This text was written in 2007 as a motivation letter for a dance programme. --- Last week, I was in London. It was terrible days. I could not find any place to stay for 2 nights, and I was sleeping on the street that 2 nights. The temperature on the morning in London was extremely cold for my body without any blanket either sleeping bag. I was lying down on the cardboard, shaking and thinking that "why I am here in this such a difficult situation...?" The answer was not coming up, but so many memories of my childhood was circling in my head. And I encountered one homeless person, Tommy, seemed over 40 years old, coming from Scotland to look for a job. He told me his story and how he is living there. He had a job in Scotland then, even had a SUZUKI-4WD. But one day the company cut him off, then he could not pay for his house any more. He had bought a train ticket with100 pounds and got to London 4 weeks ago. However, he has not been able to get a job, because none of companies employ a person who can not prove where he/she lives. So he has no way to escape from his situation. He said, "I saw so many homeless people here in London. Some of them have been living more than 10 or 20 years as homeless. And most of them are alcoholics. I may be so too someday..." The government of UK just supports him small money to eat, not to live some place. As you know, London is very clean city and very controlled. But the cleanness exclude the dirty: poor people, aliens, minor religious.... Right now I am so glad to be here in Oporto, Portugal. This city is not clean. But I can feel very comfortable with scattering cigarette-ends on the street, dusts in the cafes, rusted machines in the factory and so on. Because those things reminds me the life of people here and the time of passing through the history of city and people: those things are produced by un-controlled/un-philosophied human habits. Portuguese people here do not exclude them, but live with them. I hesitate to be established. I hesitate to make my works established. Establishment also excludes non-establishment and just dedicates to the value of art. I would like to contribute to our society and politics with a way of art, not to contribute to art itself. I am not blaming the philosophy of establishment itself. Just for personally, I would like not to be. When I got a e-mail from you about my nomination, I though it is really nice opportunity to research more about this issue. The name of xxxx is known as most well-known xxxxx in the world and xxxxx is one of represented choreographers in the history of dance. Both of them are definitely established (at least people think so). I would know more precisely what is the effect of establishment in the artistic sense and either in practical matters (how our soceiety needs the establishment). This is not irony. Seriously I would like to concentrate this issue. Because, even I would like to make a distance from the philosophy of establishment, as far as I work in the field of art, I can not avoid to receive the spectators' expectation on the perspective of this philosophy. So I would like to explore a way to how I can pass and reach to more primitive minds of spectators through the research in your program. Thank you very much for your consideration. Yours sincerely, Hajime Fujita |