I moved into my present flat around 2 years ago. Right
from the beginning I liked the grey roof formed by the
four garages in the backyard of my house; it appeared
to me like a stage or projection space.
After living in my flat for about a year I decided to use the
grey space as a kind of open studio. I wanted to work
with the seasons, the changing perception of being at
home and looking outside, the view from the window or
balcony.
So I decided to regularly realise smaller or bigger interventions
on the roof. With these interventions, I wanted
to work with the seasons, open new perspectives, create
more and less obvious eye-catchers.
When looking for a project title, I remembered the
Japanese tokonoma:
Tokonoma (Japanese: ???) is a Japanese term generally
referring to a built-in recessed space in a Japanese
style reception room, in which items for artistic
appreciation are displayed. The items usually displayed
in a tokonoma are calligraphic and/or pictorial scrolls
and an arrangement of flowers. The tokonoma and its
contents are essential elements of traditional Japanese
interior decoration and they often refer to the present
season.
Since September 2008, every month a new intervention
takes place on the roof; sometimes daily changes are
made to the space, for example when a plastic table was
slightly moved around the area once a day
(tokonoma_october08).
In March 2009, three neighbours in the houses opposite
were approached, whose lit windows always draw my
attention. I contacted them and made the viewing axes
from my balcony to their flats visible by spanning a red
cord from the railing of my balcony to their apartments.