About the artwork

The cylindrical room in the middle of the structure became where the stars gleam in a night sky as in the village. This space is designed as a room with an irori (traditional Japanese hearth), with benches on which people can sit around the fire. Fluorescent lamps lit the space from behind through a thousand and one small holes (about 1cm diameter) in the wall. These randomly placed holes suggest the thousand and one nights of the classic Arabian tales, while the title of the work touches on the US attack on Iraq, which was occurring at the time. The light shines through the holes more strongly in this green room, which suggests the leaf greens of a forest in summer, when the fire in the hearth smokes. It seems that thinking, on one’s own place, of things happening at the same time elsewhere on this earth makes us think more about the meaning of our living in this place. The work does not have direct relation to the character of Echigo-Tsumari as such, but it told visitors quietly but strongly that events elsewhere on earth affect this place as well. (*)