The inner sea will be opened
(2019)
Collaborators: Yuko Omori, Keita Sumiya, Yoshito Onishi, Haya Saito
Materials: seawater, PH sensor, dissolved oxygen sensor, temperature sensor, electric fan, incandescent bulb standlight, silicon tube, circulation pump, etc.
This work was exhibited at the Tsukuba Science Art Exhibition held in Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture in May 2019. It is an installation of the theme of the ocean , based on an idea that emerged from a dialogue between contemporary artist Hanna Saito and marine ecology researcher Yuko Omori.
We are connected to the "sea" in various ways. It is said that the cell, the origin of life, began when the boundary between the inside and outside of the primordial ocean was separated. In addition, the carbon that makes up our bodies circulates around the globe via the oceans. And much of our food comes from marine products. In recent years, ocean pollution has also become an environmental issue. Among them, acidification of PH, increase in water temperature, and decrease in oxygen concentration are particularly talked about as indicators of ocean environmental degradation. Changes in these three parameters can be interpreted as harbingers of mass extinction in the context of biological history. We are born of the ocean, we benefit from it, and sometimes we avenge it. The ocean seems to symbolize that we are born in various complex causal relationships. However, it is often difficult to realize such interrelationships among the various beings surrounding us in our busy daily lives. Therefore, in this work, I wanted to use the sea as a symbol to express a medium for imagining our interactions with the puzzling and complex environment that surrounds us.
The installation is centered around a flat Japanese style wood bowl filled with seawater, a fruit wine bottle, and a flask. The seawater is circulated through the tubes connecting each vessel by means of an electric pump and the siphon principle. On the table on which the flat bowls are placed are small bottles containing hydrogen peroxide solution, citric acid solution, and sodium bicarbonate solution, respectively, and a sake bottle. When the viewer selects a liquid and pours it into the flat bowl, the seawater in the flat bowl soon flows into a fruit wine bottle containing three water quality sensors that measure dissolved oxygen, PH, and water temperature, and changes in water quality are detected by the sensors. Depending on the combination of changes in values, lights blink on and off, fans turn on and off, and changes occur in the Japanese tea room. The sound also continues to change subtly in response to the sensor values. In the alcove is a water tank containing a banyan tree bonsai, which continuously accumulates and drains water according to changes in water quality.
Viewers can enter and interact with the installation. However, the results do not correspond one-to-one to the actions and are slow in time, so the viewer may not immediately understand how his or her actions have affected the environment. Also, each element in the work interacts with each other. For example, bacteria and algae live in seawater, and their ecosystem changes in response to temperature, light level, and water quality. Through these systems, the artist encourages the viewer to observe and think about his or her own behavior and the way the various elements of the environment relate to each other.