CHIM↑POM

KI-AI 100 (100 CHEERS)

Ki-ai is a martial arts term for a short yell used to focus breath and energy before an attack. KI-AI 100 (100 Cheers) documents an improvised performance of 100 ki-ai yells by Chim↑Pom members and youth from Soma City—an area devastated by the earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011, that triggered an accident at a nearby nuclear power station. With warmth and dark humor, they marshaled collective energy in the face of tragedy.

ON VIEW

KI-AI 100 (100 Cheers), 2011. Two-channel video with sound, 5:20 minutes. Courtesy of the artists and MUJIN-TO Production

LOCATION

2nd floor landing

“As Soma City is one of the affected areas of the Great East Japan earthquake, these people lost loved ones, their houses were washed away, and they spent over two months in the destroyed city despite fear of radiation… These were real shouts filmed all in one cut and ad-libbed by the young locals who, although being victims themselves, had continued to provide relief and help towards reconstruction.” –CHIM↑POM

ARE THERE DETAILS ABOUT IN THE WORK YOU’RE SHOWING IN DECLARATION THAT YOU’D ESPECIALLY LIKE AUDIENCES TO PAY ATTENTION TO?

This work was filmed shortly after the 2011 tsunami and nuclear power plant meltdown in Fukushima. The voices of local youths who survived this negative accident are surprisingly super-positive, and all the lines are improvised and shouted out. They lived in Fukushima and lived in the midst of the radiation accident, so the words “Fukushima” and “radiation” came out naturally. They were not exclaimed with particularly political intentions, but as words that came out from within their bodies.

DO YOU BELIEVE THAT ART HAS SOCIALLY TRANSFORMATIVE POWER?

We think art can change society if artists become free from the restraints of contemporary art.
 

Established, Toyko: 2005-Present

Members: Ellie, Yasutaka Hayashi, Motomu Inaoka, Toshinori Mizuno, Masataka Okada, and Ryuta Ushiro. Collective co-founded by Ryuta Ushiro, Yasutaka Hayashi, Ellie, Masataka Okada, Motomu Inaoka and Toshinori Mizuno.

The Tokyo-based collective is known for its punk spirit and its adventurous, pointedly critical, and humane interventions into charged sites from Fukushima to the US/Mexico border.

Select solo exhibitions: Saatchi Gallery (2015); Bank of Japan Hiroshima Branch (2013); and Parco Museum in Tokyo (2012). Select group exhibitions: MoMA PS1 in New York (2014); The 9th Shanghai Biennale (2012); and the 29th São Paulo Biennial (2010). Select awards: Prudential Eye Award (2015) and Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art Award (2007).