SOTOCHIKU News vol.18[English]

Even if it breaks down again and again, we will rise again and again, a new vision for the future

Hello everyone, how are you? This is Tanaka from GRIDFRAME.

Recently, the pedestrian overpass right next to my house was repainted, and its appearance has changed.

Which do you prefer?

Before repainting: February 28, 2024　　　　　　　　　　After repainting: October 14, 2025

・・・・・・・・・

Objects remember time, people erase that memory to maintain their function, and then the objects remember time again.

Within that cycle, how many people truly engrave memories of time into their hearts?

Those who manage this pedestrian overpass probably don’t have the concept of a memory of time. They might have one as individuals, but not as managers.

Everything in the world works that way.

I know that’s normal, but isn’t it still a little strange?

…But if the administrator starts talking about “memory of time,” that’s also unsettling. No, actually, it’s the worst.

The memory of time is something that individuals discover for themselves.

If things become predictable, we lose our last bastion: the ability to “find” things for ourselves.

So, it’s fine the way it is. …It’s better this way.

In 2045, 20 years from now, it might transform back into a form that remembers time. Or, before that, it might reach the end of its functional lifespan and be destroyed.

The memory of time resides solely within the individual.

……

<Buffalo, New York, USA, 1994>

Scrap yards are a melting pot of all kinds. Whether it’s the scrap of a luxury car or a mass-produced vehicle, their value is measured by weight. These piles of junk lie scattered about haphazardly. It’s a place that perfectly fits the word “chaos,” yet somehow feels strangely nostalgic.

These scraps, ravaged by being beaten, dragged, and exposed to the elements, have the air of a formidable gang of outlaws, in the sense that they can no longer be destroyed, no matter how hard you try.

At that time, I was a graduate student and regularly visited scrap yards to look for materials for my architectural design projects. At first, I only thought of it as “a place where I could occasionally come across some unexpectedly cool materials,” but gradually I developed a strange feeling that the entire space was an irresistibly fascinating place.

Why? …I kept thinking about the reason.

Eventually, I realized that when faced with a pile of scrap metal, the following three perspectives inevitably intersect.

① Viewing it solely in terms of its weight as economic value (economic perspective)
　… This is the reason for the existence of scrap yards, but it has almost lost its value compared to when it was in the open.

② Viewing it as a lingering image of its original form (narrative perspective)
　… Stories associated with objects stimulate various imaginations and evoke emotions.

③ Viewing things as they are (single-minded perspective)
　… A creative perspective that confronts reality one-on-one and attempts to create something deductively.

In other words, the secret to its appeal lies in the fact that these three perspectives, each lacking balance, simultaneously catch my eye.

[Perspective within society]

Before coming to the scrap yard, while still within society, ①, ②, and ③ are inseparably linked. Therefore, it is difficult to separate ① and ② and confront ③ in its true form on a one-to-one basis.

For example, consider a case where a popular, expensive engine is being discarded.

When something is part of a society, it receives stable attention from three perspectives: ① economic perspective (price), ② narrative perspective (for example, history, popularity, and reputation), and ③ standalone perspective (as something inseparable from its true nature).

This stable perspective, in other words, is a fixed viewpoint within society, a viewpoint from which everyone recognizes the same values. For example, expensive and popular items are often assumed to be inherently superior, making it difficult for the individual’s perspective, which seeks to confront things as they truly are, to emerge.

[Perspective from a Scrapyard]

However, once something is discarded and ostracized from society, the moment it arrives at a scrap yard, perspectives ①, ②, and ③ become separated.

The moment you arrive at the scrap yard, ① the economic perspective changes: the price is measured by weight, and it probably plummets to one-thousandth of its original value. At that point, we see the material as just another part of a pile of scrap.

Generally, scrap metal still allows us to imagine its original form. This is where the narrative perspective comes into play. For example, we might look at it with the thought, “This was once such a popular engine.” At that moment, we perceive the object within the limits of what we can recognize as the shape of the engine.

Furthermore, ③ seeing the objects in their current, as-is state—deformed, damaged, and rusted—in the scrapyard establishes a unique perspective. In my case, my purpose was to see things from this perspective, as I was looking for materials for architectural models. I believe that the existence of perspectives ① and ② makes it easier to establish perspective ③ independently. At that point, I further narrow my focus, capturing the shape and texture of each individual object.

As shown in the diagram, the order from ① to ③ suggests that the focus is gradually narrowed from the chaotic pile of scrap metal. However, when actually standing in front of a pile of scrap metal, one’s perspective shifts back and forth, and amidst a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions, one searches for the materials one needs. When I reached this point in my thinking, I arrived at the answer to why scrap yards feel like such irresistibly fascinating places.

This is because a scrap yard is a space free from discrimination and stagnation, where “anything (or anyone) could come in next,” and precisely because it is not stagnant, it “encourages proactive action.”

Even for someone like me who wasn’t specifically looking for something, a pile of scrap metal has the potential to captivate you at any given moment, drawn in by the unexpectedly generated shapes and textures that fill it. And perhaps someone will “find” something there.

I began to wonder if we could incorporate this scrap metal into our daily lives. Could we create a space where people can confront scrap metal and awaken their sense of self?

However, I learned something when I took a friend to a scrap yard and observed their reaction: when faced with seemingly endless chaos, many people feel fear before they can even confront it.

Most people don’t like to confront chaos. However, if we at least allow it to exist in space, we can open up the possibility of a rich experience of “discovery.”

That’s where the GRIDFRAME system comes in.

Before I begin explaining the GRIDFRAMEsystem, there’s something I’d like to consider. Could the strange feeling I experienced amidst the chaos of the scrap yard be similar to what I felt in other forms of chaos?

Actually, I used GRIDFRAMEsystem frequently for about six years, from 1998 when I started the company until around 2004, but I’ve hardly used it since then. The reason is that the chaos of scrap metal wasn’t well-received by people.

I started the GRIDFRAMEsystem because I felt there was something special about the chaos of scrap, but I’ve given up on using it anymore. I then left only the concept of incorporating planned disharmony into space, and launched the concept of “a chain of creativity,” and have continued creating spaces ever since.

Then, 20 years later, in 2024, we created a new version of the GRIDFRAMEsystem and resumed using it for spatial design.

This stems from the launch of the SOTOCHIKU project in 2017, which involves collecting materials that have “memorized time by being exposed to wind, rain, and sunlight, or by remaining in a place of life,” and using them as materials for new spaces.

While collecting materials from a building demolition site, I came across a chaotic scene.

It was the site of a sake brewery that had been devastated by the Noto earthquake on New Year’s Day 2024. In April of that year, I faced the scattered objects beneath a roof that seemed on the verge of collapse, supported only by severely tilted pillars, while simultaneously confronting my own awakening.

I was reminded of myself in a scrap yard in 1994. What is the difference between a scrap yard and an earthquake-stricken area?

The three perspectives corresponding to ①, ②, and ③ of the scrap yard are, as expected, separate and fragmented even in the disaster-stricken areas.

① If left alone, it will all be called rubble and disposed of (from an economic perspective).

② It remembers the 150-year history of the sake brewery and the moment of the earthquake (narrative perspective).

③ Viewing broken objects as they are in their current state (single-minded perspective)

Just as scrap metal is “discarded” and becomes an outcast from society, in the disaster-stricken areas, things were “destroyed” by the earthquake and became an outcast from society.

It becomes clear that “being excluded from society” means “losing the expected economic value” as described in ①.

For GRIDFRAME, chaos is the chaos caused by “things that are outside of society.” Going forward, we intend to utilize GRIDFRAMEsystem as a tool to incorporate this kind of chaos into our daily lives.

I believe that chaos possesses the following powers…

1. Chaos is a state without distinction, where anything and anyone can be accepted.

2. Chaos demands that people engage with things in a one-on-one relationship. In other words, chaos has the power to awaken agency.

A GRIDFRAME is a grid-like framework made of steel with a 300×300 grid pattern. For example, by doubling up on this and placing a pile of scrap metal in between, you can create a wall of scrap.

[GRIDFRAME’s role: ① It enables coexistence with chaos]

By placing a GRIDFRAME, a symbol of order, in front of a pile of scrap metal that could be seen as a symbol of chaos, the excessive chaos that might evoke fear is suppressed, allowing people to coexist with the scrap metal in a sense of security.

[The role of GRIDFRAME: ② The frame acts as a framing effect for the photograph, making it possible to confront chaos.]

By dividing the image into 300×300 grids, each individual square takes on the role of framing a photograph, allowing people to engage with each square as if viewing a photograph, thus opening up the possibility of discovering beauty within it.

[GRIDFRAME’s role: ③ As a system material, it can be rearranged into various shapes, sizes, and applications.]

GRIDFRAME can be rearranged into various shapes and sizes, and with a little ingenuity, you can create things for a variety of purposes, such as shelves, tables, benches, and rooms.

Around the year 2000, when we were creating samples of things that could be made using the GRIDFRAMEsystem parts to sell as system components at stores like Tokyu Hands, we found that the parts didn’t sell at all, but the samples did.

I realized that in Japan at that time, people wouldn’t make things for me, so I gave up on selling parts and chose the path of manufacturing things myself.

Imagine a perfectly organized office. Everything is efficient and predictable. It’s probably comfortable at first, but… many people will eventually become exhausted, won’t they?

Because you can’t “find” anything in such a space. Finding something is something that only “you” can do.

Isn’t it true that in today’s world, various pathologies are rampant within spaces that confine oneself, spaces that have been created not out of malice, but rather out of goodwill?

For example, autonomic nervous system dysfunction is said to manifest when the balance between the sympathetic nervous system (stress response) and the parasympathetic nervous system (recovery mode) is disrupted. It is believed to have various contributing factors, and is closely related to the environment in which one spends time.

As a countermeasure, we’ve seen many examples of offices incorporating not only features to promote work but also various features to promote relaxation. For example, creating a more natural environment with light and sound, adding plants, using warm colors, providing appropriate personal spaces, raising some ceilings, etc. I believe all of these are efforts to create a “healing” atmosphere.

However, I feel that healing alone is not enough. It is clear that healing is necessary to restore a weakened heart, but in order to get back on your feet and move forward, don’t you think something is needed to “rouse” you?

Last year at the Abare Festival in Ushitsu, Noto, I experienced a powerful force that “inspires” the world once again, where death and life, order and chaos, destruction and preservation become one breath. If this is what truly heals a weakened spirit, then I would like to dedicate myself to “creating spaces that bring chaos into all fixed spaces.”

There are many things in the world that make us wonder, “How did such an incredible thing happen?” When these things are explained, we often hear the term “positive feedback.” It’s a mechanism where an initial change further promotes changes in the same direction, creating a spiral cycle that leads to an expansion of scale.

The word “positive” isn’t always used in a good sense. There are virtuous and vicious cycles, but it seems to be used more often in the context of vicious cycles.

For example, a prime example of a positive feedback loop in a global vicious cycle is the inescapable cycle of war.

When we asked an AI about the cycle that makes it impossible to stop war…

The emergence of conflict and tension → increased demand for weapons → expanded profits for the arms industry → increased influence on politics → increased military budget → further development and sale of weapons → new sparks of conflict.

This is a system where security risks increase even if only one country disarms, and it’s a vicious cycle that most people give up on, thinking there’s nothing an individual can do about it. But unless something intervenes to stop it, what’s happening in Ukraine and Gaza will escalate even further, and the planet will be completely destroyed.

So what is acting as a deterrent? If the main force were activities based on the conscience of citizens, upholding “humanitarianism,” “environment,” and “peace,” then we could have hope for the future. However, in reality, its influence is not significant at the moment.

To summarize the answer I got from the AI…

Unfortunately, the only deterrent is the will of those in power around the world to remain in power. Those in power profit more from “sustained tension” than from “total annihilation,” and they maintain local wars to avoid excessive destruction in order to maintain this.

The reality is that those in power control public sentiment to the extent that their own positions are not threatened, which determines how much they suppress citizens’ peace activities.

When we see AI responses like these, it might seem as though we individuals are completely powerless in the face of global structures, but in reality, individual power is only truly unleashed after the war is over.

In times of war, and indeed in times of various disasters, someone rises from the rubble and creates a small part of life. Then, others who resonate with this connect, and a small whole is created as a collection of these parts. Isn’t it always the power of each individual that regenerates the world in this way?

This connects to the article I wrote in the previous issue.

…
Instead of thinking of it as “the whole exists,” think of it as “the whole being created as a collection of parts.” Even the whole created in this way is merely “one part alongside the other parts.”

No matter how many parts you gather together, you can never reach the true whole. Therefore, it is absurd to even begin a discussion from the perspective of the whole. By starting from the parts, you can “create various cross-cutting units between elements that strive to maintain all differences.”

What’s wonderful about this idea is that it represents a future where even small companies like ours, or individuals, who have no power, can create a new world. It’s a new vision of the future where, as Hiroshi Sasayama puts it, “an existence that is infinitely close to zero, yet not zero,” keeps rising again and again, no matter how many times it’s destroyed.

“Contradiction always has a tendency to move towards being non-contradictory.” (Atsushi Mori)

As long as it remains a part, contradictions persist, but the moment one recognizes that they have reached the whole, it becomes consistent. In other words, a powerful figure emerges who fixates on the whole and begins the discussion from that perspective.

This is how all internal virtuous cycles of resonance decay. Therefore, we must accept the stagnation and death of the cycle as a shedding process and move towards the next chaos.

No matter how many times it breaks, we’ll keep getting it back up. We see GRIDFRAMEsystem as a tool for that purpose.

I wish to live within this endless loop of creation.

A quarter of a century has passed since we gave up selling the GRIDFRAMEsystem, but we have now resumed selling it as parts. This is because we are confident in a shift in the times, where more and more people will take on the proactive act of “discovery” through the creative act of creating spaces. If you are interested in making things yourself, or if you would like to handle our products, please contact us at the URL below, writing “<parts>” at the beginning of the “Inquiry Details”.

https://gridframe.co.jp/contact/

In this issue, we had promised to introduce the NPOs that accept donations of SOTOCHIKU materials, but since this has become quite long, we will postpone that introduction to the next issue.

In the next issue, we will continue to share information about SOTOCHIKU’s various activities.

Issues published more than a month ago can be viewed on the archive page.

https://sotochiku.com/category/tsu-shin-archive/

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Thank you very much.

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November 30, 2025 GRIDFRAME Minoru Tanaka