内田聖良
UCHIDA Seira

French philosopher and cultural theorist Michel de Certeau (1925–1986) discribed creativities as “tactics” that are made by citizens in everyday life to creatively navigate or resist powerful structures (e.g., taking a shortcut through a park rather than following the officially designed street paths), whereas he used the term “strategies”,to describe the organized actions of those in power, such as governments or corporations, who structure and regulate society according to certain rules.
In her work, she try to apply these tactics into contemporary society where everyday life has extended to internet space and metaverse space.
For instance, in a project “Marginal Bookstore”, she has bought books labeled “Bad” on Amazon and re-sold them with the label “Collectible - Good”. By evaluate notes, stains etc. as "fabrications" against mass printed copies of books, she re-evaluates, redistribute and questions what capitalism labels “worthless” on the internet street.
Recently, she often researches cultures that are created by ordinary people and learns tactics from these. "Virtual Mementos Association" is a project based on her research into worship practices in Aomori, Japan. Through this research, she explored how people engage with the invisible presence of the deceased through objects and narratives. In this project, she builds a virtual memorial hall for items that are hard to throw away, allowing people to offer their belongings by 3D scanning them. These scanned objects can then be downloaded and re-used by others, creating a cycle of rebirth and transformation, much like reincarnation. She applies this method as a way to reimagine those who have been separated by contemporary algorithms, such as filter bubbles and the social divisions caused by COVID-19.
Her work is a practice of making tactics that allows those of us who don’t conform to navigate spaces dominated by the powerful systems.