Present Encounters : Papers from the conference of the Second Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, 1996

Kimio Tsuchiya LOCUS - An Internal Time Artist's Statement: Restoration of Myth At the beginning of the twentieth century man seemed poised on the edge of bril liance, ready to use science for the advancement of rationality, the celebration of humanity. Yet in actuality, this century has been a time of war and bloodshed. Man's energy, both physical and mental, has been a tool for the destruction not only of mankind , but of culture. Many centuries in the future, when historians try to display the ach ievements of the twentieth century in a museum, visitors wi ll be treated to nothing more than an exhibition of wreckage and tombstones, painful mementos of anger and hatred . From a world long before our troubled century, there comes a Celtic myth that asserts that once , long ago, every form of earthly life shared a common language. Between human beings, animals and plants there was no hindrance t o communication, no obstacle to expression . But, as legend has it, an angry god took this language away from human beings as punishment for their argumentativeness, their jealousy and their pettiness. From then on , human beings lacked t he ability t o communicate, not only with other forms o f life , but with each other. The dire consequences of this have manifested themselves in the h istory of this century. How can we return to the ancient idea? Can we create a vision that encompasses all cu ltures - a vision that transcends race and religion , boundaries and borders, geography and ideology; a vision that ensures that the fast-approaching twenty-first century will be a time of peace and plenty, of hope and happiness for all? Our only hope lies in embracing a new expressiveness, and an approach to the arts that ignores conventional borders. This can be ach ieved when artists and thinkers base their work upon not only thei r own cu lture, history and ideology, but also upon a belief in their place upon the international stage . When this dream is realised , when the world of art pulls the people of the world closer together, arm i ng them with a new common myth , we will finally be ready for the millenn i um. Technique I usually work with used materials such as wood from demol ished houses. Houses are symbols of both the national character of a country and of the family and family life. The houses from which I take materials are not traditional Japanese houses, but rather houses constructed after World War 1 1 . As such they represent the transition of Japanese society from trad itional to modern Western society. The houses are made of more temporary materials. This kind of house is usually demolished after just twenty to twenty-five years, and thus symbolises the way Japan has become a disposable, consumer society. For the process of making ashes I first find an abandoned house. I remove parts of the house , take them to my stud io and burn them repeatedly, usually five times. My burn i ng process is not a sacred ceremony such as a funeral or a firewalki ng ceremony. The white ashes symbolise the end of a building material. Also, the ashes are a rem inder that everythi ng will one day become ashes and white. The ashes show us that everything is actually the same in the end . However, although everything can be reduced to white ashes, ashes are not the end of a material. Ash is still alive. I n this way ash symbol ises the idea that there is no difference between life and death , no border. White ashes show us that life is like a cycle or a circle with no beginning and no end. There are many things in the ashes, so when I spri nkle ashes on the floor, the memories, the history, the love and time which were in that house, everything is still there, the same as when the house was standing. Memory is not left behind in the past, but it is a part of the continuing past and future . Memory and forgetting are always confronting each other in my mind. I have not used special glue with the ash , only the original ashes. It looks like white marble or something but is really ash , pure ash . For the work Loss of Essence I used steel about 8 or 1 O" thick to make a box i nto which I put half the ashes then plenty of water. Viewed from above you can see the surface of the ashes. 74