toshiaki tomita

Zenpukuji Park & Bad Guided Tours

guided tours, workshops, events, weblog. “Trolls in the Park 2009”, Zenpukuji Park, 2009.

I held a series of workshops/guided tours at Zenpukuji Park where the open air art exhibition “Trolls in the Park” took place. I announced that I am going to invite people to my guided tours but as a guide I know nothing about the park. The title including the word “bad” suggests the tour might suck because of the guide is not knowledgeable about the park, but at the same time it suggests that the guide will focus on internal human experience rather than external information about the park.
At the first tour I renounced my initiative and tried to find people in the park to guide us with their knowledge and stories about the park. The second tour focuses on creative writing. I let participants write non-stop in certain limit of time without thinking, then we use this writings as footage to make Hiku poems. The third tour focused on our sense of time. I examined various body works with participants to change our perceptions. In slow motion walks we observed internally the relationship between thoughts and body actions. Our body works could be seen as a performance to the people in the park as well.
I built a weblog Zenpukuji Park & Bad Guided Tours where I announced the tour information and tour reports. http://badguide.exblog.jp/
The contents of the weblog will be developed into "Bad" Guide Book.

photo by
1st tour: masahiro murakosi
2nd tour: masaru yanagiba
3rd tour: kazuhiro masuda, mina miyahisa