Nishiko: Repairing Earthquake Project

This fall Stroom Den Haag presents the Repairing Earthquake Project, the magnum opus of the Hague-based artist Nishiko (Kagoshima, Japan, 1981). After the earthquake and the subsequent tsunami in March 2011, Nishiko visited the Tohoku district in Japan, searching for remaining objects and collecting eyewitness accounts that enable us to experience the aftermath of the disaster first hand. As part of the project she repairs and reconstructs the battered objects with great care and tenderness. Their scars are visual reminders of the historical events. “In my point of view, extreme care and dedication generate a potential for healing,” Nishiko states. The repaired objects are further granted a second life, as the artist has them adopted by “foster parents.” The exhibition at Stroom will present the Repairing Earthquake Project for the first time in its entirety. The project not only enables us to experience a human tragedy first hand, it also bears witness to an ecological crisis.

In 2018 two new components form the culmination of the project, following visits to Canada and Japan respectively. Earlier this year, Nishiko moved into a temporary studio in the coastal district of Tofino, on the west coast of Canada, to collect remnants that still wash ashore at the other side of the Pacific Ocean, seven years after the tsunami. More recently, the artist returned to the afflicted area in Japan where survivors of the disaster are still searching for their personal belongings. In response Nishiko decided to render the objects which the survivors miss most as drawings, and to donate them subsequently.

The completion of the Repairing Earthquake Project is urged on by the pressure of time. The artist noted that in Japan, the reconstruction of tsunami-struck areas takes place at such a fast pace that it becomes increasingly difficult to find traces of the disaster.

Stroom School: Rising Waters
The fact that the sea level is rising dramatically due to man-made climate change gives the Repairing Earthquake Project even more urgency. An interdisciplinary lecture program with speakers from the Netherlands and abroad is part of a public program. We are looking forward to lectures by Peter Fend (USA) on November 28, 2018; Annechien Meier + Tieme Haddeman (Netherlands) on December 12, 2018; Betsy Damon (USA) on January 9, 2019 and Maarten Vanden Eynde (Belgium) on January 23, 2019. The artist Nishiko will give guided tours of the exhibition on Sunday December 2, 2018 and Sunday January 13, 2019. 

Up-to-date information can be found on www.stroom.nl

The exhibition and lecture program have been compiled by guest curator Roel Arkesteijn. He is interested in forms of artistic engagement, activism, and art for social change. He is curator of contemporary art at Museum De Domijnen in Sittard.

Acknowledgements
The exhibition is made possible through generous support by Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Tokyo, Embassy of Japan in the Netherlands, Satellietgroep, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, Mondriaan Fund and the City of The Hague. Special thanks to: Tofino Botanical Gardens and Torinoumi Dental Clinic.