Book Review: A New Attempt at Art Criticism Sought After Nuclear Damage. 'Apocalyptic Art: For the Coming Post-Humanity'
This book review explores Shiki noie's attempt at art criticism in post-nuclear Japan, focusing on 'Apocalyptic Art: For the Coming Post-Humanity'.Summary
Shiki noie previously wrote 'Japan, Modernity, Art' and planned the 'Japan Zero Year' exhibition, viewing Japan under the US nuclear umbrella as a 'bad place' and advocating for resetting established art frameworks. Following the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Fukushima nuclear accident, Japan became a place of nuclear disaster, and this book serves as a sequel written under this new premise. The review highlights artists like Taro Okamoto, Akira Kanayama, and Houhou Housui, focusing on experimental attempts such as the 'Don't Follow the Wind' exhibition in Fukushima and the play 'Grand Guignol Mirai'. The play, inspired by the Japan Airlines Flight 123 crash, uses the tragedy to symbolize Japan's inability to resolve the nuclear disaster. Noie defines 'Apocalyptic Art' as art created for a 'post-human' world after humanity is extinct, noting how the concept of the nuclear has shifted from metaphor to stark reality. Furthermore, he emphasizes a 'domestic' stance valuing 'body temperature' during the COVID-19 pandemic as a survival strategy in an approaching end times.
(Source：美術手帖)