Half-Life Period
Wednesday 9.11.2011 / 11:15 h / BALi Cinemas
Hiroshima, Chernobyl and Fukushima - these names stand for the uncritical belief in the technological and military use of nuclear energy. The images of the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima, the chimney of reactor number 4 in Chernobyl and of the explosion in Fukushima are inscribed into collective memory as icons of nuclear catastrophes. These three films focus on the aftermath of the biggest atomic disasters on earth, and their effects on humans and the environment.
Land of Neon
I was back in Tokyo on 8th of April, 2011 to attend my grandmother's funeral.
While mass media reported about the catastrophe and radioactive contamination, there were scenes directly before my eyes. Laughing people in the slightly darken city, a big demonstration and my family under cherry blossoms.... The vague weirdness and fear in the daily life are invisible but sensible now in the land of neon. The video was inspired by the video project "Between Yesterday & Tomorrow": http://solchord.jp/byt/index.html
Couresy of David Blandy and LUX, London
Child of the Atom
"There is a familial myth that my late Grandfather would not have survived being a Japanese Prisoner of War had the atomic bombing of Hiroshima not occurred. So it could be argued that I owe my existence to one of the most terrifying events of human history and the death of 110,000 people." - David Blandy
This family lore regarding David Blandy's grandfather, held as a POW in Malaya and Taiwan from 1942, provided the genesis of Blandy's solo exhibition, Child of the Atom. Generated by an underlying guilt about his own and also his daughter's existence, Blandy's film documents their visit to Hiroshima to literally and symbolically search for their "origins".
Chernobyl Forever
After 25 years of Chernobyl, we have forgotten the danger of nuclear power.
The consequences of this disaster are still not controlled.
The latest circumstances in Japan show that up till now, we have not learned from our mistakes.
The atom has a long lifetime, whereas mankind has a short memory...