DENKINOKAMISAMA

Works produced as part of the artist-in-residence programme by Katsuo Collective (2023) Drawing, VR, USB Memory Stick　*WIP

Katsurao Collective Artist in Residence, Open Studio Day 27-29 Feb 2023

2011年に原発事故により全村避難になった福島県葛尾村でのアーティストインレジデンスで滞在制作した。今後もVR内の世界を増築してく予定。失ったものを取り戻そうとするのではなく、震災後、震災があったからこそ新しく葛尾村に現れたものに着目し、見え方の転換、本当は怖い自然との共存の模索を試みた。葛尾村の新しいものは　①線量計　県外から来た私にとっては線量計が村中にあることが珍しく、機械は放射線量の数値を示しているのに、実態は見えない。「見えないけどいる、いるけど見えない。」存在を感じる。しかし、村の人々は淡々と生活し、共存している。存在を感じながら共存するところがカミサマのようだと感じた。

②葛尾電力会社　震災後、今後起こるかもしれない非常事態のことも考慮し、エネルギーの自給自足を目指すべく、葛尾電力という太陽光を資源とした村全体に電気を供給する会社ができた。葛尾電力は停電をよくしてしまうらしいが、祭り文化の無くなったこの地で、村人全体が団体で一つのイベントを経験することが祭りのように感じ、人間のテクノロジーを介しながらも太陽光という自然と密接して成立しているコミュニティーのシステムにカミサマを感じた。

人間を自然の一部とみるならば、人間の産み出したテクノロジーも自然と共存する術を表す「やおよろず」に仲間入り出来るのでは？　

葛尾村に漂うカミサマを捕まえて名前をつけ、電気がないと訪れられないメタバース内で参拝出来る神社を作った。

展示中は古事記から読み解いた日本神話におけるカミサマの系譜図を使い電気の時代に生きる私達に身近なデンキノカミサマの先祖を辿った。展示していない時はVR空間を構成するデータをメモリスティックに保管し、実存しない神社の様相をとる。

協力感謝：葛尾村の村民の皆さま, Katsurao Collective, 葛尾電力, 葛尾村づくり公社

滞在制作前に訪れた伊勢市, 皇學館大学, 伊勢クリエーターズワーケーション

This work was produced during the residency in Katsurao Village, Futaba County, Fukushima. The entire village was evacuated after the nuclear accident in 2011, but villagers have returned since the alert was lifted.

Rather than trying to recover what was lost, the project focused on what newly appeared in Katsurao Village after the disaster, and attempted to shift the way of seeing and to search for a way of coexistence with nature. (Nature in the true sense is indifferent, callous and frightening to humans)*The contents in the VR is planned to be expanded more in the future.

New things in Katsurao Village:

(i) Dosimeters
For me, coming from outside the village, it is unusual that there are dosimeters all over the village; the machines show the radiation levels, but radiation is invisible. 'You can't see it but it’s there.' I feel the invisible presence. However, the villagers live everyday life without hesitation. I felt that the way they coexist while feeling the existence is like that living with Shinto gods.

(2) Katsurao Electricity Company
After the earthquake, a company called Katsurao Denryoku, which supplies electricity to the entire village using solar power as a resource, was established in order to become energy self-sufficient, taking into account emergencies that may occur in the future. Katsurao Denryoku is said to often experience power cut-offs. But in this place where the festival culture has disappeared, it is like a festival for the entire villagers to experience one event as a group/community (in this case, power cut-off event). There is a sense of coexisiting with god in the community system that is established closely with nature, such as sunlight, even through human technology.

If humans are seen as part of nature, can human-made technology also be part of the idea of ‘Yaoyorozu ’?　

*Yaoyorozu - Shinto theory that says everything has gods within and it represents the art of coexisting with nature

Two gods and one was captured and named as Gods of Electricity (DENKINOKAMISAMA) and God of Neutron(CHUSEISHINOKAMI) that were drifting in the village and enshrined in a Metaverse shrine which could not be visited without electricity.

Using a genealogical chart of deities from the Japanese mythology, I also traced the ancestors of the God of Electricity, who is familiar to us in this age of electricity. When not on display, the data comprising the VR space is stored on a USB memory stick, giving it the appearance of a non-existent shrine.

Special Thanks to: Katsurao Village, Katsurao Collective, Katsurao Denryoku, Katsurao Muradukuri Kousha

Ise-city where I visited for research before the residency starts, Kogakkan University, Ise Creators Workation