A few months ago, we joined others in pondering the fate of a 20-million-ton mass of tsunami wreckage ripped from the Japanese coastline and sent off like a floating island pulled by the currents of the Pacific. While scientists have been calculating how long it will be before the titanic cluster washes up on the shores of Hawaii, artist Tadashi Kawamata has created an installation that attempts to grasp the gravity of the disaster and its aftermath. His installation, entitled Under the Water, gives visitors of the Kamel Mennour Gallery in Paris the sensation of being submerged beneath a massive island of floating refuse.

TADASHI KAWAMATA : UNDER THE WATER from kamel mennour on Vimeo.

Sunlight barely seeps through into the Parisian courtyard, obscured by slabs of wood and dismantled walls and doors. The flow of debris continues into the interior of the gallery, where light from an illuminated ceiling fight hopelessly through an unbroken layer of wreckage. 20 million tons of broken wood may be difficult to imagine, but gazing upwards into Kawamata’s installation, one can begin to sense the enormity of the problem. The installation will be on exhibition until January 29, 2012.

[Discovered on Spoon & Tamago]

by Kelly Chan

posted in Video

tagged Art, Hurricane, installation, japan, Kamel Mennour Gallery, Kawamata, paris, Tadashi Kawamata, tsunami, Wreckage

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