Just as the taste of wine changes depending on the climate and soil, culture is created by the unique characteristics of a place.
~ Interview: Kazuhiko Washio (Creative Producer, Hakuhodo Inc.) ~

"Meguru Monasashi" is an interview with people connected to Monosus about their "yardsticks." This time, we have Kazuhiko Washio. Using his experience in a variety of fields, including strategic consulting, creative direction, and cultural project production, Washio has supported the work of many companies and local governments. Since 2006, he has been attending the Ars Electronica Festival, a festival of art and technology held in Linz, Austria, every year to continue his research on how technology will change people and society.

This year, representative Hayashi also visited the festival for the first time, accompanied by Washio. How can art and technology revitalize an entire city? What is culture? What does the city of the future hold? To get closer to Washio's "yardstick," we interviewed him in Kamiyama, where he held a travel report session. We will deliver this two-part article about our early morning conversation at Kamaya, a restaurant in the Food Hub Project .
(Interviewer: Aki Tanaka)

I'm interested in how technological development will change the quality of life.

Hayashi
Mr. Washio, you have published a book titled "The Challenge of Ars Electronica" and are now something of a leading figure in Ars Electronica (hereafter referred to as Ars), but you have been attending this festival every year for the past 12 years, correct?

Washio
Yes, I have been going there since 2006.

Creative producer Kazuhiko Washio

Hayashi
This year, he took about 10 people to ARS, including myself, members of the Kamiyama Town Hall, and people from the NPO Green Valley . How was this year's ARS?

Washio
I discovered so many new things. I'm really glad I was able to go with Hayashi-san and the people of Kamiyama this time. People from the town hall were there, so we went to a variety of places, not just the art event, but also to meet the mayor of Linz and government officials, as well as Linz's startup and creative industry hubs. We all looked around at the city's situation that makes art events possible, and it was very meaningful to share our opinions together every day. Everyone tends to look at things that stand out, and we always try to see things through our own "yardstick," so I realized once again that it's really important to look at the same things together with people from various positions.

" Error " was the theme of this year's Ars Electronica Festival

* Ars Electronica Festival
This global event on the theme of "art, technology and society" has been held since 1979 in Linz, Austria's third largest city. Since 1987, the international competition "Ars Electronica Award" has also been held, which awards prizes to works that bring about innovation in categories such as computer animation, digital music and interactive art. It is also known as the Oscars of the computer world. It is run by Ars Electronica, a public corporation of the city of Linz.

Hayashi
This was my first time at ARS, and I felt a lot of questions being raised by the performances and works. I tried to organize my thoughts while imagining how the members who accompanied me perceived them... Then, I thought about how I could incorporate what I was doing at ARS into Kamiyama.

Washio
Of course, the scale of the municipalities of Linz, Austria, where Ars Electronica is held, and Kamiyama Town are completely different. However, I think that if you don't just look at the phenomenon, but try to find the principles that drive it, you will find many hints. After all, it is something that people do. In Japan, there are actually many people in municipalities and companies who say, "I want to do something like Ars," and I am often consulted about it, but I always tell them that. Culture is born and grows in a place, so it won't work if you try to imitate only the surface. Just like picking a beautiful flower and planting it in a different place, it will soon wither.

We spoke with Monosus CEO Hayashi.

Hayashi
First of all, what made you decide to go to ARS?

Washio
Around 2006, blogs and other social media appeared, and Facebook was launched as a general service. When I went to conferences in Japan or abroad during that time, the only thing I heard was, "We're going to do this kind of business using Internet technology." Of course, business talk is fine, but the main premise is... what kind of "quality of life" will be created by the development of media technology, how will society change? I've always been interested in the perspective of "consumers," so to speak, and how people and society will change.

There is someone to answer questions,
Finally, a meaningful event

Washio
At that time, I had the opportunity to work with journalist Yasushi Watanabe . Watanabe was a journalist who had also written a book called " Introduction to Information Design ." What's more, Watanabe was a member of a project called "Sensorium," which won the gold prize at the Ars Electronica Award in 1997. When I was talking to Watanabe about my interests, he introduced me to Yoshiaki Nishimura , who was also a member of "Sensorium."

Hayashi
This is where Nishimura-san comes in. Nishimura-san also appears in "Meguru Monasashi."

Washio
When I met Nishimura through an introduction from Watanabe, he casually recommended that I go to ARS.

Hayashi
Lightly (laughs)

Washio
Yes. But I had heard of the name Ars, but I didn't really know what it was like to be a media art event, much less where Linz was (laughs). It was right before the event, so there were no hotels available. But I was curious, so I headed to Linz by myself, like a backpacker.

Hayashi
What was it like when you went?

Washio
Linz has a small, compact downtown area. The city is close to nature, and the atmosphere in the city is kind of authentic. It's become a lot neater now, but I had the impression that it was more rural. So at first, I was wondering why they were holding an art festival that combined art and technology in a city like this.

The first time Washio visited Linz, Austria.
The early Ars Electronica Center (upper left), Central Square (upper right, lower left), and the park along the Danube River (lower right)

Washio
What surprised me was that when I attended the main conference, I found that there were very lively discussions taking place on the topic of "how technology will change people and society," just as I mentioned earlier. The speakers included artists and architects. They were from a variety of nationalities. There were also many young university students listening. Outside the venue, there was a beautiful view of the Danube River. It felt flat and open. The theme at the time was "Simplicity."

Hayashi: "Simplicity"?

Washio
"Simplicity" is a quote from the book "The Laws of Simplicity" by John Maeda, who was the deputy director of the MIT Media Lab at the time. This book is about "how to make things simple and easy to understand." In Japanese, "simple" has a strong connotation of simplification, but "simplicity" means how to make things "beautiful, more understandable, and more practical" as information and society become more complex. At first, I was very surprised and found it interesting that we were discussing this issue in the midst of an era in which design and technology have developed and a huge amount of information is being generated by social media.

Hayashi
But after listening to the talks there and seeing the festival as a whole, you didn't get a clear answer, did you?

Washio
That's right. What on earth is this event about? It felt like I was being asked a big question. After I returned to Japan, I gave a presentation at the company, but it was completely rejected. They were saying things like, "What are you talking about when you can't use it for work right away?" and "Art? What are you just going out for fun?" It was a complete disaster. Well, it's true, though.
But that event was a good event because it was a place that raised such questions and tried to think about them together. That's what I felt. And I thought it was certainly a very important question. When I told my boss at the time about this, he said, "If you don't understand it after visiting once, just come again next year."

Hayashi
You have a wonderful boss.

Washio
I am still grateful for that. I believe that I am where I am today thanks to the encouragement from Watanabe-san, Nishimura-san, and my boss at the time. After that, I ended up going to ARS every year as a researcher with the goal of researching media technology and social change.

What is important is what quality of life we can provide to the people who live in the city.

Hayashi
There is something you once said that made a lasting impression on me. That is, "I'm interested not only in promoting culture and the arts themselves, but also in using culture and the arts to revitalize the entire city." For you, are culture and the arts themselves important? Or is it more important to use them to revitalize the city? Which is it?

Washio
"Culture and cities" is my biggest theme. I think culture is the result and accumulation of choices made over time by the people who live in a certain place and city. The history, climate, and memories of a place, the various lifestyles and philosophies that have arisen from them, and what has been valued and preserved. That is culture.
There is a word called "terroir" for wine. The place where the grapes are grown, the climate, soil, and technology give rise to unique flavors and characteristics that are unique to that place. I think this is "culture."
*Terroir: The location, climate, soil, and other factors that are essential to the creation of wine.

Hayashi
That's certainly true.

Washio
Linz was originally an industrial city, so there was an idea of how to preserve the characteristics of the land while preserving them for the future, and that's how the Ars Electronica Festival was born as a festival for citizens using art and technology. Based on this principle, I think that the " Food Hub Project " that Monosus is running in Kamiyama Town and the "local food" restaurant "Kama-ya" are actually based on the same principle. It's a project that increases the sustainability of the city, which is possible because it's a place rich in nature and where agricultural products can be harvested in abundance. It's just that the phenomena that arise change depending on the conditions of the land.

Hayashi
The city of Linz comes to life thanks to the Ars Festival being held there every year. If we compare this to the situation in Japan, we can see that too many things are concentrated in highly populated cities. This is also reflected in the GDP, but the GDP value of the Tokyo metropolitan area, where the population is too unevenly distributed, is astonishing, and the figure is apparently larger than that of the entire country of South Korea. However, Tokyo's birth rate is by far the lowest among all prefectures in Japan.

Washio
It's a black hole state.

Hayashi
In Tokyo, which produces a lot of GDP, there are many people and jobs. I wonder if this situation can be dispersed to other regions, but the reality is that there are few jobs in the regions. When you unravel the issue in this way, it seems that if you try to become a place where people want to live, business tends to be emphasized over culture. But if that happens, won't the scent of culture disappear? I think. However, Ars seems to be centered on culture. Why is this the case?

Washio
No, to be precise, culture is not the main focus of Ars. It does not exist as a separate entity of culture. It is an interesting event, so certainly tourists come, but that is not the purpose. Rather, it provides citizens with a cultural experience to enhance the individuality and characteristics of the city. It also links with business, and tries to create unique businesses. When a business that is unique to the city is born, that becomes culture. Also, I don't think there is any need to think of culture and business separately in the first place. In fact, they are one and the same. Linz does not call its city a "cultural city," but rather describes itself as a "cultural industrial city."

Hayashi
I see.

Washio
I believe that this is the way to create value from now on. What kind of quality of life do we deliver to the people living in a city, and what kind of economy do we create, are inseparably linked.
The other day, I was talking to some young people in Linz, and they said, "I want to work here because of the quality of life here." I think it's wonderful when people suddenly say things like that.
On the other hand, if you think about it only from the perspective of culture, the city may become overrun with tourists and become difficult for residents to live in, or if the cultural approach you choose is too far removed from the city's original characteristics, the residents may wonder, "What kind of city is this?" and lose interest. In the end, I think it's important to look closely at the unique characteristics of the place and value the perspective of the people who live there. Ultimately, I think that such cities will become valuable.
In other words, thinking about "culture and cities" means thinking about how "value" will be created in the future.

To be continued