Exhibition of Great Eastern Desaster byJenifer Clark, Kate Thomson, Hirnori Katagiri
****Opening Party at 17:30～ on 10th October 2015
| dates |
Wednsday 10th October 2015 – 16th March, 2016
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| Opening Hours |
10:00-17:00, admission free
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| venue |
Art space, Aberdeen University, Scotland UK
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| sponsor |
Jennifer Clarke is sponsored by the European Research Council
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| supporting organisation |
NPO Iwate Mirai Kikou
|
Invisible Matters
A collaborative experimental exhibition, of work by Jennifer Clarke, Research Fellow at the University of Aberdeen, with international artists Kate Thomson (UK) and Hironori Katagiri (Japan).
On 11th March 2011, a major earthquake – the most powerful ever recorded in Japan - took place off the North East Pacific coast in the Tohoku region. The earthquake was followed by a tsunami over 40 metres high. The floods caused by the tsunami damaged equipment in the Fukushima Daichii nuclear power plant, leading to nuclear meltdowns and the release of radioactive material into the surrounding environment.
In the context of this triple disaster, what role can artists and anthropologists play, responding to people’s diverse understandings and experiences? We are interested in the role of art, art spaces, and artists, working and being with people,in the service of community, and in providing alternative stories that counter the ‘mainstream’.
The exhibition is also an exploration of ethics, in terms of the personal and political responsibilities involved in doing research and making art in this context. For me, is about ways of knowing and imagining the world as existential commitments to the world, and exploring, through art practice, ways to be ethically committed to learning from and living through others, as well as other conceptual realities. This means investigating the possibilities for art and art–anthropology as an emotive, transformative and unpredictable experience.
This work is part of the University of Aberdeen’s research group “Knowing from the Inside: Anthropology, Art, Architecture and Design”. The premise of the project is that knowledge grows from practical and observational engagement with beings and things around us. Our aim is to show how research underpinned by this premise could make a difference to the sustainability of environmental relations and to the well-being that depends on it.
Jennifer Clarke
