Megumi Matsubara, active as an architect, has applied architectural concepts to her work, moving beyond the common business of architects such as design, construction, and the management of architectural structures. Recently, Matsubara has launched the Absent City project with the help of her studio assistant, photographers, musicians, and even her acquaintances. By using portrait photographs, and consumed words, this project represents the background scenes from Tokyo in the form of an installation. In Sociological Lunch, she expresses a wide variety of images through dialogues exchanged over lunch. The act of taking part in the conversation itself becomes part of the project and an important mode.

Her work also consists of music and maquette, evoking a fantastic feeling like a bricolage made of everyday objects. It may also remind us of Constant Nieuwenhugs’ New Babylon. In this project, emphasizing the work process, what do these attempts to bring about the form of a city by employing the individuality of each sound and portrait mean? This project can be said to be an attempt to discover individuality from urban scenes that are controlled by laws and surveillance.