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Paper short abstract

In the wake of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, artists attempt to explore ways to present the motif of “3/11” beyond geographic confinement—beyond Japan. Given restricted access to the nuclear zone, how do artists respond to “3/11” without direct physical proximity to Fukushima?

Paper long abstract

In the wake of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, artists attempt to explore ways to present the motif of “3/11” beyond geographic confinement—beyond Japan. Given restricted access to the nuclear zone, how do artists respond to “3/11” without direct physical proximity to Fukushima? How do overseas Japanese artists represent what took place back in their homeland? How do people outside Japan gain the access to experience and respond to “3/11”? To grapple with this representational dilemma of “here and there,” this paper looks at the performance art of the contemporary Japanese artist Ei Arakawa—Does This Soup Taste Ambivalent? (2014). In this conceptual project, he attempted to mediate a geographic gap between New York (where he works) and Fukushima (where he comes from). He also intended to reach a geographical balance between Fukushima and the international audience by bringing his family to Frieze London. In dialogue with Does This Soup Taste Ambivalent?, this paper brings comparative examples of Rirkrit Tiravanija’s installation Untitled (Free/Still) (2007) and the socially engaged art piece Conflict Kitchen (2010). This paper attempts to extend the metaphor of a geographic boundary to invisible yet crucial boundaries among people, and to further spatialize what Nicolas Bourriaud regards as relational aesthetics. Visual representations of “here and there” can thus be thematically translated into a rendering of boundaries between artists and spectators/participants, between social environment and human beings and between different ethnic groups. Moreover, this paper examines the instrumental role of food in performance art. With the same incorporation of food, these works take advantage of the taste to unite people from different backgrounds, and to provide a corporeal medium to raise concerns for nuclear radiation and safety. The remediation of food, in art practice and social media, further produces a micro-social and micro-political narrative to think of food safety, human safety, and community conflicts.