The live images of the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 was like Hollywood movie scenes on TV screens overseas, as they were distant from daily lives and beyond comprehension. This installation is an imitation of a devastated Japanese two stories house at the tsunami by using daily waste materials from local Toronto, Canada, superimposing the two natural disasters; tsunami in Japan, and environmental threat in Canada. The viewers are invited to sense the height and possibly the fear of the tsunami by climbing the stairs to the second floor, which may evoke the imagination and sympathize people living in the afflicted areas. In the interior of the second floor of the work, there is John Lennon's message “all need is love” in this case a red neon, and there is a big hole on the floor in front. Peeping down in the hole, the audience will find a white neon "yes" buried underneath debris. It refers to the message that Ono Yoko once wrote on the ceiling above the ladder. The viewers looking into the hole resembles rescue workers searching for survivors, and plays an important role to connect the love between John and Yoko tragically torn down. A slide and a sand field inside the installation, created for visiting children to play, resembling children in the disaster affected areas. In addition, by gradually planting artificial flowers during the exhibition, the installation will be fully covered with flowers by the end of the exhibition, symbolizing hope for recovery and healing. The title of this installation GOD Loves Japan is borrowed from a book God Hates Japan (2001, Kadokawa Bunko) by Douglas Copeland who is a Canadian contemporary artist and writer. As a collaboration work with Copeland, a paragraph from his book in Japanese with blinking neon, GOD Loves Japan changes back and forth as "Go Visit Japan".
Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto website: Past exhibitions - GOD Loves Japan
2012, installation view at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto.
GO VISIT JAPAN
2012, installation view at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto, collaboration work with texts from Douglas Coupland's 2005 book GOD Hates Japan.
need
2012, installation view at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto.
All you need is love Maybe
2012, installation view at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto.
yes (triptych: centre panel)
2012, archival colour print, diabond mounted, 61 x 81 / 61 x 61 / 61 x 81 cm. Provenance: Chrisopher Cutts Gallery, Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto
yes (triptych: right panel)
2012, archival colour print, diabond mounted, 61 x 81 / 61 x 61 / 61 x 81 cm. Provenance: Chrisopher Cutts Gallery, Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto
yes (triptych: left panel)
2012, archival colour print, diabond mounted, 61 x 81 / 61 x 61 / 61 x 81 cm. Provenance: Chrisopher Cutts Gallery, Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto
2012, installation view at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto.
2012, installation view at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto.
2012, installation view at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto.
2012, GOD Hates Japan (Kadowawa Novel 2005) author and artist, Douglas Coupland and Daisuke Takeya,