For the SPRING group exhibition on the theme of PLAY, I’ve developed a series of role plays.
Become a fictional character, an animal, a plant, an object, the future itself. Playing with another self becomes an artistic practice. What emerges when we reinvent ourselves, just for a moment? Are you in for the game?!
Role-Playing Game No.1 : KIMONO
Imagine putting on one of these kimonos. By wearing the kimono, you symbolically take on political responsibility, not just for today but for seven generations to come. You decide on energy, transport, nature, housing, the economy or money. The consequences will only be felt in decades. The people who will bear them aren’t born yet and have no say. How would you decide if you were also taking responsibility for them, too?
Background information
The Haudenosaunee Confederacy, an alliance of Indigenous nations in what is now the northeastern United States and Canada, judges decisions by their impact on the seven coming generations. Responsibility thus extends beyond one’s own lifetime. Oren Lyons, Faithkeeper of the Onondaga Nation, has carried this principle far beyond his own community.
In Japan, Future Design picks up the idea: citizens step into the perspective of future generations in councils, at times symbolically wearing a special ceremonial kimono.
In Germany, for example legal scholar Henrike von Scheliha has developed the concept of a Future Council (Zukunftsrat), which would give young people a binding voice in decisions with long-term consequences.
