Akira Tsuboi, “Tokyo Report Vol. 5” at KEN, Tokyo
By Kenichi Kondo
AKIRA TSUBOI speaking about the themes in his work at KEN alternative art space, Tokyo. Photo by Kenichi Kondo.
Five years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami hit the Tohoku coastline and triggered a nuclear meltdown in Fukushima. Although daily life in most of the country is back to normal, effects of the Fukushima disaster are still felt today. Water that has been contaminated by radioactivity from the damaged power plants is running into the sea and the 24,000 residents who were evacuated from Fukushima’s exclusion zone still cannot return to their homes due to the area’s high radiation level. On December 9, the Japanese government announced that cost for demolishing the plants and compensation for damage and losses related to the accident would be more than JPY 21 trillion (USD 188 billion), almost double the amount of a previous estimate. In response, Akira Tsuboi commits to art activism. In mid-December, he mounted “Tokyo Report Vol. 5,” a two-day exhibition with accompanying artist talks at KEN, an alternative art space in Tokyo’s old, affluent residential neighborhood of Setagaya.
