About the artwork

A hut was set up in a parking lot in the Matsudai shopping area. Notepaper and envelopes were placed on the small shelves that covered the hut’s interior walls. Visitors could then write a message (a letter) and place it wherever they liked. They could also read the letters that other visitors had left.Residents of Matsudai, schoolchildren on their way home, and visitors to the Triennial all participated in this exercise in writing and reading. Their messages dealt with every aspect of daily life, from a family member, life and death to wars. Anything at all could be written and read about, by someone from Matsudai or someone just visiting. Many lives overlapped in subtle and unexpected ways in these small pieces of paper deposited during the summer of 2003.