rukyrozo: November 2011

The Deterioration of the Senses by Kenya Hara

by Marc Kandalaft Design on Friday, August 20, 2010 at 12:13pm

I took this picture of the evacuation map at the Tawaraya Ryokan. To me it talks of the level of detail of the whole place.

Technology has no point unless it subtly awakens and activates the senses of its recipients. Looking around, I notice that on the contrary, people today have been gradually developing thick skins because of technology. They wear elasticized or fleece clothing, sit on comfortable sofas and eat potato chips while watching large-screen TVs. They don't take lessons in cooking or the tea ceremony. They can't even be bothered to arrange flowers in a vase. Thanks to the calculator, they've ceased doing match in their heads or on paper, and are losing the ability to think quickly [...]. Because there's e-mail, they've stopped writing letters by hand. Common greetings used in written correspondance slip their minds. Losing these phrases means they also lose compassion for others. Even the skill of peeling an apple in one long strip, once common prooof of dexterity in Japan, has deteriored because it's such a nuisance to use a knife.[...] In the past, graphic designers had to aquire the skill of drawing ten lines in between two lines one millimietrer apart, as training for writing the kanji characters. not long ago, we practiced this skill using a bow pen or drafting pen.[...] Today, thanks to the computer, in theory we can draw a hundred lines, or a thousand in between those two lines. And so we can laugh off as nonsense the training of the old designers. But it isn't a matter of skill. It's a matter of sensory sophistication, or enhancement. _