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Chikako Goto (JP) 872 days in Leningrad, 2019

I am surprised at the gap between the era of the Siege of Leningrad (1941-44) and the current landscape of St. Petersburg. The purpose of my theme, War Requiem, is to recognize this gap and pray for peace in this town.

Chikako Goto
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=residencyspb&set=a.2348442158587140

Chikako Goto is a Japanese multimedia artist. Her practice often looks to transcend artistic genre by translating the naturally invisible, visualizing the audible world. Since 2015 she has been working on visualizing the music of the “War Requiem” by Benjamin Britten. In Fall of 2019 she was part of the SPAR artist-in-residence program.

5 Comments
  1. Cynthia

    I love this project…so humane..gentle and strong at the same time. thank you
    cynthia

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    Crystal Marshall

    Very inspiring. Visualizing the invisible-music in this case is no easy task. The description of how the paper alone is made is fascinating as I’ve never heard of hemp and linen combination. I love the all natural process, very eco-friendly use of ink and paper. The forms remind me of stars that when zoomed in very closely with powerful telescopes they appear to have some sort of frequency or pulse thus communicating some form of message.

  3. Roberta Orlando

    That’s great Chikako, thanks for sharing it. This connects history, education, and the participation of people. Very well done.

  4. raemansky

    What a poetical way to translate this historical event… I love the interactive touch in consideration with the theme, this makes it so deep. It’s really well thought over, all thru. Truly the work of a master <3

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    Nazar Niazmetov

    As far as I remember, 30 people helped her do her work during the Petersburg stage, most of them during master classes. Someone asked for extra, even outside the exhibition’s time. Many visitors were impressed by the process! The making from a stone block – thick and darkness black ink was extremely curious: friction for 15 minutes, friction, friction, and then dilution with water, a neat transfusion. Meditation. Thoughts. A minute is like an eternity, like three hungry years. And then transfer to a lush, fleecy, very unusual, square paper-canvas. And this strange smell of natural materials!..

    I would also like to note that the gallery where the exhibition was located is more or less a white cube. I think it’s hard to believe, right? The exposition of works was something extremely witty, and I think it would be well worth a separate comment from Chikako. Visitors found themselves in a sort of labyrinth or black book with repeated symbols. I am deliberately not talking about the meaning, about an unusual visual translation of that terrible experience of real fascism. Intentionally, because the very “form”, the very objects in the Chikako’s project capture attention and speak.

    In fact, there was something magical about it in a good way!
    As an assistant and consultant for visitors, I always came out with a sense of calm. Thank you, Chikako!

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