Story - 03
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01 - Purpose of the activity. Regarding the interpretation of "decomposition".
Every day, we judge things as "no longer worth anything" and discard them. However, it's not the object itself that's being discarded, but the human judgment made against it. Objects don't sever their own value; they're simply deemed "unnecessary" externally by human standards . In nature, decomposers break down organic matter and return it to the soil as nutrients, maintaining a cycle. But in human society, the moment that judgment is made, the object is cut off from that cycle.
02 - How to decompose using twofold
At twofold, we attempt a different kind of decomposition using "lacquer" to address this disconnection. By applying lacquer to discarded artifacts, we break down the concept of "garbage" and return them to society. Through the permanent preservation method of lacquer, objects are transformed into things that can be used for a long time. Decomposition occurs not by destroying, but by permanence. This act is not restoration, but an attempt to intervene in human value judgments and create a new cycle.
03 - The Paradox of Decomposition and the Redefinition of Time
Decomposition is generally thought to be a process of destruction. However, here, the opposite occurs: decomposition takes place by extending time. Lacquer is an extremely difficult material to decompose in nature, and its persistence connects the existence of objects to the future. The moment discarded objects are coated with lacquer, they transform from "unnecessary items of the past" to "beings that move towards the future." Decomposition is redefined not as disappearance, but as an act of updating meaning within the time axis .
04 - The Role of Decomposers in Society
This act demonstrates not the reuse of materials, but the reconstruction of judgment. No matter how advanced recycling technology becomes, as long as things continue to be judged as "worthless," they will continue to be excluded from the cycle. What is needed is not an improvement in processing capacity, but an entity that intervenes in the judgment itself. Twofold's practice is an attempt to deconstruct the meaning given to things and reconnect them to the cycle, acting as a decomposer in human society.
Sotry-01: Coexistence with lacquer
Urushi refers to the sap extracted from the lacquer tree.
It takes 10 to 15 years for a lacquer tree to grow, and only about 200 ml of sap can be harvested from a single tree.
People have cultivated lacquer trees in the mountains and used their sap as a blessing to support their lives. This relationship between humans and lacquer has continued for an incredibly long time.