Generative Japan

Generative Japan is an effort on the part of International Arts Movement which aims to endow resources to individual artists processing the traumas of Japan’s 2011 earthquakes, tsunami, and nuclear crises. Acknowledging that the wounds of grief require time to heal, this endeavor implements the model of ‘generative thinking’ to reach beyond serving the immediate physical needs of the disaster-victims.

Generative thinking is an ethic of generosity that employs hope to renew a ravaged people or culture. Generative Japan believes that art serves as a vehicle of recovery that reaches beyond the artist’s self-expression, spreading into the general culture, and serving generations to come. Supporting this effort is an investment in the long-term rehabilitation of Japan.

“Generosity begets generosity, and this is at the heart of generative thinking.  It is one of the greatest powers, but we often forget to implement it when life is going well. In emergencies, our response should be generosity...In times of fear or while being traumatized, one of the greatest challenges is to operate not strictly out of fear, but out of love. Art and creativity operate in the spheres of love...The key to communicating our core message of generative work is to operate out of sheer love for people, and not to unnecessarily increase their fear for the future...To have hope is no longer an optimist's escapism -- it is the only path to the future.” - Makoto Fujimura, A Need for Generative Thinking

• Folding Cosmos Japanese Tea House: A Shalom Project of The Folding Cosmos Committee & IAM

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