IWAKAN Volume 06: 

Masculinity — or perhaps our mistaken understanding of it — as an ideology has entrenched itself so deeply into every system that runs our society. These unequivocally male-dominated systems stare at us on a daily basis, represented by the patriarchy and misogyny we witness regularly in acts like men buying women drinks at the dinner table; reaffirming their unwavering presence and unforgiving rules. While some may find it easy to accept the system, others struggle to comply. We are those people who struggle. Those people who are tired of these outdated norms for masculinity, who are tired of it being understood solely through the lens of violence and dominance, and who are tired of the emptiness that comes from humans constantly being reduced to caricatures of themselves and forced to participate in this ludicrous system called patriarchy. Masculinity does not belong solely to those who have a penis, it is something that should be accessible to all. That is why, we want to find a new understanding of it, one that is fresh, revitalized, rich, inclusive, and diverse. It is time that masculinity changes, it is time that masculinity is liberated.

Features

The Masculinity Issue 06　違和感瞬間　男 14　Producing Sex: Images of Masculinity in the Gay Porn Industry／François Sagat 24　A Space for Men’s Confessions 32　Exploring Gender: What Can Masculinity Contribute to Being Non-binary?／Amity Miyabi 36　An Unwavering Heart Reaching for the Light／Sennosuke Kataoka 48　Imagining New Masculinities Through Music: an Interview with NoSo, Ichi Takashi, and Aisho Nakajima 52　PEOPLE VOICE OPINION Let the people speak! 60　The Unspoken Tenderness／Nelson Hor 66　Our Career Choices: A Message For the Future From a Parenting Adviser and an Obstetrician-Gynaecologist／Keito Kawanishi, Singh Ikebukuro 74　STUDY OUR ISSUE: Is “Masculinity” a Good Enough Excuse for Violence?／Noriko Yamaguchi 78　Pity for Men: the Agonies and Contradictions of Unpopular Boys.／Kai Nishii 90　The Glass House of Adonis／Andromeda 92　Exploring The House of Gay Art: The Captivating Photographs of Junichi Enya／Mika Kobayashi 96　Is Coffee Masculine? A Conversation About Coffee and Masculinity／Keita Nakamura, Yuki Shibata, Mako 108　Redefining “Realness”: Exploring the Implications and Possibilities of “Male Genital” Prosthetics／Prosthesisman.Stp.Japan 112　Disobedience, Deconstruction, and Desire: Re-Defining Bodies Through Clothing and Art／Bárbara Sánchez-Kane 122　Decoding Performance and the Body Through the Works of Kento Terada and Sota Kodera／Mika Kobayashi 128　The Exquisite Corpse of Likeness／Yuki Kasaï-Paré 137　Recognising ‘Domination’: The Beginning of Resistance／Hanae Takahashi 138　Vol.4 IWAKAN OPEN ART CONTEST 141　Radically Moderate／Nonoka Sasaki 142　A Diary of Secret Dialogues／Mitsu Tachibana 144　My Incomplete Beauty Handbook／Yuri Abo 146　Asian Gaze／Yo Katami from loneliness books 148　Let’s Talk About Politics／Ana 150　Stopped Making Sense／Noemi Minami 152　Recommendations from Contributors Cover Design: 福岡南央子

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Dear friends,

We are happy to invite you to Cults and Culture on Thursday, July 13th from 7:00 PM, a talk by Alex Head in which the author will discuss his book Ricochet – Cultural Epigenetics and the Philosophy of Change (Ljå Forlag, Oslo, 2021).

Reflecting on discoveries and debates that have occurred in the two years since its publication, artist Alex Head will read from current works in progress to highlight specific aspects within his ambitious book 
Ricochet to discuss the architecture of power.

It is now well documented that cults have been used to disseminate disinformation. For example the extremist cults of MAGA, The Oath Keepers and Proud Boys who’s recruitment pipeline has been funded by Big Oil and crypto libertarians in an attempt to overthrow the United States and 
crash their and the world’s economy.

But what about the arts more widely, is there a form of culture that is transparent about its ideology, particularly in today’s hyper-accelerate media vortex? Are all cultural institutions not also in some way cultish? The cult of patriarchy being just one obvious example that transcends both religious and cultural institutions.

Focussing on specific evidence of how cults have been used to spread disinformation and other historical data the artist will discuss the central motif to his work Ricochet, – the Sacred Date Palm Tree – as a expression of the anti-rhizome. Are we, the unwitting public being continuously gaslit by Sacred Date Palm tree’s in the form of neoclassical architecture? And if so, what can we do to review and 
refocus personal and political objectives as users navigate the web architecture of the app?

Join us at Motto Berlin on Thursday, 13th of July for an insightful talk where we will explore the profound themes of Ricochet and run across topics like January 6th, Classical Architecture, White Supremacy, BND Building Berlin, Mental Health, Libertarianism, Bitcoin, Gold Standard, Going Offline, Art, Publishing, Design, Cultural Epigenetics, Memory, Witnessing and Social Media.

–

Alex Head

Ljå Forlag

In mere 100 years from now, the Baltic coastline as we know it will be nothing more than a beautiful memory lost somewhere in history – according to the leading experts studying climate change. The melting glaciers will swallow up Swinoujscie, whilst turning Gdańsk into the modern day Atlantis and Poznan (the author’s hometown in the Western Poland) into a slowly submerging seaside resort town. 

In view of these predictions and out of sheer curiosity, Marcin Matuszak, Poznan-based designer and artist (accompanied by his friend, Tomasz Peukert – music producer who was collecting the field recordings), decided to walk along the entire current Polish seaside, to document the current state of it and to prepare a photo album from the material collected during the journey: “500km”. 

The project of the year-long walk, divided into 12 stages of several days was called “550 km” – as the estimated coastline of the Polish Baltic Sea. After walking the entire length, it turned out to be nearly 607 km from the German to the Russian border.

The project documents the Baltic Sea through four seasons, in the full sun and when it rains, with the wind and against the wind, with stormy horizons and calming sunsets. Against this backdrop, the sand, the shells, the seals, and also the cliffs breaking off with tree roots tell the story of the shifting coastline. 

The material presented, however, is not purely documentary. It is a photo record of a moment. A maximum of a three-second pause. A snapshot that cuts the future from the past.

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Dear Friends,

We are excited to invite you to the opening of Park 2 INN on Saturday, July 1st from 7PM, a duo exhibition by Louise Verstraete and Rebecca Quix in the presence of Nissan Sunny 1.4LX and a sound installation by Lukas Katzer.

It has been a while since we have seen each other. How are you doing? I’m sorry to call you so early. Holiday schedules. MidDay sMiles. Days go by so fast. I was eating these curly fries and was thinking of you today. Lunch hour at the fuel station.  The connection got lost. My tires were losing pressure. Are you here already? Here is still there. Soon there. 

The exhibition will be on view from July 1, Monday to Saturday 12 to 8 PM until July 31, 2023. This exhibition has been made possible with the support of Flanders State of the Art.
–

Louise Verstraete is a multidisciplinary artist working with the medium of textile and the performative power that the medium carries within. Her projects show an interplay between photography, textiles, scenography and performative interventions. Louise holds an MFA in Textile Design from LUCA School of Arts, Belgium and currently lives and works in Berlin, Germany.   

Rebecca Quix (BE) currently lives and works in Brussels. She holds an MFA from LUCA School of Arts, Brussels (2022) and studied at the School of Visual Arts, New York (2021). 

Dear Friends,

We are happy you invite you to an open-air summer evening with lectures, readings, and a music performance to launch our newest Norient Book Politics of Curatorship on June 29 at Motto Books Berlin from 19:00 onwards.

In essays, academic texts, photo essays, poems, and short comments by 32 writers, artists, journalists, and scholars from all over the world, this volume attempts to encourage different approaches to increase diversity and equality in curatorship within the cultural industry.  

For our Berlin release party, we have invited the Berlin-based curator and book contributor Andrea Goetzke & the activist and DJ Ari Robey-Lawrence for a panel discussion, the musician Tatiana Heuman aka Qeei to play an exclusive music performance, and the sound artist Lendl Barcelos and Norient founder Thomas Burkhalter (both contributors) for remote readings in the lovely courtyard of Motto Books Berlin. Moderated by Carla J. Maier and Philipp Rhensius.

Expect an engaging evening with critical questions, challenging sounds and refreshing drinks. Co-moderated by Norient Books editor and Sound Studies researcher Carla J. Maier and Norient editor and writer/musician Philipp Rhensius.

Dear Friends,

We are excited to invite you to the finissage event of Lena Pozdnyakova’s “Hunting-Gathering” exhibition, featuring live performances by Eldar Tagi, Lena Pozdnyakova, and Stas Shärifullin (HMOT). The evening also marks the release of New r Age, ME003 (Motto Editions) by Eldar Tagi, Lena Pozdnyakova, and Japanese-American multi-instrumentalist & composer Patrick Shiroishi, based in Los Angeles.

Organised by Liza Kin.

Join us on Tuesday, June 27th, at 7:30 PM at Motto Books Berlin.

Eldar Tagi, a multi-instrumentalist and composer originally from Kazakhstan, is now based in Berlin, Germany. His live improvised performances use a range of instruments, including computers, field recordings, analog modular synthesizers, daxophone, guitars, other stringed instruments, found objects, and self-made sound-makers.

Lena Pozdnyakova, an artist, curator, and researcher from Almaty, Kazakhstan, explores the culture-nature dichotomy, the Anthropocene, and the boundary between life and art in her collaborative projects and research. She is also 50% of thezwo duo with Eldar Tagi.

Stas Shärifullin, aka HMOT, is a Basel-based musician, researcher and artist working with sound and decoloniality. Born in Central Siberia, with Bashqort roots, Stas is studying the political potential of various musical and listening practices through live performances, lectures, interventions and sound installations focused on the issues of extractivism, identity-based oppression, collective memory and militant (sonic) ethnography: action-as-research, research-as-action.

We hope to see you at Motto Books on Tuesday, June 27th at 7:30 PM for an exciting evening of live performances and art.

Dozie Kanu’s „Cordyceps Gaud Adversary” is the first comprehensive publication that contextualizes and traces his artistic practice of the last four years in relation to the notion of Black material culture, the theatricality of exhibition-making and his understanding of contemporary sculpture.

The publication is published on the occasion of Dozie Kanu’s exhibition at Neuer Essener Kunstverein and and includes, in addition to a generous image section, commissioned texts by Moritz Scheper and manuel arturo abreu, as well as a conversation on the artistic practice of Kanu between Martine Syms, Klein, and the artist.

Authors: manuel arturo abreu, Klein, Martine Syms, Moritz Scheper 
Publisher: Motto Books, Neuer Essener Kunstverein
Design: jmmp.eu (Julian Mader, Max Prediger)

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Pyeonsik (Picky Eating) refers to the act of not eating a specific food or eating only a specific food for various reasons or problem of taste.

It’s up to you to decide what food you eat. Strangely, the idea that you should eat well is prevalent in Korea. Perhaps it can be said that it is related to Korean food culture. In Korea, there is a culture of rice mixed with various kinds of side dishes and eaten little by little. In this culture, picky eating will be a habit that is difficult to see in a good perspective. If you don’t eat many kinds of side dishes evenly, there will be leftovers, which is an act that adults don’t like. Also, mechanical egalitarianism, which says, “What I eat should be eaten by others,” plays a part. Because Korean think homogeneity is too important, they often cannot accept the fact that others can’t eat what I eat. And also say “Why don’t you eat this?” and “Why don’t you eat this delicious thing?”

So, it is not easy to proudly say that you are a picky eater in Korea because of this view. However, there is nothing more painful than forcing yourself to eat something you don’t want to eat. I don’t have enough time to eat only what I like, but I wonder if I have to eat food that I hate while enduring this pain.

After you read it up to here, you’re like, “Oh, this person has a picky taste.” “Isn’t it just an excuse?”‘ I saw it exactly if I thought so. I’m a picky eater. Also, writing such a long article about picky eating is because I think the world is too harsh for a person who is suddenly picky.

Anyway, this book is a collection of ingredients that I don’t eat. If you look at the ingredients in it, you may wonder this man even don’t eat this? But first, I have to make it clear that I don’t eat this unconditionally. 
If the ingredients lose their original taste and play a good role in certain foods, I tend to eat. It may be a little embarrassing not to eat something, but through this book, I want to proudly reveal that I am a picky eater.

In conclusion, what I’m trying to say through this book is that I just want the world to be a little generous with people who are picky. Wouldn’t it be better to just understand rather than point your finger at picky eaters? It is possible that others may hate what I like or others may like what I hate. Just as each person has a different face, their eating habits are different. I have a very pleasant diet even though I have a lot of food that I don’t eat, so I want you to admit that it’s different sometimes. It’s just my little wish. Anyway, if you have read up to here, I hope you will accept this book with a generous heart. We are now starting to talk about the ingredients we saw from the perspective of a picky eater.

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This text is an attempt to explain the importance of comfort regulation, through sensory stimulation. Whether that be from fidgeting, through masturbation to cuddling and other activities. This thesis is about self-regulation and the objects which visualise that need. From the Freudian psychoanalysis idea of child development through transitional objects introduced by Donald Winnicot to Dakimakura phenomena in otaku culture in a Japanese society that seeks closeness to cute pastelle vibrators which are overflowing the sex toys market. The attempt to answer this question: “Why do hoodie strings taste so good?” seeks to answer the overarching need for constant adjustment to the environment we live in.

I’m intrigued by the need for biting, sucking, and tapping random objects. The fidgeting era is here! We are overwhelmed by all kinds of spinners, popping toys, anti-stress devices, dopamine booster, etc. What is it all about and why have fidget spinners became such a hype in the recent years? Have you ever considered why your hoodie strings taste so good? Have you caught yourself while compulsively sucking them in the metro or at the bus stop? This thesis will endeavour to answer these questions. The answer might be much easier and more pragmatic than we think. In contradiction to my deep analysis in the following sections, one of the reddit users wrote in response to the above question: Why do hoodie strings taste so good?

“Just don’t do it! After sucking them a few times, they become bacteria factories/colonies, so taste (and probably smell) evolves over time. Don’t suck and chew them!! They do, however, work as good, reachable things to practise finger dexterity – to tie knots into and practice rope binding”.

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This is Vakuum: your magazine for spirituality and technology!

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