c-site.4: Distance

c-site (c = conversation) is centered around an interdisciplinary dialogue surrounding a singular topic, exploring it in physical and metaphysical terms, and removed from the typical interviewer/interviewee archetype, where focus is placed on the equal interaction between two disparate ‘others’. For the first three iterations this was achieved via a sequential format. Moving forward, and beginning with this fourth iteration, the dialogue structure will become fluid, and will explore how the format of a dialogue could share a clear relationship with the theme around which it is based.

Our hope in the creation of these environments is that we may better understand the nature and potential of a topic which is universal in essence through the combination of perspectives deriving from various backgrounds, experiences, and ways of thinking.

New Format:
An anonymous interdisciplinary dialogue between 10 people on the topic of distance, conducted in English, Chinese, and Japanese. Within this dialogue, the identities of those participating have been hidden from one another, only to be revealed upon its conclusion. This is an instance of “distance”, a boundary creating a relationship between dialogue and theme. This dynamic can too be seen within the form of this book; just as these ten contributors speak back to back, this book is divided into two distinct halves placed back to back—their contrasting directionalities, vertical and horizontal, defining a physical boundary which separates them.

Distance:
Walking in a landscape, if you stop for a moment, is it possible to see instances of ‘distance’ in the surrounding environment? Perhaps it is the darkening gradient of color in the lake due to the gradual change in depth, or the eusociality being displayed by the ants beneath us acting as a small mirror of our own world. Or the slow transition from old growth to new growth vegetation. Or the air growing thinner as the elevation rises. Or maybe is it the difference in sound and texture as you step from moss covered earth onto dry gravel. In thinking about it, are these all various distances building up the landscape in front of us?

The word ‘distance’ at first appears as something we rarely notice, and yet if we look closer we find it being repeated again and again in our conversations and in our writing. In saying there is no distance between us and something, are we actually referring to being in close proximity to what’s in front of us? ‘Distance is the possibility of seeing. In order to be able to see, I need distance from my object’ (Jun Miyagawa).

In understanding our surroundings, the relationships between us and all others is defined by distance. Within our perceptions the known and the unknown overlap. Distance allows us to see the intangible cognitive relationships we share with the other, and extreme distance or lack thereof (near and far) compromises our ability to see them.

What is the inductive state which lies between us and distance? Does distance have a material contour? How is the distance between the act of creation and its result measured? What are the conditions and perspectives that produce distance? What conditions make the disappearance or appearance of distance felt? What kinds of dynamic relationships exist between time, space, and distance? Can distance be free from time and space? Can distance be reproduced? Is distance equivalent to relationship? Is all matter in some sense divided? Do absence or pause and distance have equivalent meanings? Can a collective be defined by the distance within it? What lies beyond the boundaries of distance? Do overlapping distances exist? Does distance have an antithesis?

Contributors: Stephan Keppel / Kenshu Shintsubo / Osamu Kanemura / Shin Akiyama / gerlach en koop / Nerhol (Ryuta Iida+Yoshihisa Tanaka) / Marc Nagtzaam / Kozo Kadowaki / Megumi Matsubara / Ryuji Nakamura

Pages: 208
Dimensions: 190 × 247 mm
Format: Softcover, Sleeve case
Language: English, Chinese, Japanese
Year: 2023
Publisher: ori.studio