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Take a few outlandish ideas, some models who appear to be posing for proof-of-life hostage photos, and common materials found in your household trash and you have Chindogu: the Japanese art of the almost useless invention.

Chindogu is the inspiration of Japanese man-child Kenji Kawakami, who gained international attention for his pastime through books like this.

Chindogu is defined by 10 tenets. They read as follows:

1. A Chindogu cannot be for real use. A chindogu’s existence lies in the paradox: inventors must be sure that they create something useful or something that solves a problem, but it should not be a practical invention.

2. A Chindogu must exist. It has to be created and cannot exist solely in one’s head.

3. Inherent in every Chindogu is the spirit of anarchy. Chindogu represents the “freedom from conservative utility”. In other words, inventors must think out of the box. They are free to do whatever they want so long as it is considered “useful”.

4. Chindogu are tools for everyday life. They are meant to solve problems as one goes through the experience of daily living.

5. Chindogu are not for sale. To accept monetary compensation for chindogu renders it crass and commercialized. They cannot even be sold as a joke.

6. Humor must not be the sole reason for creating Chindogu. Chindogu has to serve a function. Humor can be an unintended by-product, though.

7. Chindogu are not propaganda. It cannot be used as some sort of satirical or ironic comment on the state of mankind.

8. Chindogu are never taboo. Within the International Chindogu Society, there are certain rules of social decency. Cheap and vulgar humor, cruel and sick jokes that poke fun at living are not allowed.

9. Chindogu cannot be patented. The basic idea of chindogu is to offer up a “useful” way of solving a problem that’s open to everyone, which is why copyrighted, patented, and owned chindogu are banned.

10. Chindogu are without prejudice. This goes right up with the rule above. Because chindogu are made for everyone, it cannot have a prejudice; that is, it cannot be limited to just one set of people, to males, females, etc. Everyone is given an equal chance to enjoy them.

What is the future of Chindogu? As long as there are problems that barely need solving, Chindogu’s outlook is very rosy indeed.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 10th, 2006 at 4:29 pm and is filed under Art, Culture, Pictures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.