artist

Kyun-Chome, New Japan Paradise, 2013, radioactive waste, paint. Courtesy the artists

Kyun-Chome

    Kyun-Chome is a Japanese artist duo based in Tokyo, made up of Nabuchi (ナブチ, b. 1984, Mito) and Honma Eri (ホンマエリ, b. 1987, Yokohama). They emerged as an art unit after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, and rose to prominence after winning the 17th Taro Okamoto Art Award in 2014.

    Kyun-Chome primarily creates video installations, conducting mid- to long-term residencies in socially divided regions to highlight what they have referred to as the “core reality” of a particular place or issue. They have engaged with a broad range of socio-political issues in Japan and abroad, such as natural and manmade disaster, immigration, national history, and gender identity. According to the artists, their work aims to blur the boundaries between perpetrator and victim, creating new associations between tragedy, comedy, and modern faith.

    2015

    The story of making lies,
    Kyun-Chome

    work

    Following the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear powerplant accident in March 2011, 160,000 citizens were evacuated from their homes. Citizens ability to enter was restricted to within 20 kilometers of the powerplant, and all roads leading to the difficult-to-return zone were barricaded. The decontamination of the area is not yet finished, and still 43,000 citizens (record of December, 2018) are unable to return to their homes. Kyun-Chome opened computer classes in the temporary housing where the evacuated citizens reside, and taught them how to use Photoshop. After photographing their hometowns (Okuma, Tomioka, Futaba, and other cities), Kyun-Chome held a workshop where together with the citizens. During the workshop, the citizens deleted the barricades and bags of nuclear waste from the images. This video piece is documentation of the dialogue and emotions that were stimulated in the process.

    Follow us

    Contact us

    hello@composite.org.au
    Brunswick Mechanics Institute 270 Sydney Rd, Brunswick VIC 3056
    (03) 9010 6209
    By appointment...