r/MadeMeSmile • u/baekachu • Sep 02 '26

Wholesome Moments One ping pong table, five years, and countless of unexpected moments

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In 2011, Japanese photographer Haruhisa Tomiyasu started photographing one ordinary ping pong table from the window of his student apartment in Leipzig, Germany. What began after spotting a fox near the table quickly turned into a five-year project documenting all the unexpected ways people used it. It became a bench, a sunbathing spot, a workout station, a meeting place, and sometimes something completely different. Thousands of small moments later, the project became the photobook TTP, published by MACK in 2018 and winner of the MACK First Book Award. It’s a simple reminder that even the most ordinary places can become fascinating when you watch them long enough.

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898

u/PotatoTomato_12 Sep 02 '26

Nono that’s the pic of it being installed. There’s no grass growing where it would have been, nor marks for where it would have stood.

547

u/HolySaba Sep 02 '26

The surface wear on the table would suggest otherwise

463

u/PotatoTomato_12 Sep 02 '26

Shush, ignorance is bliss.

202

u/spaceturtle1 Sep 02 '26

It just goes to a farm upstate where people will play ping pong on it forever.

29

u/sillygoofygooose Sep 02 '26

And the farmer is that one weird guy that does yoga on tables

3

u/Same-Suggestion-1936 Sep 03 '26

I mean at least to our knowledge nobody fucked on it

2

u/del_brio Sep 02 '26

As that little rabbit I had as a child

11

u/MarthasPinYard Sep 02 '26

We have a couple of these tables out on pasture. They’re doing well!

15

u/rydog123bruh Sep 02 '26

That table just got done with a 20 year shift at another park, and getting re-homed.

2

u/peach_dragon Sep 02 '26

It's OK to feel sad. No need to spin a story to take away that feeling.

-4

u/AvaryZig Sep 02 '26

Ignorance isn't a delusion.

3

u/these_metal_hands Sep 02 '26

It might be dust / dirt

3

u/Roflkopt3r Sep 02 '26

That's just dust.

These things aren't shipped in clean condition. They usually come from already dusty storage halls (where probably some people were touching/sitting on them and left some traces that dust can easily stick to), are transported to the site on the open bed of a truck, and then it got strapped under the bucket of an excavator.

If this was actually an image of the removal, there is no explanation why there are zero traces of where it stood. No way they would care to remove the grass before removing the table.

1

u/HolySaba Sep 02 '26

The grass disappears on some of the seasonal photos too.  Just as likely for the crew to level out the areas before hauling away the table.  Unlikely for work to be done on the ground exactly to the dimensions of tbe table before installation.   Also the filming of the table being installed doesnt fit the narrative about how this project began.  

3

u/Roflkopt3r Sep 02 '26

Some of the commenter further down actually have the book and confirmed that the picture was taken during installation.

You are right that it contradicts OP's description though.

1

u/Yoldark Sep 02 '26

Might also be tree reflecting on the surface. The photo quality is utterly potato to define it as wear.

40

u/just_brazilian Sep 02 '26

"...began after spotting a fox near the table..."

8

u/Psy_Kira Sep 02 '26

Because they are turning the park into an apartment building

2

u/Longlivefunnypeople Sep 03 '26

That paving paradise thing😩

14

u/Biz_Rito Sep 02 '26

Excellent point

1

u/TrickShape905 Sep 02 '26

What began after spotting a fox near the table

It really isn't.

2

u/IllustriousFault1856 Sep 02 '26

Sounds like a great spot for some fun! Those tables definitely become the center of a lot of good times.

1

u/PotatoTomato_12 Sep 03 '26

Oh yeah. Had one in my local park where I grew up; I think it’s still there and standing strong.

1

u/jonas_c Sep 03 '26

They built a school there

1

u/here4mischief Sep 03 '26

And it's clean. I was shocked until I saw that

1

u/Eagles365or366 Sep 02 '26

Why would you think that? The table is clearly getting removed.

As you can see:
-The entire area is under construction, the grass, sand, and playground have been generally razed.

-The trees and foliage in the background have grown larger in the removal picture

-There is graffiti and damage on the ping pong table in the removal picture

1

u/PotatoTomato_12 Sep 02 '26

If it was being removed, they’d have to have redone, removed the grass, sanded and flattened the ground, all before lifting it with a crane.

1

u/Eagles365or366 Sep 02 '26

Of course they did that, but not necessarily in the order that you say. You can see the outline of where they had to remove the grass in the dirt. This is final removal, they could’ve put it off to the side while they completed resurfacing work, and waited for transportation for the table.

I don’t even know why you would hyper focus on that, when the table is the most obvious evidence that it is old and beaten up in the last photo, along with the surrounding foliage.

1

u/PotatoTomato_12 Sep 02 '26

Looks pretty beaten up in the other pictures :3

1

u/Eagles365or366 Sep 02 '26

Not when it was new. There’s clear damage in the last photo, along with graffiti that isn’t visible in any other photo. Keep deflecting the other evidence, though.

1

u/PotatoTomato_12 Sep 02 '26

It’s damages in every pic cuz. Why is this like the most serious part of your day? 😭

1

u/Eagles365or366 Sep 03 '26

Because it’s not that hard to tell that you’re wrong. I open Reddit three times a day to check my replies, lol

1

u/PotatoTomato_12 Sep 03 '26

Hoe about you admit you’re wrong then :3

1

u/Eagles365or366 Sep 05 '26

If you had said a single correct thing, maybe. Unfortunately, you didn't.

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1

u/TrickShape905 Sep 02 '26

Why don't you just read the description on the post?

What began after spotting a fox near the table...

Cope all you want, but the table is definitely being removed in the last pic.

2

u/PotatoTomato_12 Sep 02 '26

Idk how to tell you this, but….. these posts sometimes makes stuff up.

1

u/McMaster-Bate Sep 02 '26

Plenty of the images with the installed table don't have grass under it

1

u/PotatoTomato_12 Sep 02 '26

They aren’t all necessarily in order.

0

u/Zanza_Prime Sep 02 '26

Ah! Good point.