Makita with seed view, fieldwork, 2022.
From left to right Alice, Makita Sayada and Aiko Owada , fieldwork, 2022.
Hatake Seed Works is an experimental fieldwork project undertaken in Ibaraki Prefecture.
Working alongside artist–farmer Aiko Owada and architectural graduate turned thatcher Makita Sayada, an overgrown field was resown in late autumn 2022 using principles developed by Masanobu Fukuoka.
Between the trees of an organic mikan orchard, the artists weeded, cut, and redistributed existing plant matter over randomly scattered Japanese vegetable seeds. This process used Fukuokas methods testing low-intervention alternatives to mechanised and highly controlled agricultural systems.
A piunk fluorescent-taped perimeter marked the project boundary — a temporary frame within the field.
The work treats cultivation as performance: seeds, weeds, and humans.
For Aiko Owada’s related works, see Aiko Owada.
2022/11/28 Hatake Seed Works
CATALOGUE : archived
LOCATION : Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan
WITH : Aiko Owada and Makita Sayaka
this project is dedicated to Lako-san and Hiro-san