For five years, Japanese-born photographer Hayahisa Tomiyasu photographed the lives of ordinary people interacting around a ping pong table outside a student apartment in Leipzig, Germany. Over the years, his camera revealed how the table was used for everything other than its intended purpose and became the focal point of the community.

Tomiyasu’s “project” was not planned. In 2011, he caught glimpse of a fox from his student apartment and wanted to take pictures of the animal. What began with a curiosity over a fox morphed into an obsession. He noticed how over the years, the ping pong table was transformed into everything imaginable: a sunbed, a dance floor, a laundry counter, a family lunch spot and even a shelter from the rain. The images he captured became an intense exploration of human behavior, revealing the diverse and often surprising ways people interacted with this unassuming object. “I didn’t create any stories about the people. I was taking photographs like a machine” Tomiyasu noted, allowing the scenes to speak for themselves and inviting viewers to form their own narratives.

Tomiyasu’s work raises questions about form and function of civic objects. What does it take to make people come together as a community? Why is the ping pong table such a popular meeting place? Made as a piece of sports equipment, it is not a particularly inviting space to hang out. Neither is the location, set on a small, dreary patch of green squeezed in between a carpark and tower blocks. But the lack of alternatives makes the locals resourceful. They made do with what they have, and apparently, they had a good time, proof that (a) we are an adaptable and creative species and (b) it doesn’t require something expensive or fancy to foster people interactions, just thoughtful design will do. Interestingly, the only thing the table was not used for one single time was to play table tennis. As for the fox, Tomiyasu never saw it again.

Selected Photos by Hayahisa Tomiyasu