Hyperthermia

2019
Sound Installation
parafin wax, water tank, water,
stainless plate, fishing light, PVC film, speaker, sound,
NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC], Tokyo, Japan
Cooperation: Hokkaido University CoSTEP




A soundscape of natural environmental sounds picked up by way of field recording at various locations reverberates through the exhibition space. Placed in the center of this acoustic setting is a basin filled with water and, in that water, an object sculpted from paraffin that looks like drift ice. Inside the water basin, bluish light blinks in an organically pulsating manner reminiscent of a living organismfs heartbeat or breath.

For gHyperthermia,h KAMIMURA Yoichi conducted field recordings at the sea at various places around the world. From these he created a soundscape that includes sounds of the drift ice in the Sea of Okhotsk, which continues to melt due to global warming; the cries of ribbon seals that come from the polar sea; and the whistling sounds the people of Shiretoko make with their mouths to imitate the sounds of chunks of ice rubbing against each other\a phenomenon that is rarely heard today as the ice gradually disappears. The object in the water basin that resembles drift ice or an iceberg was made from paraffin, a petroleum-based material that is also used in thermotherapy. KAMIMURA chose to use the material as a symbol for heat that causes global warming, while on the other hand also having a healing effect on the human body.

For his field recordings, the artist has been traveling to all kinds of natural environments. Based on the specific sounds he encounters at each of the places he visits, he continues to create artworks as means for grasping the world beyond human theoretical concept. For KAMIMURA himself, this means at once to face the earth as it keeps transforming, and to sensually share through his works the impressions he makes as a recording subject, with the aim to encourage us to think about the ecology and the future of the planet on which we live.






























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