InLoop/EnTry: Nishiko
Repairing Earthquake project2011 -
Object, photography, sound, blog etc.
Nishiko:
The Repairing Earthquake project is an art project dealing with the extensive natural disaster called the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake, which took place in Japan in March 2011. I undertook the attempt of finding things at the disaster area that had been destroyed in the tsunami and repairing them in the temporary studio in Yokohama. While interacting with all sorts of people through the action of repairing, I faced the mind-stopping wonder of nature, and the people who had the trial of this personal experience."
First phase: from September to 6 November 2011, I observed the state of the area struck by the disaster and collected broken things; inside the Satellite-studio of ARCUS Project IBARAKI in "Shin Minatomura BankART Life III", a related programme of the Yokohama Triennale 2011, I publicly performed the work of repairing the collected items. The process was uploaded to the project's blog: www.nishiko55.com/eq
As for the ‘repairing', my aim was to return the object, as much as possible, to its original state; how it was before the Tsunami attacked. A broken plate I super-glued back together; twisted metal I hammered back into its original shape; a wedge of asphalt I washed and polished. A dress shirt covered in sand I took to the dry cleaner and had it folded into a plastic cover.
The objects displayed in the tabletop presentation are the ones in which I think the ‘repairing' has been completed. The photography presents the state of the unfinished objects I left in Japan last November. I will go back to them in September 2012 to continue and exhibit the project.
