Wadachi(轍, Rut)

Okuma town, Fukushima

I was invited to participate in a research project in Okuma town (Fukushima), and presented the progress as “unseen presence / invisible traces Work in Progress Exhibition” (project ongoing).


For this work, I conducted recordings in the difficult-to-return zone together with the town office staff.
Rather than placing value on the source of the recordings, I wondered how the act of recording would change the way the recorders viewed the world.
The recordings were made in a difficult-to-return zone, at a seaside location that had already been developed, and at an elementary school playground that was left as it was at the time of the earthquake.



– The participants gathered at the same location to start recording.
– During the recording, each participant is free to do as he/she pleases.
– At a set time, the participants gathered again at the place where the recording was to begin, and the recording was to end.


Under the above conditions, the audio recordings were left as a record of each person’s activities in the difficult-to-return zone.
All works were synchronized and played back through four loudspeakers arranged in a row.