The Polar Chimera Exhibition

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This exhibition is an art activism project by contemporary witch Parallel Uchuko, themed around 'liberation from oppression.' Through rituals using video works and installation performances (special exhibition 'The Unfinished Ritual Without Boundaries'), it traces the 'living creative process' of dragging the abstract into reality.

An explosion of embodiment piercing the abstract of 'Ritual Garments - Divine Attire,' which the contemporary witch, embodying animism of nature worship, neo-paganism, and feminism, has continued to design for a year in accordance with the significance of performing seasonal Sabbats and rituals, and an organic rebellion against oppression.

Resisting the liberation from the body and the lack of a sense of life, the works in this exhibition suggest that the aesthetic beauty of materials born from having boundaries is like energy flowing from the abstract world into reality, and is an 'explosion of life' that presents a future that is hot, organic, and filled with the frenzy of creation.

The body wearing ritual garments is a 'reinstatement of the body' that emits magical energy, and
by making clothing a 'Yorishiro' (a medium for spirits/the body), it functions not merely as fashion, but as a concrete point of contact between the abstract (spiritual existence) and reality, realistically expanding the 'magical living organism'.

A ritual that blurs boundaries. When the shifting contours of the abstract become clear, I am living 'THAT.' What is necessary to survive in this uncertain world of chaos and flow. Something that allows me to feel a certain reality.

The 'Polar Chimera,' reconstructed into reality from disorderly chaos, is a 'Yorishiro' that makes me 'me.' Isn't the collective creation of 'us,' where body and spirit are fused, a future magic on a larger scale?

The Foundation of Creation

The beginning of design is observing the 'circulation of opposites.' As animism teaches, every substance harbors a soul, and it constantly travels between the opposites of life and death, the concrete and the abstract.

'Die to live, live to die.'
True creation lies within this cruel and beautiful cycle of celebration.

The reason for centering on the eight Sabbats (celebrations) that revolve around the Celtic 'Wheel of the Year' is that for contemporary witch Parallel Uchuko, the act of creation is nothing less than an endless journey of accepting with one's own body the dynamism of the 'alternation of opposites' that exists in the natural world—the amplification and reduction of light, the celebration of life, and the silence of death.

The time spent designing is a 'ritual' itself that blurs boundaries.
When I sink my consciousness into the deep silence where the breath of the formless Chimera swirls, and drag inspiration from the abyss where everything exists, the first line is carved.

We need death to live, and blank space to draw.
Designing that 'will (the dwelling of the soul)' onto white paper is, at the same time as creating something from nothing, narrowing down the infinite possibilities into one, and 'killing' the others.

These fragments of design spreading across the wall are the trajectory of the 'foundation of creation,' extracted one by one from the 'Chimerical nature' lurking within me, and reconstructed through repeated cycles of destruction and creation.

Heretical Attire Dwelling in Mode

In this modern era, we are often swallowed by the waves of trends and chase 'mass-produced correct answers.' However, the 'Chimera' lurking in the inner abyss is filled with uneven, wild vitality that can never be tamed or homogenized. It is a fragment of nameless emotions and memories that sometimes contradict and sometimes repel each other.

The 'Polar Chimeras' lined up in this booth are ritual garments that have gathered the ambiguous contours of the abstract with a single needle and thread, and have continued to house their souls in the Yorishiro called 'Divine Attire.' Each unique individual, crystallized from the 'foundation of creation,' is one of a kind.

What is here is not a 'mass-produced correct answer,' but perhaps the contemporary witch herself, an outsider who transcends the old-fashioned nature of sorcery and tradition in an avant-garde way, resisting the 'death of the individual' that comes with homogenization.
Instead of following trends, we create new traditions suited to the era.
I want you to look at your own 'foundation' through the heretical attire that dwells in mode.

Senninbari (Thousand-Stitch) TEXTILE ~Feminism and the Power of Women's Craftsmanship~

Women's needlework has had an aspect of being a driving force supporting feminism and social movements. Before the war, in art education where textbooks for men and women were different, female students during wartime learned sewing and machine stitching, sewing military uniforms and parachutes.

Activities that women, who were thought to be able to 'do nothing' on the battlefield, accomplished by joining forces. That is the 'Senninbari,' where a thousand knots were stitched with red thread onto a single piece of cloth. This is a grassroots expression where women proactively stood in solidarity.

Standing by the streetlights in front of the station, calling out in a loud voice, 'Please sew. Please give me a stitch,' the Senninbari (thousand-stitch belt) created through collective effort was a 'prayer for the warriors' heading to the battlefield, and at the same time, an act of confirming one's own reason for existence.

Women spoke through the power of craftsmanship, resolved their loneliness in society, and
discussed issues of politics and suffrage through the exchange of information there.
This chain of expressing intent was what led to the women's social movement.

Now that the understanding of gender theory has spread through society, the collaborative work 'Senninbari TEXTILE' changes its meaning over time. Sewing, knitting, weaving, stabbing—is there not a power in each of our stitches to resist society and oppression?

Unfinished Rituals Without Boundaries (Special Exhibition/Planned Exhibition)

I believe that what people will come to realize as 'valuable' in the future of AI technological innovation is
the irreplaceable 'living creative process'.

In a space where original design drawings and actual works are exhibited, the ritual and video installation [Special Exhibition 'Unfinished Rituals Without Boundaries'], which appeals directly to the visual and sensory senses, is a performance that sublimates 'dialogue between creation and society' beyond the framework of personal rituals into a non-verbal artistic act.

A special experience of witnessing an 'unfinished moment' that stands apart from regular exhibitions in a sacred space that cuts off daily life.
By touching upon the worldview of the contemporary witch Parallel Utsukoshi, where the 'living creative process' that is constantly changing and the cycle of life itself are the work, we aimed to create an opportunity to think about questions regarding a society where it is difficult to live.

The act of tearing cloth by hand without using scissors is the procedure for making death shrouds.
There are several unique rules (Sakagoto: reverse acts) in the etiquette of death shrouds, and performing all actions in reverse to daily life has the meaning of 'distinguishing the world of the dead from the world of the living.'
The reason for not making knots in the thread was a prayer so that the soul that has achieved resurrection would not linger, and the reason for not using backstitches was so that one could move forward steadily without hesitation.

When someone passes away, we say they were taken care of 'during their lifetime,' but
I feel that in this current era, due to AI technological innovation, people are harboring a longing for the world of the afterlife (abstraction).

Treat both visible and invisible things with equal respect. Because I am a witch, I do not ignore reality. What is 'during one's lifetime,' what is a true birth, where is the corpse for me, and how and where do I live? I decide for myself.

As an Arts and Crafts movement for the contemporary witch, I have added a slogan that symbolizes the Polar Chimera Exhibition. The collaborative exhibition work 'Senninbari TEXTILE,' which everyone who visited participated in stitch by stitch, has different types of thread, widths, sizes, and time spent for each person, but I focused on how it comes together as a single textile as a whole, and completed the collaborative exhibition work at the special exhibition by adding badges that say 'WE ARE BUGS. WE ARE BETTER FOR IT.'

Contemporary Witch's Arts and Crafts Movement

Resisting the decline of creativity caused by the uniform mass-produced goods of the Industrial Revolution,
the spirit of the Arts and Crafts movement, which sought to bring 'soul' back to human handiwork, deeply resonates with the contemporary witch's magical resistance movement that maintains 'heresy' against today's standardized society.

The Guerrilla Girls, famous as a feminist art collective wearing gorilla masks, sent out messages using Futura's condensed typeface, and Katharine Hamnett, known as a socially conscious fashion designer, sent models wearing message T-shirts using Helvetica down the runway.

Typography often functions as art, carrying intense messages and making an impact on society. The fonts used for such word art play a visually important role.
For the slogan tote bags produced this time, we have adopted fonts that each have historical significance.

[DON’T JUST FOLLOW THE PROMPT] uses
Carilliantine, an Art Nouveau-style typeface with organic and beautiful strokes.

The ideological background of Art Nouveau lies in the 19th-century British Arts and Crafts movement. William Morris, John Ruskin, and others resisted the decline of creativity caused by industrialized mass-produced goods and believed that forms rooted in natural motifs and handiwork would regenerate society.

Isn't the modern era, dominated by AI, at a turning point similar to the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century? Now that technology is accelerating, I want to re-examine the value of handiwork and creativity.

[RESPECT THE FLAWS HONOR THE SWEAT] and [CREATIVITY LIVES OUTSIDE ALGORITHM] use a typeface based on Futura.

Futura is a typeface created in 1927 by Paul Renner, who taught at the Bauhaus, and is characterized by its sophisticated and universal design. The Futura 100 used this time is a font created to mark its 100th anniversary in 2027.

Born 100 years ago, Futura is still loved by many today, and through interpretations and updates by various font vendors, it continues to be reborn into new forms that suit the times.

[WE ARE BUGS. WE ARE BETTER FOR IT] uses Helvetica, one of the most important typefaces in the history of typography.
Deeply embedded in our daily lives through station signs and corporate logos, Helvetica has also been used in countless word art pieces and protest banners, delivering powerful messages to society.

The Bauhaus, the Arts and Crafts movement, and the birth of Helvetica.
All are among the most important events in design history, and their philosophies and practices continue to shape our future.

We pay respect to this history of design and have selected fonts appropriate for each slogan.

Picking up a slogan tote bag with a message you like and incorporating it into your daily life—we believe this is not a special act, but a social movement that can begin from your everyday routine.

Items from the EXHIBITION SHOP can be purchased from the ONLINE SHOP. We hope you enjoy them along with the
"The Polar Chimera Exhibition" digest video, exploring it from various perspectives.

Details on the costume design for the "Kamui" ritual garments featured in the exhibition are summarized in ART WORK.

Official LINE

You can now book fortune-telling and personal sessions directly via our official LINE. We will send you the latest information on fortune-telling and personal sessions held when the doors of "Atelier Witch's House" open during the three days of the new and full moons, as well as workshops, exhibitions, and more.
We hope you will register, as it will make booking smoother.