BLOOD
2009
Syringe with blood, resin, metal fittings, film with family tree
W20 D200 H20 mm
Exhibition
2009 Iwami Contemporary Art Exhibition 2009
Former Iwami Hospital, Tottori, Japan
When I heard that the venue of this exhibition was going to be an “abandoned old hospital,” which was at once the keyword for the exhibition, it was the “hospital” part and what I associated with it, that intrigued me more than the idea of an exhibition in an “abandoned building.” The idea of a hospital conjured such negative images as death, illness, injury, pain and despair, that stem from human relationships, but I thought at the same time also about such positive things as life, cure and hope. Briefly imagining what an abandoned old hospital would be like, was enough for me imagine the extraordinary presence that one must feel at such a place. So what could I do at an abandoned old hospital? As the request to exhibit something there happened to come at a time when some private events had just caused me to reflect on things like life, death and relationships, I decided to create a site-specific work that refers to the venue’s characteristics, and started thinking about how to approach that.It happens that we can sense in familiar places the existence of humanity at large. When trying to trace one’s lineage, one’s own family tree gradually gets sketchier due to missing data the further one goes back in time, making it increasingly difficult to find out about ancestors, and ultimately, one’s roots. But no matter how incomplete such data may be, the memory of multilayered human relationships and mankind itself, from times long before such records and lost data, is stored in the blood that flows in our bodies.This fact, along with my curiosity, inspired me to focus on blood as a symbol of humanity, and exhibit my own family tree along with a syringe filled with my own blood, to visualize the invisible, dynamic microcosm of mankind that one can imagine from blood relations. The blood-filled syringe is enclosed in a key holder, to hint at the fact that sometimes tokens of humanity are buried at rather close and familiar places.
Translated by Andreas Stuhlmann
今回の展覧会場の「廃病院」というキーワードを見たとき、「廃墟」というよりむしろ、「病院」が持つ従来のイメージの方に興味を持った。「病院」が持つイメージとは、人との関係性から派生する「死、病気、怪我、痛み、絶望」などネガティブな単語が浮かんでくる、と同時に「生、治癒、希望」などポジティブな単語も浮かんでくる。病院が廃墟になると少し想像しただけでも、ただならぬ存在感が伝わってくる。その場所で何ができるか。偶然にも最近起こった「生、死、繋がり」を考えさせられる個人的な出来事と、その展覧会出品の依頼が重なり、「旧病院」という場の意味を引用したサイトスペシフィックな作品を制作しようと決意し考え始めた。我々は人類の存在を身近に感じる事ができる。本人を出発点に家系図を遡っていく時、家系図データ消失のためだんだん先祖が不明確になっていき最終的には自分はどこから来たのか根源的所在が分からなくなってしまう。しかし、たとえ家系図データが消失しても、我々の体内に流れている血液中には、その消失したデータ以前の遥か昔からの重層的な人々のつながりとしての過去の記憶、人類の記憶が刻まれている。
その事実、そして、その好奇心のもと、血液を人類の象徴と想定し、私自身の血液を採血した血液入りの注射器と私の家系図を提示する事で、血縁からイメージする視覚的に見えないダイナミックな人類の縮図を視覚化させ、そして、血液入りの注射器が埋もれている一般的なキーホルダーとしての状況が、身近なところに人類の記憶の存在が埋もれている事を示唆している。