Making a Natural ‘Pocket Park’ in Japan
With only a few weeks to work, we tried to turn vacant urban land into a pocket park that would make Masanobu Fukuoka and Patrick Geddes proud. Here is the short story of how it happened.
The Branch
Lateral Lab: Ways of Thinking / Cultural Olympiad
During spring and summer 2020, The Branch worked in partnership with the Scottish cultural trust, Lateral
The Branch Pocket Farm
The pocket farm is a community herb garden, and a place to re-connect ourselves with nature amid the urban setting of Osaka. It is freely open to visitors.
Aya Shimamoto: Mezzotints / Play Indoors
For Aya, the work of making prints, spending time touching and observing objects and places, is also a way of touching and transferring these memories, and the sense of wonder they embody.
Film + Talk with RAKUDA from Saudi Arabia
Albara Al-Ohali & Abdulrahman Ba-Adheem engage in discussion, music, and storytelling about what it means to live life ‘effectively’ for each of us as individuals, and as a global community.
Springtime: Urban Herb Foraging & Herb Whiskey
For our urban herb foraging event, Suhee prepared a ‘herb map’ of the neighborhood, and slowly guided our participants on a walk to discover these plants, and how we can use them.
Nick Reeves Award for Arts and Environment: Special Commendation
Administered by the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) and the Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World (CCANW). The branch is one of two organizations who received commendations, in addition to the overall award winner.
Herb Tea Blending Workshop
Using herbs from our community garden, every participant made their own, unique herb tea blend to take home.
A Song for Summer Trees
Drawing on a long time collaboration, Korean musician BomNunByeol (봄눈별) joined Patrick for the premiere of their live music and film meditation concert at The Branch.
Heeyoung Park: The Seeds Inside Us
During her time at The Branch, animator Heeyoung Park reminds us how the fragile existence of our lives (the seed within us) inevitably holds enormous potential for power and beauty.
Jeongran Choi: Extraordinary Tales of Everyday Life
For her exhibition “Extraordinary Tales of Everyday Life,” Jeongran hid little artworks in the corners of the tiny library, on shelves, and even in the bathroom. She shared both her painstaking process of art creation, and alongside it, the beauty in the little things.
Melike Bozkurt and Erdem Temel: Music Instruments from Trash
The group came up with guitars, flutes, marimbas, a hand-held drum kit, and a clarinet/saxophone like contraption… all made from trash.