This work is a sound installation themed around “body and network,” aiming to create a landscape through hearing that is unreachable by sight—a device to move the body through hearing.

We usually perceive information through both sight and hearing as a matter of course. But what kind of experience do we have when a disconnect occurs, such as when we can hear a place but cannot physically go there, by moving through different locations acoustically?

Sound collection devices are installed at nine locations in Nagano City, and the sound is streamed in real-time during the museum’s opening hours. The locations of the devices were chosen from places that are visible from the rooftop “Wind Terrace” of the museum, as well as locations with cultural or musical significance in Nagano. *The installation sites were selected with careful consideration of privacy.

About the Sound Collection Locations (Excerpt from the Museum Handout)

To realize this work, sound collection devices have been installed at nine locations within Nagano City, and their audio is streamed in real time during the museum’s opening hours. The devices have been placed at locations that are either visible from the museum’s rooftop “Wind Terrace” or are significant places related to the culture and music of Nagano.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to everyone who warmly accepted this challenging project. While I would love to introduce each place we visited with the engineers and the people we met there (who were all very kind to us), please understand that in keeping with the nature of this work as “a device that reveals landscapes within the viewer,” I have condensed this description to a brief overview.

Starting from the left when facing forward, the “Saihokukan Hotel” is known as a cultural gathering spot that has been visited by literary figures such as Yasunari Kawabata and Kaii Higashiyama and has hosted historical shogi matches. It is also a place filled with memories for the production team of this work. The hotel has a large collection of paintings, including works by artists connected to the Nagano Prefectural Art Museum. To the left of the view from the rooftop, a mountain slope is visible, and at its base is the “Susobana Gorge Natural Hot Spring Hotel Uruoi-kan,” a public hot spring inn where one can enjoy a footbath while facing a green mountain wall (the footbath is open to the public for free). In the center of the view stands Zenkoji Temple, known as a temple that welcomes all people. Currently, it hosts two coexisting sects: the Tendai sect, with “Dai-Kan’in” as its main hall, and the Jodo sect, with “Dai-Hongan” as its main hall. When I first visited Zenkoji, I was drawn by the sound of a powerful drum and ended up finding myself at the “Dai-Kan’in.” Next, along the path connecting Zenkoji and the museum, “Kanmi Chaya Yayoi” offers shaved ice made with a traditional machine, allowing you to enjoy the sound of the magnificent bell that rings every hour on the hour. To the right of the center of Zenkoji, slightly elevated, is the “Nihon Chureiden,” which houses a historical museum. When I stepped outside and saw the nearby road, I remember feeling as if I had traveled from the past to the present. On the hill to the right, there is a district of apple orchards, where the greenery appears different from the surrounding mountains. What looked like a vast field from afar turned out to be an everyday landscape quite different from what I had imagined when I visited the orchards up close. Passing through this district and climbing a steep hill brings you to “Ojoji Temple.” The temple bell mentioned in the song ♪ The sun sets with the sunset glow, and the bell of the mountain temple rings… ♪ by Shin Kusakawa, a composer from Nagano, is said to be the bell of Ojoji Temple. The head priest kindly shared precious audio recordings of the “picture-story” by the previous priest, and I was deeply moved by the way the singing and storytelling seamlessly intertwined. By the way, when I heard the bell of Ojoji Temple up close… well, I’ll leave that for you to experience in the work. To the right of the mountain, the red structure you see is the “Zenkoji Unjo-den,” where a split-body Buddha of the Zenkoji Nyorai is enshrined. Additionally, the two oxen that were once kept at Zenkoji now rest at Unjo-den. The square building visible to the right is the wedding venue “Amandan Sky.” Although Unjo-den and Amandan Sky appear separated when seen from the rooftop, they are actually next to each other, divided by just one road. I clearly remember someone remarking during our visit to install the devices, “It’s interesting how life and death (Unjo-den has a columbarium) coexist side by side.”(Miyu Hosoi)