‘The blank to overcome’ by Soichiro Mihara.For the past two years, 33-year-old Japanese artist Soichiro Mihara has been working away on “the world filled with blanks,” an installation that reflects on the aftermath of Fukushima via an incredibly poetic, thoughtful, and (still, uncontrollable) D.I.Y. bubble machine. Created from circuit-controlled soap, water, aquarium air pumps, and water tanks, the project is the winner of the excellence award at the Japan Media Arts Festival, which runs until February 16th.
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“I wanted to contribute a different perspective,” he said. Eager to take part in the public discussion, he wanted to ask questions, offering an alternative approach.As he thought about the disaster, Mihara realized his thoughts were fluid, so why should the work be solid? He tested out smoke and water as materials (but they were too difficult to control). With a background in combining art, sound, and technology, and framing concepts through a critical lens, he created a light substance (bubbles) fuelled by a heavy message (nuclear tragedy).The gesture is simple yet profound, drawn from both the artist’s own experience and the after affects. The piece has six bubble machines situated in a circle, hinged to the ceiling with strings. Slowly, the bubbles grow upward, clinging to the strings, creating a mushroom cloud. It’s like fountain bombing (flooding public fountains with laundry detergent), but this is the, er, classier approach.
“I continue to think about the big and small epic changes that are still happening,” said Mihara. At the time of 3.11, Mihara was living in Yamaguchi (far from the site). “I wasn’t injured from the disaster, but I couldn't understand what happened and why,” he said. “Not only the natural disaster but also the many underlying factors, like the economic and political situation of my country.”The artwork was made for the second time at a residency in Berlin after Mihara quit his job at the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media and applied for a residency with cultural exchange Tokyo Wonder Site. Technology in Japan is huge, but the artist wanted to connect with the contemporary art scene. The idea hit him much later when he was lying in the bathtub, blowing bubbles with a straw. He realized he could not only control the bubbles, to a point, but he could use normal, everyday German bubble soap.
With Japan still recovering from 3.11, the inability to fully control the bubbles is as a metaphor to Mihara. “But that's the point of this work,” he said, “This is a metaphor for our society.”Everyone must move on, however. As Mihara gears up for a biology and life science research stint at the Australian artist lab SymbioticA, he is looking forward to the future. “That's what I want to drive my art,” he said. No more looking back.Follow @nadjasayej on Twitter
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“I continue to think about the big and small epic changes that are still happening,” said Mihara. At the time of 3.11, Mihara was living in Yamaguchi (far from the site). “I wasn’t injured from the disaster, but I couldn't understand what happened and why,” he said. “Not only the natural disaster but also the many underlying factors, like the economic and political situation of my country.”The artwork was made for the second time at a residency in Berlin after Mihara quit his job at the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media and applied for a residency with cultural exchange Tokyo Wonder Site. Technology in Japan is huge, but the artist wanted to connect with the contemporary art scene. The idea hit him much later when he was lying in the bathtub, blowing bubbles with a straw. He realized he could not only control the bubbles, to a point, but he could use normal, everyday German bubble soap.