenes of references and re-production of “meaning” through poor images.

in medias res is a context bundle. 
in medias res is a deep learning process. 
in medias res is highly subjective.

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