A workshop held in 2007 in Korea was the opportunity that drew Ohmaki’s interest to what exactly people consider as garbage, and inspired him to create artworks based on the question, “What in garbage?” This was also the theme of a workshop and exhibition he conducted in China in the same year. In 2008, Ohmaki launched a garbage research project in Tokyo in cooperation with Tokyo Wonder Site (TWS). On his visits to a variety of locations related in one way or another to garbage he encountered aspects of reality that usually don’t meet our eyes in daily life, and engaged in dialogues with all kinds of people ranging from experts to young artists. In August 2009, his year-long research project culminated in an installation of new work at TWS Shibuya. “Vacuum Fluctuation”, “Silent Vaticination”, and “Sinless Vandal”, three sceneries modeled with slag produced by burning recycled garbage, were parts of an exhibition in which Ohmaki aimed to appeal to our awareness of environmental issues by suggesting a new approach through art.

『In Japanese, zekkei(絶景) is the word used to describe “a super view”. it is comprised of two characters:”絶”, here meaning “superb” and “景”, here meaning “view”. However, a closer inspection of the character “絶” reveals it has other meanings besides “superb”. This complex character is comprised of the component characters “糸” (ito, or “string”),and “刀”(katana, or “sword”).
The image generated here is that of a sword cutting a string, from which stem numerous alternate meanings including: “to cut off”, “to interrupt”, “to put an end to”, “to deny”, “to eradicate”, “to destroy”, “to carry to extreme”, “to be distanced from”, “to cross over” and “to cut across”.
All of these can be used to describe many of the situations we are in. Meanwhile, the character “景” literally refers to strong separated light, and by extension, the shadow generated by that light, giving it the dual meaning of both “shadow” and “light”. We have created the three scenes of “Vacuum Fluctuation”, “Silent Vaticination” and “Sinless Vandal” to the backdrops of absolute absence that transcends existence and nonexistence, the eastern philosophy of taiji/wuji, in which yin and yang constantly try to devour each other, and quantum field theory. The vast passage of time due to slag artificially generated from burning all our waste brings about a poetic experience of imminence, as do the horizons we are inadvertently creating.』

"Zekkei-Vacuum Fluctuation”
Venue:TOKYO WONDER SITE,Tokyo,Japan
Year:2009

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