KITAKYUSHU STUDY SET – a report

Photographic research notes and a series of private performances in the city of Kitakyushu (2018/2019)

mixed media/ research installation

Based on exploratory flaneurial research and a series of private performances in the city of Kitakyushu „Kitakyushu Study Set“ re-stages different strolls through urban and sub-urban areas, actions and observations compressed into one stage-like space – and – simultaneously it is an exercise in mimicry and low-level appropriation: The profane, sometimes melancholic everyday meets with the remnants of history, the bygone push of industrialisation, echoes of the Meiji Restauration and some unexpected spectacles of light and nature, just as your normal everyday, en passant …

Background:

Once a core industrial life node in the northern part of Kyushu the city of Kitakyushu has seen the effects of de-industrialisation and an ageing population leaving their marks in the cityscape. After the decline of steel production and manufacturing, one of the main industries that the city is trying to attract and develop (apart from robotics and environmental sciences) is tourism. Taking this to heart I set out to investigate and observe the city and visit as many sight-seeing and historical spots as possible. Researcher and tourist. Tourist but not tourist.

I came to Kitakyushu with the intent to research Japanese myth, landscape and history, which I did. However, present day Kitakyushu had a very peculiar atmosphere and differed profoundly from previous experiences I have had in or of Japan. Living in this city provided an interesting encounter with reality. What I saw was a place in the middle of a transition, direction not yet decided, a place that presented a special type of void. It is an unquieting, yet interesting, an underdetermined void.

LINKS TO THE SUBPROJECTS SHOWN IN THIS INSTALLATION (FOR MORE DETAIL/EXPLANATION):

• Heikegani

• KITAKYUSHU SHUFFLE DIARY

• Immer diese Übersicht/ You only see well from the distance

• Sunset Studies 1–11 & Decommissioned

Rules for the installation:

• 1) Use material gathered primarily in Kitakyushu
• 2) Use only material/ equipment that is availabe at the university building/ the gallery
• 3) No significant alterations to the gallery space, minimal aftereffects
• 4) Mirroring 
• 5) Low budget choices (size of photographs, presentation methods), e.g. additional material exclusively from 100Yen shops which had become a fundamental contributor of my basic living set-up. The protocol of these living conditions was still ongoing otherwise it would have been included in the installation.
• 6) Process orientation/ Anti-museality

The residency was made possible by CCA Kitakyushu and supported by Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe