DANCING WITH ALL: The Ecology of Empathy
＠21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa
The exhibition DANCING WITH ALL: The Ecology of Empathy will be held at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, from November 2, 2024, to March 16, 2025. I am participating as an artist in the project Anima Rave: Dancing at the Crossroads of Being, a collaboration between the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, and the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN), and working in collaboration with RIHN’s LINKAGE project.
I was surprised by the number of tourists in Kanazawa, and even more so by the large crowd of visitors walking around and creating a lively atmosphere at the museum. Nevertheless, we were able to almost finish the installation smoothly yesterday (the attached photo shows a scene from the setup process). This exhibition is positioned as a space for interdisciplinary communication triggered by video art. It emphasizes a flexible and process-oriented approach to communication, incorporating exchanges among LINKAGE members from various fields, people living in the Okinawan islands involved with LINKAGE, and the perspectives of artists and curators who observe these interactions from a meta-level.
At the opening, the exhibition will take the form of a video installation; however, over the course of the approximately four-month period, we will actively incorporate various interactions and update the exhibition content. Although still in the planning stages, there will be events almost every month through related projects between RIHN and the museum, so we warmly invite you to visit.
DANCING WITH ALL: The Ecology of Empathy
https://www.kanazawa21.jp/data_list.php?g=126&d=232
LINKAGE Project
https://www.chikyu.ac.jp/rihn_e/activities/project/detail/8/
Below is the description provided by the museum.
Theme: “Islands and Water”
LINKAGE Project x Kenichi Sawazaki
A place where exchanges occur through transparent water—this exchange exists not only between people but also between humans and marine life. On islands in the Ryukyu Arc, including Yoron Island, each island has developed a unique relationship with water, influenced by geological differences stemming from the formation of each island. The flow of water, the source of life, connects land and sea, intertwining ecosystems, cultural practices, and perceptions of nature as a fluid entity.
Researchers from various fields, including geology, hydrology, cultural anthropology, and political science, gather on the Ryukyu Arc and Indonesia’s Wakatobi Islands to observe islands from different perspectives on coral reefs and water cycles. They engage in dialogue with local residents, capturing these interactions through the meta film/commons film method, which will update throughout the exhibition period to reflect the islands’ current state. What may appear at first as beautiful seaside scenes transforms when viewed through the voices of researchers and locals, revealing different layers of meaning. “Beautiful landscapes” as we see them may not represent beauty for all beings and sometimes confront us with stark realities. Islands remind us that the world we perceive is only one fragment of a larger whole. How can we capture a world from multiple perspectives? What landscape will you envision from these intersecting voices?
