 Air
currents, ocean currents, and physical distribution (circulation of products)
- these are key terms for understanding the concepts behind Mitsuaki Tanabeﾕs
global art. Air currents and ocean currents are paths of nature. The paths of
physical distribution may be artificial, but the things that flow along them may
not always be material goods. Trade routes can become bridges connecting different
cultures, like the Silk Road crossing Central Asia. I have mentioned air currents
in the previous section. Here I would like to examine three outdoor monuments
produced between 1985 and 1988: Yokohama, an Object Far Away (Honmoku
Pier, Port of Yokohama), Naoetsu (Joetsu City, Niigata Prefecture),
and Seoul - Unhulled Rice - Thermal Conductivity (National Museum
of Contemporary Art, Seoul, The Republic of Korea). The first two works refer
to ocean currents. In thinking about the flow of physical things, Tanabe has focused
on the cultivation of rice. Since ancient times, rice has been the staff of life
and the source and foundation of culture for a large proportion of the worldﾕs
people, the people living from the tropics to the monsoon regions of Asia.
The
three works mentioned above were fabricated in a stainless steel workshop in Joetsu
City (previously known as Naoetsu). I made a number of visits there at the artist's
invitation. At that time, a replanting project was being carried out on the seashore
with heavy equipment, the same sort of project being carried out in many parts
of the country. In some places the ground had been prepared and new trees planted,
but there were many withered trees left that had been damaged by strong winds
from the sea. We stepped from stone to stone, searching for the decimated remains
of Rosa rugosa flowers that had drifted in on the ocean current. |
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I
discovered the meaning of this experience later on. Tanabe wanted to show me the
seaside scenery as well as the process of making the work because the forms he
was using in Naoetsu were based on the sails of the trade ships once used in that
area, known as "Kitamae ships."
This
was a reference to the historical background of the port of Naoetsu, which is
located on a quiet inlet of the Japan Sea at the mouth of the Seki River. The
monument was commissioned by the local Rotary Club. Its large form, 15 meters
high and 6 meters wide, was intended to suggest the future prosperity being promoted
by local businessmen. Appropriately enough, the artist painted the work reddish
purple, the color of Rosa rugosa buds. Some artists would rather
show the physical qualities of their material rather than painting over it, but
this bold proposal was welcomed by the citizens. The installation of the monument
led to a movement to replant vegetation on the shore, which has expanded and been
continued until the present time. There is a strong connection between the names
of plants and the places where they grow. That is why some people say that it
is best to learn the name of a plant in its natural habitat. The visitors who
come to this bustling port from far away gain an impression of the place from
the flowers they see at the side of the road. If they see a flower that they know,
they feel affection for the land as if they were connected to it by some sort
of blood relationship. Protecting natural plants is a problem of the heart, not
a matter of slogans or putting on a show. |
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| Yokohama,
an Object Far Away was conceived of as a three-part work stretched along
an area one kilometer in length on a pier next to a communications tower for shipping.
The three parts are (1) a monument in front of the base of the tower, (2) flower
beds, two stone structures that take the form of waves moving toward the tower,
and (3) a stone stage, which has not yet been built. The monument is shaped like
the two halves of a shell. It has the appearance of a fossil scallop that lived
in ancient times. The material is cast stainless steel, a cutting-edge technology
that will be passed on to the next generation. The scale is world class, 6 meters
in diameter with a weight of 15 tons. The two halves of the shell were welded
together with a slight space between them. Depending on the wind direction, this
structure produces a sound suggesting the call of the faraway sea that mixes in
with the other noises of the port. The flower beds are stone walls made in the
old way, by a craftsman using a single hammer. Vegetation unique to this shore,
washed alternately by the Kuroshio (a warm current) and Oyashio (a cold current),
is planted inside the oval flower beds, which are 22 meters in length. These
forms are like two modern arks that have drifted in to the shore. Recently, while
walking here, I found that seeds from the flower bed were sprouting in the lawn
in front of the tower. The caretaker said that he planned to leave them alone.
I heard later that he was a native of Yokohama who had lost the place where he
used to fish due to expansion of the port. |
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| Seoul
- Unhulled Rice - Thermal Conductivity was commissioned for the garden
of the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul at the time of the Olympic Games.
This was a somewhat surprising commission, since Korea has had a policy of rejecting
all forms of Japanese culture since World War II. Tanabe was nervous about how
to deal with this situation, a fact that is evident from the title, Thermal
Conductivity, which is unusual in the field of art. |
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| The base of the work
is a large granite stone from Korea, which holds up a heavy-looking piece of cast
stainless steel made in Japan. It symbolizes the differences between peoples and
cultures, which can become too defensive and enclose themselves inside rigid,
square walls that conceal their honor and traditions. It is difficult to make
a conductive material that allows blood to pass, and countries that have been
hurt by Japan in the past are protected by new forms of insulation. In spite of
these barriers, our countries are neighbors and they have the same beautiful fields
with waving ears of green and gold rice. The momi (unhulled rice
grain) rising from the top of the work represents the seed of life and foundation
of culture that both countries have in common. It is also a signpost pointing
back down the long road of rice cultivation, which has spread from the tropics
to the Far East. In an unusual decision by Korea, Tanabe was given the chance
to erect this signpost a step outside of his own country. Ever since then, he
has continued to seek the beginnings of this road by making art on the theme of
momi. |
