W350 x H80 x D135 cm, Wood, soil, cloth, sponge
installation and performance
Rottenburg, Wendelsheim
This attempt was made as a part of a project "Bauerwartungsland (a planned construction site)". It was organized by an artist Sabine Fessler on her family's undeveloped plot of land. Ten artists including me had worked for a month and tried to present site-spesific works there.
At first I had a feeling that something new would happen and begin there because of the project, and thus saw the need to perform Jichin-sai (ground-breaking ceremony of Japan) which is normally held at building sites before the construction of houses. It is also performed to wish a good harvest for our future at fields or shrines. Then I became interested in how my feeling or its perspective on nature was universally understood by foreign people in the true sence, and decided to put German version of Jichin-sai into practice. At the realization of it, the invited artists and local people walked in procession with a soil considered as “Mutter Erde (mother earth)”, which should not be moved as agreed upon by the ordinances regarding the use of land.
