This is the concluding chapter of "Planetary Seed ● จร ● 惑星的共自在性", the collaborative exhibition by Wit Pimkanchanapong and living room for seed. Opening on 17 October 2024 and continuing through 24 November 2024. We hope you’ll join us in exploring this introspective journey of planetary coexistence of self-reliance, and endemic wisdom within 'Infinite Maze', a multi-dimensional installation developed by Wit Pimkanchanapong. This final stage culminates in the thought-provoking question, "Where do we go?"

Planetary Seed < planetary coexistence of self-reliance > is a process-based project aimed at evoking and interweaving worlds and realms that are often difficult to see and feel in modern times. It emerges from continuous research into the endemic wisdom of Thailand and Japan.

The maze installed in the gallery this time was developed by Wit Pimkanchanapong inspired by the Thai tradition where temples build mazes as a means of experiencing the Buddha’s path to enlightenment. At the exhibition opening, Yamabushi Daizaburo Sakamoto began with a ceremony to express his gratitude to the spirits of 100 Tonson’s land and to summon their presence. This moment was accompanied by simultaneous prayers performed by Akha shamans from Chiang Rai in the north, Muslim prayers from Pattani in the south, Karen rituals from Kanchanaburi in the west, and invocations from the Dewa Sanzan mountains in the east.

The maze itself was inaugurated with a Noh performance by Tyuki Imamura, a traditional Japanese chant that bridges this world with the other realm. Later, on a full moon evening, a walking meditation was led by three monks, followed by a collaborative creative session.  Thai and Japanese teenagers worked together to paint a pine panel that serves as a divine vessel, and a Noh performance was performed in front of it, infusing the space with a vibrant, transcendent energy. In addition, My Planet, created by children during a workshop called Creative Intuition, was set on a terrain symbolizing the moon's waxing and waning, creating a sense of dynamic movement.

In the second phase, the experience of a 300-kilometer canoe trip on the Mekong symbolized the energy of Naga - the spirit and life of the river. The journey reflected how the Naga is believed to bring life-giving water from the skies to make the land fertile, and how this flow of water has been disrupted due to the construction of a dam. 'Its rhythms are fitted to the same pattern as the moon’s;  They govern the periodic appearance and disappearance of all forms, they give a cyclic form to the development of things everywhere.’ As Mircea Eliade describes, ‘Water, as the principle of the unknowable and latent, as the source of all cosmogony, as the container of all budding, symbolizes the primordial substance from which all forms emerge.’ This phase was akin to traveling inside the Naga, whose interior, like a maze, shifts and transforms at any moment. A three-dimensional book captured this fleeting, immersive experience.

いづこへ / Izuko-e  / Where do we go?

When we stand at the critical threshold of life and death, our sensitivity, which had been closed in our daily life, may open up, and there we might realize what we have forgotten. Social systems falter, and in the chaos that arises from multiple origins, life and death intermingle. We are drawn into the fluid space between the unconscious and the conscious, compelled to feel, think, and experience anew. 

In our current reality, people around the globe face unprecedented climate disasters—floods, fires, and storms. Each morning brings news of conflicts claiming countless lives, even threatening the use of nuclear weapons. At this critical juncture, we reflect on the lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake of 11 March 2011, when entire cities and thousands of lives were swept away in hours. This was a pivotal moment for each artist involved—a starting point for new paths to emerge. Where do we go from here?

Standing here now, we face infinite openness. The maze before us, seemingly leading somewhere, becomes a grain of planetary seed—a step toward interdependence in this vast openness.

This project stems from several years of research and dialogue between Wit Pimkanchanapong and living room for seed, in collaboration with communities across Thailand and Japan. The multi-layered program includes works such as Letters from the Sages, collaborations with university and local communities, children's workshops, and talks, curated and organized by Kayoko Iemura and Tyuki Imamura.

Participating artists from living room for seed: Wit Pimkanchanapong, Ryusuke Kido, Daisuke Nagaoka, Yukiko Watanabe, and Dinh Q. Lê.

Special participating artist: Chris Wainwright

This programme is ceaselessly evolving with our steps and the movements of the celestial bodies. What appears at every turn of this cavernous maze is a call of wisdom, a letter-like spirit that reaches us here and now, from all ages and places. It is believed that Terma awaits discovery by specific individuals following the passage of time. Terma is thought to remain concealed, emerging from deep underground, at the ocean's depths, amidst the skies, and at times, within our very minds. Here and now, we delve into these depths, receiving and weaving wisdom to be shared with celestial beings who have traversed countless aeons.

The final phase of the program runs from
17.10.2024 - 24.11.2024
Planetary Seed ● จร ● 惑星的共自在性

At 100 Tonson Foundation

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In cooperation with:

Japan Arts and Culture Foundation ● CARD Inc. ● Gassan Tsutaya