リレー・エッセイ

タイトル：
Chen’s minds on sendai * mediatheque
coffee aroma around the smt studio
投稿日：
2008年11月20日
＊インターンシップ期間中の研究・調査成果を、エッセイとしてご紹介しています。

　One night around 6’clock, when I was preparing to get home from smt, there was the aroma of freshly brewed coffee coming from tube No.5 on the 7th floor. And I followed the strong and pleasant smell and hunted for the origin of the coffee aroma. Suddenly, I found that around the tube No.5, there was a crowd gathering, talking to each other, drinking some coffee for free, and waiting for a talk with the artist “TAKAMINE Tadasu”. That is the so-called “goban tube caf” as a smt curator introduced. The events at “goban tube caf” were organized, executed by the smt curator and cooperated with artists, architects and professors outside of smt.
　To my mind, the concept of “goban tube caf” uses modern people’s addiction to coffee as the chief attraction, and combines Japanese “tea house” culture with French “Salon” culture. Under my observation, Japanese “Tea house” or French “Salon”, they had many functions and characteristics in common. The first, they were the places of stimulating people of quality gathering, such as the social, political, and cultural elites. The next, they were the places of inspiring people to refine their taste and increase their knowledge through talking, reading and exchange of ideas. In the end, they functioned as a major channel of communication among intellectuals, as the cradle of the new cultures. And smt, as a culture “node” and media station, how to reappear Japanese “team house” is indeed an interesting and challenge project to carry out. But this time, smt invited all the people to “goban tube caf” without any limits. However, the scene at the first sight was very touching and familiar to me. That makes me recall“Salon memories” activities in Taiwan.
　By the way, In the caf space, there is such fancy furniture as transparent chairs and foamed bubble-shaped tables designed by a Japanese designer. And for the first time, I thought it is a show room for furniture, not a caf for visitors’ use.

Jouyuan CHEN (smtインターンシップ生)