Why is the river laughing?

*This project has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 infection that prevented the artist from coming to Japan.

＜Tokyo Biennale 2020 SOCIAL DIVE Artist-in-Residence Projects＞

“Why is the river laughing?”…takes a SOCIAL DIVE into Tokyo by diving into the river itself. Artist-researcher, Michael Hornblow, from New Zealand, will lead a series of workshops and creative actions for public participation, to retrace Tokyo’s river systems as a way of imagining alternate histories and futures. The Kanda, Nihonbashi and Sumida rivers are a key focus, for the way they perform a spiraling movement through the moat of the Imperial Palace – a central feature of the city plan going back to when river systems helped define the Edo-period as “a floating world”. The project is a dive into history, drawing out the man-made construction of Tokyo’s rivers as they reflect the changing course of political and natural forces. It is also a dive into the social and urban fabric of today. Working in teams, participants will roll river water through the streets inside a swarm of old tires, which act as a conceptual apparatus for revealing where roads and flyovers obscure the historical and ecological importance of local tributaries. The construction of nature has always defined Tokyo’s river systems, and now we find ourselves at a convergence – what we make of ourselves, and other beings.

(As of February 2021)

1: “O’megaVille” 2014, Glasshouse Gallery (New York, USA), Photo by Michael Hornblow
2: “5FootWay” 2014, Asialink performing arts residency (Yogyakarta, Indonesia), Video still by Michael Hornblow
3: “Apalagi Archipelago” 2014, Arts Island Festival (Bali/Java, Indonesia), Photo by Ashley McLellan

http://www.michaelhornblow.com/portfolio#/why-is-the-river-laughing/

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