Datscha Radio Togatta: Waste Culture #2
Datscha Radio broadcast from the town of Zao in Miyagi Prefecture on December 26, 2025
Our show was relaxed, beginning with the Zao Radio jingle spoken by Aoki-san, followed by Tiger Stangl’s short, iconic trash piece. The cassette recorder was also turned on and we listened to a poem about the place where we were staying: Togatta.
The programme provided insights into artistic collaborations and the aims of the residency, and touched on research into the aesthetics of waste. We exchanged ideas with Miki on a wide range of topics, from the bathing culture of onsen, to the use of “rotten” fruit, to the reasons why we pick up a piece of rubbish from the street, to the question of why we drop or lose things in the first place.
For Zao, we also activated a small transmitter to broadcast on 96.0 FM within the vicinity of the residence studio. Unfortunately, atmospheric conditions did not prove favourable for setting up the radio receiver directly in the vestibule of the onsen. Instead, we used the local bus stop’s exhibition space to make the program heard by the town’s people.
Participants and Presences
Massa-san is the director of three artist-in-residence spaces in Togatta, Shiroishi, and Fukushima. He has been helping Datscha Radio with a great many things: Tech, new acquaintances, translations, and we were doing the radio show together. He is also the owner of a small tape label and brought one of his guitars alongL. like our guest Miki-san, he supported our broadcast musically.
Aoki-san is a textile artist from Sendai, presently one of the artists in residence at Togatta. Because he had to see his family on the radio day, we had a recorded chat the day before. Aoki-san brought two personal pieces of “trash” along, both relating to his art practice. These were a mosquito-net-like sieve for making paper and his used filters from coffee-making.
Miki-san is a singer-songwriter from Zao. She performed two songs from her repertoire, joined a guitar improvisation by Massa, and brought, next to her beautiful voice, two interesting items along: a brush from her cleaning days as an attendant at a local onsen, and a Chinese quince.
Not all pieces from the Open Call could be played, and only very few of the research interviews could be included. One of them was a conversation between Kobe-based artist Daniel Miller and Ikura-san, the owner of the Bossa bar in Kobe.
In order to include those tracks, Datscha Radio’s live program switched seamlessly to the 90 min “Talk Space” and from there to the “Night Loop” (until 8 in the morning).
Open Call Tracks and Pre-Recordings
- “Togatta” – A poem (Togatta Tapes)
- Waste Chant, Laublied, In the Soil – Tiger Stangl
- A Walk to the Recycling Bins – Leonie Roessler and Margherita Brillada
- Waste in Art – Conversation with Aoki (EN/JAP)
- Müllpresse – Hanna Hjort
- Bossa Bar Conversation – Daniel Miller, Ikura-San, Gabi Schaffner (EN/JAP)
- Evasive Space – Meta Golova
“Talk Space” contained all material already listed on the Contributions Page; the “Night Loops” were supplemented by the additional pieces of Albert Negredo, Leonie Roessler and Margharita Brillada, and Sebastiane Hegarty.
Thanks
Datscha Radio hereby expresses its greatest thanks to Massa-san for inviting Ms Schaffner over to Zao and supporting the project.
The artist and her project are much obliged to the Foundation Kunstfonds Bonn and the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media who facilitated this journey to Japan by their grant.
Rebroadcast Of All Japan Contents in 2026
Scheduled for some time in March 2026. Will be updated!
This post is also available in: German