Tea Garden establishes a contained sacred space within the space of profane surroundings, within a contained moment in time. This combination installation and performance work makes use of an established spiritual and aesthetic tradition present in both Zen and Shinto. The artists’ small modular tea table will become a site of both conversation and meditation. The installation is portable and entirely self-contained, the stools on which the participants will sit fit inside the table, which is also a box. The tabletop is painted with opium poppies by Miriam Jordan. Participants may choose from a hand-selected brand of teas, which will be poured into blossom shaped “Spatial Concept Tea Bowls,” designed by Julian Haladyn. The project initiates an act of giving without any required receiving, something not altogether common on the streets of downtown Toronto. The intersection of Bloor and Spadina at Matt Cohen Parkette might prove however to be an ideal space to open a dialogue.

The time and space of the ritual will be defined by each of the separate tea drinkers. One might argue that there is a tension inherent in the project as ritual traditionally acts to reinforce cultural patterns in the life of the person; the participant is not free to rewrite custom. The modern emphasis on individual expression is one of the main factors which distinguishes Victor Turner’s historical liminal from the contemporary liminoid. Another challenge for Tea Garden is naturally the environment, the aesthetics of the ritual setting. The garden setting, is an integral part of the tea ceremony.

Traditionally the tea ceremony is an opportunity for a host to express hospitality to his or guests. The goal is to achieve a harmony, respectful dialogue, and in a wider sense genuine peace without discrimination. The roji (tea garden) is designed to provide the optimum physical and spiritual setting for the chaji, a highly ritualized interaction between host and guests. Designers strive for both functionality and aesthetics and work under a highly complex set of design rules. As participants learn the ritual, however, they will naturally make it their own.  One’s own personality will come to life through the pattern, “the pattern becomes inherently intermingled with the nature of that person's expression of the ‘Way of Tea.” (Oiemoto, April 1996) The individual’s personality or chi (spirit) imbues the pattern of the ceremony, which is sublimated in the form of the ritual. 

Haladyn and Jordan will enact their own expression of the ‘Way of Tea’, in a non-traditional fashion. The garden design and ceremonial pattern will be more open than the traditional variants. This performance, will likely play out as much like an experiment as it does a ritual. The gesture of hospitality however, will remain unchanged. 

Sen Soshitsu Oiemoto. “Kata and Katachi: Pattern and Form,” Tanko Magazine, April 1996. Kyoto: Tankosha, 1996.

Hounsai Iemoto. “In Buddha Nature No North or South,” Tanko Magazine, May 1996. Kyoto: Tankosha, 1996.