Repairing Earthquake ProjectENStories from the Objects

Object #2011_04
Fish plate

In September 2011, about six months after the disaster,these crockery shards were found in the neighbourhoodof the old Touna railway station in Miyagi, Japan. For along time, this area was mainly inhabited by fishermen.
This kind of traditional hand-painted plate was typicallyfound in old homes. Its rectangular shape suggests it
was used for plating fish. Initially, it seemed impossible
to completely restore the plate and took a lot of work tomatch up the pieces to get the curvature right. In 2012,
while working on this project in connection with a groupexhibition in Mito, sculptor Tomohiko Ogawa helped
to finish it. The missing parts were filled with a kind ofplaster used by dentists.

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Object #2011_07
Cooking knife

In September 2011, this fish knife was found in Miyagi
Prefecture. The metal was covered with an incredibly
thick layer of rust. All sorts of attempts were made totry and remove the rust as the metal of the blade washeavily damaged by the salty seawater. While staying at
Mito in 2012, the rust was successfully removed using
a Dremel tool. The fissures in the wooden handle werefilled as well as the holes in the hollow plastic connector.
The ultimate goal will be to file down the blade evenfurther so it can be used again for cutting.

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House in Gamo
16 September 2011 / 22 October 2012 / 15 June 2018
These are all photos of the same house during different
time periods. The top photo was taken some time in2011. Discovered by sheer coincidence, the exact same
location was photographed again in 2012 in the cityof Sendai, the capital of the Miyagi Prefecture. In this2012 photo, the entire left wing of the house was torn
down. A widespread rumour in this region was thatthe homeowners razed many houses that could still be
restored- in order to become eligible for government
redevelopment funding. The bottom photograph shows
the situation in 2018, after the house got a new left wing.

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Object #2011_19
Hydrant

This aluminium object was found in 2011 in Watari,
Touna or Sendai – it’s unclear where exactly. For years,
the purpose of this object remained a mystery, until afriend discovered it was part of a so-called ‘field bulb’- akind of swivelling sprinkler head used in paddy fields.
Since it’s made out of aluminium, it was relatively easy
to bend back into its original shape. It was the first metal
object to be restored in connection with the Repairing
Earthquake Project.

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The starting spot
12 September 2011 / 17 October 2012 / 6 June 2018
Harumi Shimura, an acquaintance who lived nearby andoccasionally helped with the Repairing Earthquake Project,
pointed to this site on the map prior to the first visit to thedisaster area in 2011. This location is where all the trips
to tsunami-hit areas started from. The photo on top dates
from 2011, and is the first photo taken in the context of thisproject.
The tsunami hit the peninsula from the left and the entire
area was flooded. On the left, you can make out theremains of a rice paddy, and on the right is the sea. In the
background, there’s an eerie abandoned nursing homefor senior citizens that was evacuated before the tsunami
hit. Homes are not allowed to be built in this location any
longer. Depending on the water level, the outlines of thisarea are constantly changing when viewed on Google
Maps. The bottom photograph was made in 2018, andcurrently people are busy preparing this site for farming.
The road has since been repaired and now leads to anoyster farm on the peninsula which opened as early as
2015. On the right, you can see one of the new concrete
levees that is intended to protect the coastline. Most people
aren’t happy with these massive embankments which
obstruct their view of the sea.
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Graveyard
13 September 2011 / 17 October 2012 / 6 June 2018
These are photos of a cemetery in Touna taken in 2011,2012 and 2018 with a large retirement home in the
background. A year after the disaster, they restored thegraves to their previous state. Today, the cemetery has
a monument commemorating the tsunami. Many of thegraves belong to people who perished in the disasterand the tsunami is often named as the cause of deathon individual gravestones. On the far right of the mostrecent photo, they erected a post which marked the
local water level at the time of the tsunami- around 3.5
metres.

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Object #2011_33
Dress shirt

This shirt was discovered in an abandoned andcompletely devastated house, as the owner neverreturned after the tsunami. One of his family members
took over the house. The shirt was found dirty and fullof stains and was taken to the dry cleaners. After theshirt was cleaned, it came back with a label saying it was
impossible to remove some of the stains. The shirt was
kept folded and packed in plastic, exactly the way it was
picked up at the cleaners.

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Object #2011_42
VaseThis was the scene in 2011 in the area around theold Nobiru station – an old residential neighbourhoodthat was more or less destroyed by the tsunami. It wascompletely deserted and quite spooky. Apparently,
someone had put this damaged hand-painted vase(which used to be valuable) out on the street so theowner could find it. After taking the vase, there weresome feelings of guilt, but at the same time it was
realistic to assume that the vase had probably been
carried by the flood from a completely different area.
Nowadays, soy is grown here and there’s no building or
street to be found.
This was the first object to be publicly restored in 2012
alongside a group exhibition in Mito. The inside of thevase was sealed with clay and the outside with plaster.
The bottom photograph shows the recently restored
object as it was presented in the exhibition. Since thevase is so distinctive looking and given its approximate
known location, there’s a good chance to hear from theowner someday.

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House near old Nobiru station
24 October 2011 / 17 October 2012 / 10 June 2018
Before the tsunami, this was a busy residential
neighbourhood. The photo on top dates from 2011; thebottom from 2018. When first visiting this area near
the old Nobiru station in 2011, almost every houseapart from this one had been destroyed. The inside wascompletely gutted and the water level must have beenvery high. The house was sandwiched between thesea and a nearby canal, so when the tsunami struck,
the water came from two sides. Building is forbiddenin this area, but right now it’s being used for largescale agriculture and the locals have no idea which
corporations are responsible. Looking around, there’s
no reminder that this used to be a densely populated
residential neighbourhood.

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Object #2012_15
Kutani ware teacup

The shards of this old, hand-painted teacup were foundin Touna in 2012. As usual, the object was repaired
using black glue and plaster. With its striking colour anddecoration, it’s one of the rarer items in the project thatstands out. If the rightful owner ever comes across theteacup, would they recognize it and ask to have it back?

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Object #2012_23
Old small plate (watermill)

In 2015 in Maastricht, The Netherlands, there wasa group exhibition hosted by people in their homes.
Together with Joanna van Oppen, this reconstructed
plate bearing a picture of a watermill was installed onher mantelpiece. Mrs. van Oppen didn’t like the little box
which was made for the plate and asked whether it could
be presented on a wooden stand instead. At her request,
the artist’s name was written on a plaque so she could
remember it.

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Object #2012_25
Bamboo plate

The fragments of this fish plate were found in 2012 in
the area around Touna. The plate was hand-painted
with a bamboo motif. It’s a relatively old object – onethat many Japanese will remember seeing in their
grandparents’ house. A yellow resin-based plasterwas used to repair the object (which was ordered by
accident) and became rock hard after setting. This
time around, it was easier to reconstruct the missing
parts than with the other fish plate shown earlier. The
technical skills needed for repairing objects improved
over the course of the project – particularly afterworking with sculptor Tomohiko Ogawa in Mito in 2012.
The bottom photograph was shot by someone elseartist Myung Feyen, who took responsibility for keeping
the object. The selected image shows part of the interior
as well as her shoes and comes from a series of photos
she took.

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Object #2012_28
Rake

This irregularly shaped metal object was found as flatas a pancake in Touna in 2012. At first, nobody knew
what it was. The sculptor, Tomohiko Ogawa, eventually
identified it as a rake - an American style rake - to beprecise. A number of methods were used to try andremove the rust, including glue and cola, but nothingworked. Eventually, it was ground off with a machine.
The sculptor returned the rake’s tines to their original
positions by heating them with a gas burner. He also
helped track down the exact model online, and it turned
out to have a handle length of exactly 157 cm. For thereconstruction, a rectangular wooden beam was sanded
until it was the right shape and the bar and handle were
fixed using the original tape. The rake was shipped to
the Netherlands from Japan for an exhibition in The
Hague in 2018, after being stored at the museum in Mitofor a long time.

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Objects #2012_33, #2012_34, #2012_62
Golf ball, Baseball, Softball

Apart from filling in holes and tears, there wasn’t muchto repair on this golf ball, baseball and softball. These
small items were found in 2012 at different sites,
because by that time most of the washed up larger
objects had been cleared away. The softball comes from
Watari, but some other objects in the inventory of theRepairing Earthquake Project couldn’t be traced. The
softball had been floating in the water for a year and ahalf, so the waterline left a mark on its surface. (Whenpresenting the balls, the softball should be positioned sothat it once again horizontally aligns with this waterline.)
The little boxes were made from scraps of plywood, as
there was no access to a professional woodworking
machine at the time.

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Object #2012_42
Two white and blue flower plates

In 2012, the base of operations for the disaster area was
moved from Sendai to Watari. The lack of finds that year
was disappointing because many of the larger objects
had been removed during the frenzy of cleaning andrebuilding after the tsunami. Finding useful materials
was very difficult. After a shallow hole was made fora test dig in a field, these shards were immediately
discovered. A bit deeper – around 15 cm under the soil
– the shovel hit the layer of asphalt that used to cover
the surface before the tsunami. After reassembling theshards one by one in the studio, it became clear thatthey didn’t come from one object, but two- a pair ofsmall, hand-painted sashimi plates. It’s amazing to thinkthat the shards actually matched up to form two plates.
They’ve been put together in a little case, where they will
hopefully remain together for the rest of their existence.
The plates have since found a foster home.

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Object #2012_67
TelephoneThis telephone, which was probably used for decades,
was found in 2012 while walking through a rice paddy in
Watari. Finding a telephone there was amazing enough– let alone an old device with a rotary dial rather thanpush-buttons. It was very heavy, particularly the receiver,which turned out to be completely full of sand. At Mito,
the inside of the telephone was cleaned up using a
toothbrush. The sunlight had discolored the receiver, as
the pieces were two different colours. The body musthave been protected under a cover for a long time.
There was no point in trying to get the telephone back inworking order, but the telephone’s most basic function(its rotary mechanism) was restored. Finally, having tried
all sorts of things to get it working, the dial was moving
again after rubbing petroleum jelly into the mechanism
for a week.

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Before repair:

After repair:https://youtu.be/8l6hKqoBB9I

https://youtu.be/BqDXKQg7ECc

35Ishinomaki
13 September 2011 / 21 June 2018
These photos show the view from Hiyoriyama Park in
Ishinomaki. Hiyoriyama Park is situated fairly high up ona hilltop (a small mountain by Japanese standards) while
its surroundings are relatively flat. This ‘safe’ altitude
means that the city has a special appeal for people in thesurrounding region. The top photo shows several of theoriginal buildings that have remained as well as two oldcemeteries. Today, the temple and cemetery which canbe seen in the top left-hand corner of the top photo are
hidden from view by a gigantic block of flats. Most likely,
they’ll be adding numerous ones over the next few years.
The entire area will be scheduled for redevelopment
except for the two cemeteries.

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Pile of debris
13 September 2011 / 21 June 2018
These are another two views from Hiyoriyama Park in
Ishinomaki, photographed in 2011 and 2018. In the
middle of the picture on the top, there’s a huge massof tsunami debris, including the remains of destroyed
homes. It consists exclusively of combustible residual
waste that remained after two previous separation
rounds. The other waste was collected and moved to
specialised land tips. In the most recent photo, all thewaste has disappeared. The industrial area is being
rebuilt at an extremely high pace, and on the right of thephoto they are building a new bridge.

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Objects #2018_1...1249
Washed ashore (Canada pieces)

Here are some impressions of the 1249 pieces of
microplastic that were found on the beach of theCanadian town of Tofino in spring 2018. They were
subsequently archived and numbered in the studioin The Hague. Over the course of the Repairing
Earthquake Project, a fascination with microplastics
grew more and more – and the fact that years after thetsunami, there were still remains washing up from theafflicted area’s material culture on the opposite side of
the Pacific.
Pete Clarkson, a local artist and beachcomber of Tofino,observed that the tsunami debris which had been carried
to Canada by the ocean currents (which included a lot ofplastic) was steadily disintegrating into minute particles
due to the harsh conditions out on the water. This madeit increasingly difficult to determine where the plastic
originally came from. To Pete’s surprise, a relatively
large volume of Japanese plastic was collected during
a visit in spring 2018. Among other things, childhood
memories played an important role when it came toidentifying these plastic particles as Japanese.

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In the case of the larger plastic items, it was highly
probable that they were of Japanese origin becauseof their recognisable shapes and/or inscriptions. The
smaller fragments of plastic were selected based on
a combination of reasoned intuition and experience.
According to Pete for example, blue plastic has always
been quite rare in Canada. It only started washing up
on the country’s shores after the tsunami in 2011. In
contrast, fragments of thin plastic were rejected as
potential debris from Japan because during the timeof the Tofino visit (seven years after the tsunami), thiskind of material had long since disintegrated in the sea
water. Back at the studio in The Hague, the objects werearranged according to colour; partly in preparation for
the upcoming exhibition.

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Object #2018_1254
Old neighbourhood (drawing)This drawing (like the other works on paper developedin collaboration with Aki Namba) is based on theexperiences of the station manager of Nobiru station,
whose father also worked in the same profession. He isan exceptionally committed individual, who loves this
district and actively works on behalf of his community.
After the tsunami, the station master became
disillusioned when nearly all the original residents
chose to move to higher sites or left the neighbourhood
altogether. He suddenly realised that very few people
truly cared for the area itself. This drawing is a tributeto the area before the tsunami – in all its beauty. The
images are partially based on the situation before thedisaster as shown on Google Maps. Along the bottom,
you can see the old station hall and the platforms, whichhave since been designated as monuments.

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Gym hall
24 October 2011 / 17 October 2012 / 6 June 2018
This space is one of the sites of the disaster. It’s thegym of a former primary school in the vicinity of Nobiru
station and is close to a canal that was dug nearly 150
years ago by the Dutch. The gym was often used forschool ceremonies and meetings. The photo on top
shows the situation some six months after the disaster.
The hands of the clock in the gym are frozen at 2:46 p.m.
– the time of the earthquake on 11 March 2011. As isoften the case after a major earthquake, the government
advised local residents to evacuate to sites that weredeemed safe, including this school gym. The sea wasmiles away so no one imagined the tsunami would reachthis far. Nevertheless, a tidal wave reached the gym
hall at 3:52 that afternoon. The wave was almost three
metres high – it went nearly all the way to the ceiling of
the room on the ground floor. Some 150 evacuees, mostof them young people, saw the wave coming and wereable to reach the second story of the building on time.
At least 18 people – mainly senior citizens who wereunable to move to the second floor in time – perished.
The gym was torn down between 2015 and 2018.
Nothing remained to remind visitors of the disaster. The
school building was restored. It was surprising to see

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that the gym hall, with its historical significance, hadbeen demolished. The surviving families of the casualties
brought a lawsuit against the local administrators, who
had advised the senior citizens to evacuate to this gym.
The administrators won the case and were not held
liable for the victims’ deaths. This case was concluded
at the beginning of 2018, when the Supreme Court
dismissed the survivors’ appeal.

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Object #2018_1256
Piano (drawing)

The story behind this drawing is about a woman whobarely survived the disaster and lost her grand piano.
The interior of her home was reconstructed using photos
and descriptions from before the disaster. When she saw
the drawing, she noted that the piano was actually in thewrong place. However, the owner actually liked its ‘new’location, and asked to leave the drawing the way it was.
Later, she requested to add her mother’s favourite clockin the drawing too.

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Object #2018_1252
Wooden bear statue (drawing)

About three decades ago, nearly every member theelderly generation used to own a wooden statue like this.
It’s a kind of promotional item – a famous souvenir of
the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. During theright season, one could visit and see the bears hunting
salmon there. This person was on a holiday when thetsunami struck. The house that she lived in with herparents and grandparents was destroyed. She lost
everything she owned apart from the luggage she hadwith her. She was unable to reach her family over thephone and for 10 days she was uncertain of their fate.
Miraculously, they all survived. The younger generations
tend to see the disaster with a different perspective;
often resigning themselves to the situation and attaching
relatively little importance to the loss of everyday objects
like this souvenir.

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Public toilet
24 October 2011 / 7 June 2018
This is the area around the old Nobiru station in 2011
and 2018. In the first few years after the tsunami, it wasmore or less impossible to find a decent public toilet
and people had to make do with temporary sanitaryfacilities. Nowadays, these emergency toilets are nolonger needed. The photo on top shows the old Nobiru
station and platforms in the background. The former
station building currently houses a museum dedicated tothe tsunami. The presentation uses a variety of meanssuch as news footage and eyewitness accounts- to tell
the story of what happened. The old station platforms
commemorate the disaster with a memorial and a stonemonument.

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Object #2018_1258
Alsione (drawing)

For a long time, this Subaru Alsione was owned by acharismatic monk and his wife. It’s a model that was
produced in the first half of the 1990’s. By 2011, you
could hardly call it a modern vehicle. The two had
lengthy discussions on whether or not to keep the
shabby car. Just before the tsunami, they decided to
redo its interior in bright red and spared no expense.
They lost the car during the tsunami together with its
brand new upholstery. While the couple and their family
survived, they were forced to spend the night out on thestreet. The parking space in front of the temple – thebackground for the drawing of the car – is based on
photos found online.

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Colophon
Repairing Earthquake Project
Stories from the Objects
Nishiko
Text edit: Myung Feyen, Nicola Kirkaldy, Nishiko
Proofreading: Cybil Scott
March 2020
nishiko55.com/eq
This brochure accompanies the exhibition “The Penumbral Age, Art in
the Time of Planetary Change” at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw,
spring/summer 2020.
wiekpolcienia.artmuseum.pl

This brochure has been made possible with the support of the Museum ofModern Art in Warsaw and Stroom Den Haag.

The text in this brochure is a revised versionof the text which was originally written by
Roel Arkesteijn for the exhibition “Repairing
Earthquake Project” at Stroom Den Haag in
the Netherlands in 2018.
Exhibition:“Repairing Earthquake Project” – Nishiko
17 November 2018 – 27 January 2019
Venue: Stroom Den Haag, the Netherlands
Guest curator: Roel Arkesteijn
Exhibition booklet:
Texts: Roel Arkesteijn, Nishiko
Translation: Roel Arkesteijn, Willem Kramer,
Roxane van Beek, Stroom Den Haag
Graphic design: Caroline de Lint
Photography: Nishiko, Myung Feyen
Drawings: Aki Namba