Launching our Data Portrait as an exhibition

A platform for lots of conversations with people and expanding our network in Minato Ward.

Posted by Miho Shimizu December, 02, 2022 3 likes

Shibaura House, Minato ward, Tokyo, Japan

The “social” exhibition indicating social issues of Minato Ward as 16 queries.

As part of the nl/minato* project, Shibaura House hosted an exhibition ”City Portrait -the 16 queries to update the community-” during September 26, through October 8 2022.

In this year's project, we implemented the concept of the donut economy in Minato Ward. Since this spring, members of Shibaura House contacted organizations promoting the donut approach around the world (in Amsterdam, Leeds, and Melbourne) and studied their methodology. We took this opportunity to interview locals and gather information.

*If you would like to know more about nl/minato project, please check this link .

Exhibition of “Ecological” that connects everyday life with awareness of environmental issues in Minato Ward.

A variety of people, including those who are interested in, designers and artists, participated. We got the impression that more people took a closer look at the exhibition than we had originally expected: neighbors, people from the ward office, a research team for a new cultural arts hall, people working on city planning and urban development at companies, students studying environmental issues and economics, people interested in Dutch ideas, designers, and artists.

The “ecological” exhibition linking daily like and awareness of environmental issues in Minato Ward.

The “global” exhibition connecting life in Japan and topics happening across the world.

During the exhibition period, SHIBAURA HOUSE provided a so called “Friendship Program”, a program to enable local activities that fit the theme of the 16 questions to use SHIBAURA HOUSE’s rental space for free. This program supported to create opportunities of new connections and knowledge.

Talk session by "Unagi no Nedoko", sharing the activities within the Shinagawa area. Finding partners that echo with each other within the neighborhood.

An event hosted by Green bird, creating the atmosphere to build a community by cleaning up the neighborhood.

Although we have visualized local issues, this is just the first step. Our next step is, while continuing to connect people in the community, start practical activities to address issues and design an action plan.

Following the exhibition, we organized a workshop with What Design Can Do, a Dutch design organization, in order to explore ways to improve the current situation of the city for the better. The next step for us is to collaborate with an artist who will use our research as a starting point for their new work.

If you would like to read the whole city portrait of the exhibition, please check this link.