TAKADA Mal

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TAKADA Mal

Participating Project	Local Emerging Creator Residency Program
Activity Based	Osaka
City / Place stayed	Tokyo
Period	2026.5- 2026.7

Purpose of the residency

Although Tokyo is a city where people gathered from all over the world continually exchange voices, how many of those can truly be called “private voices”?
In this residency, I aim to collect “private voices” that are detached from written expression, and to explore their forms through drawing and writing. In urban spaces, voices are exchanged according to the codes embedded within the public sphere, and in Tokyo, the strength of these codes is particularly striking. By collecting voices in a place like Tokyo—where such codes are especially powerful—I hope to examine the limited conditions under which private voices can be shared.

Plan during the residency

• Invite approximately three participants to engage in conversations with me in various locations in Tokyo (such as the residence room, in front of stations, sidewalks, bridges, parks, forests, and restaurants), and create voice-based works from the recordings.
• Categorize participants into three levels based on their relationship with me: close friends, acquaintances, and first-time encounters.
• In addition to the above, experiment with a method in which I prepare only questions or prompts, and participants record conversations on their own without my presence.
  
• Explore a method in which I walk alone through the city, collect voices, and create works based on those recordings.
  
• Learn about "Deaf voice."
  

Activities during the residency

I recorded people sharing their memories and used these recordings to create the “Unreadable Lines” series. I was able to work with four participants: two native Japanese speakers, one native Chinese speaker, and one native Dutch speaker. This allowed me to record and draw voices whose linguistic meanings I could not understand myself. Furthermore, all four participants agreed to be recorded both in the city and in their own homes, which enabled me to compare how different locations affected the quality of their voices. In addition, although limited in scope, I had the opportunity to speak with people involved in the field about the voices of deaf people, which provided me with further insights.

Outcome of the residency

I was able to make significant progress with the “Unreadable Lines” series, both conceptually and formally. I feel that it was only because of my residency at TOKAS that I was able to meet four such diverse collaborators. From my Japanese-speaking participants, I was able to identify differences between voices recorded in the city and those recorded at home. Furthermore, while drawing as I listened to recordings in Chinese and Dutch, whose meanings I could not understand, I was able to experience and analyze what drives me to draw lines. This was arguably the greatest achievement of my residency.
Moving forward, I plan to continue the series based on the insights I gained during my residency and create more opportunities to exhibit it as a body of work developed through my direct engagement with others.

Creator Information