2013
群馬県吾妻郡中之条町大字四万4237番地
NAKANOJO BIENNALE 2013
4237 Shima, Nakanojo-machi, Agatsuma-gun, Gunma Prefecture
Former Marutaka Shoten (Gunma Prefecture)
Lighting, slide films, soil, etc.
Production assistance: Masato Honda
2013
群馬県吾妻郡中之条町大字四万4237番地
NAKANOJO BIENNALE 2013
4237 Shima, Nakanojo-machi, Agatsuma-gun, Gunma Prefecture
Former Marutaka Shoten (Gunma Prefecture)
Lighting, slide films, soil, etc.
Production assistance: Masato Honda
This work was created by confronting the passage of two years, using the same location, Marutaka Shoten in Shima Onsen, where an exhibition was held in 2011. Using photographs taken during the previous and current exhibitions, and employing a two-dimensional expression with transmitted light, the artist creates a dual image: the landscape that emerges as a phenomenon and the landscape inherent in the plane. By using materials that have accumulated time alongside the building, such as the soil under the floor and the ash from the sunken hearth, the artist attempts to quietly bring to light the layers of time etched into the land.
About this production
I also exhibited at this "Marutaka Shoten" during the previous Nakanojo Biennale in 2011. The reason I chose this location again this time is that I wanted to confront the passage of two years and reconsider whether it is possible to create something new in the same place.
Shima Onsen is a hot spring resort where inns and shops are built along a narrow valley nestled between mountains. As a result, the buildings are constructed in a stepped fashion, and by simply shifting your viewpoint slightly from the road, you can see the buildings and settlement from multiple angles, not just from the front, but also from diagonal and overhead perspectives.
In this work, I used photographs taken during the previous and current interviews to attempt a spatial expansion of a plane using transmitted light, similar to stained glass or glass paintings. By shining light on a transparent, flat surface, the image becomes transparent, giving rise to two distinct images: the landscape as a phenomenon projected onto uneven soil, and the landscape as a flat surface with spatial qualities originally depicted on the surface.
While this exhibition brings the phenomenal aspects to the forefront, the two-dimensional image always lurks in the background. For someone visiting this place for the first time, it may not be easy to find the differences between the photographs taken two years ago and those taken now. However, people, animals, buildings, and soil each bear the traces of time that has undeniably flowed and accumulated over time.
This work is composed of a series of photographs taken two years apart, soil collected from beneath the building's floor that has shared time with the building, and ashes from a sunken hearth that hold the memories of the people who once lived here. It is intended to be a space for reflection on the time etched in the land of Shima, and the time etched in each individual.
2013.9
Nanjo Yoshitaka