Creative Commons vol. 5 Open-air Sculpture Project Exploring Surface/Strata 2021 “Standing Here”

The Aomori Contemporary Art Center (ACAC) celebrated its 20th anniversary in December 2021. Since opening its doors, there have been numerous open-air sculptures produced and installed at ACAC, which have become a loved quality of the Center. Additionally, the city of Aomori houses many peace sculptures and commemorative monuments. These have become an intricate part of the public space, displaying the historical incidents of the area. Some have risen to become tourist attractions, while others stand quietly as if forgotten. Perhaps because they have become such a natural part of the cityscape, there is very little thought given as to who constructed the various pieces, with what intentions, and why they were installed there. As a result, there have not been enough opportunities to think over the changes society goes through after they have been installed, or enough discussion surrounding sculptures.
Departing from these circumstances, in 2021, ACAC began a long-term, multi-year project to look at these monuments from diverse angles and from a current perspective, beginning with an open-air sculpture ‘given to us’. In 2020, as a preparative lecture for the project (Creative Commons vol.1), we held a talk between three individuals – a local historian who is versed in the histories dispersed throughout Aomori City, an artist who has witnessed the installation of open-air sculptures at ACAC, and a sculptor/critic who not only creates works but also writes and publishes on the various discourses surrounding sculpture.
In 2021, ODAWARA Nodoka researched the open-air sculptures around Aomori Prefecture to examine them in relation to their historical and social contexts. This solo exhibition presents the fruit of that investigative labor. Odawara approaches sculpture as a medium that reflects the society in which it was made, as well as reflecting current society through how it is viewed today. Through producing work and text, she takes a critical approach to the subject in order to bring out the hidden issues within modern Japanese history. This time, she has focused on sculptors associated with the Aomori region, such as OKUMA Ujihiro and his work, “Death March in Snow of Hakkōda Mountains (Fifth Infantry Regiment Memorial)”, TAKAMURA Kotaro and his work, “The Statue of Maidens”, and others such as KOSAKA Keiji, a Noheji native who was also Takamura’s assistant. Attention is also paid to a unique aspect of open-air sculpture in Aomori: the fact that the sculptures cannot be seen properly during the winter months owing to heavy snowfall. As Odawara unravels and layers the sculptures and memorials “standing here” in this majestic mountainous landform, our eyes will be opened, through the past, to the present in which we live.

ODAWARA Nodoka Solo Exhibition “Overcoming/Sculpting Modernity : Aomori Snow Country Edition”
Dec. 25 (Sat), 2021 – Feb. 13 (Sun), 2022 10:00-17:00 Admission free
Closed: Year-end and New Year’s holidays (Dec. 29 (Wed) – Jan. 3 (Mon)) and dates related to university entrance examinations (Jan. 14 (Fri) – Jan. 16 (Sun) and Jan. 28 (Fri) – Jan. 30 (Sun))
Aomori Contemporary Art Centre [ACAC], Aomori Public University, Gallery A, Exhibition Hall

The Hakkoda Mountains are located almost exactly in the center of Aomori Prefecture. The name Hakkoda does not refer to a single mountain, but is the general term for this volcanic complex. Unlike Mount Iwaki, which is revered by the people of Aomori, the Hakkoda Mountains are not the subject of mountain worship. Rather, this mountain range is known as the place of a certain tragedy, the “Death March in Hakkoda Mountains Incident”, which occurred in January of 1902.
It is here we find a sculptural work that is crucial to the history of Japanese sculpture. One of these is the “Death March in Snow of Hakkoda Mountains (Fifth Infantry Regiment Memorial)”, located on the northern side of the Hakkoda Mountains. This sculpture was unveiled in 1906 to memorialize the Hakkoda Mountains Incident, and was made by one of the first sculptors in modern Japan, OKUMA Ujihiro. On the southern side, by the Towada Lake, stands “The Statue of Maidens”. This is the last sculpture made by TAKAMURA Kotaro who was also known as a poet.
Okuma Ujihiro and Takamura Kotaro studied sculpture at the Kobu Bijutsu Gakko and Tokyo Bijutsu Gakko, respectively. The two sculptors represent the two sides of Japan’s modern sculpture history, which swayed between Westernization and nationalism. The two works that stand on either side of the Hakkoda Mountains have an imaginary fault line at their feet: the bifurcation point in the history of sculpture that could have been.
Right above this fault line, at the foot of the Hakkoda Mountains, is the venue of this exhibition. It is here that the Hakkoda mountain range overlaps with the undulations of the history of sculpture, and sculpture becomes the stationary observation device of history.
Takamura Kotaro wrote a poem titled, To the Maidens by the Towada Lake for his work, “The Statue of Maidens”.

［…］Made from a copper and tin alloy
Two female nudes
Standing like a shadow and form
Until this gracefully unsentimental metal
Rusts and falls to the earth
It will endure the pressures of the primeval forest
If you are to stand, stand silently for thousands of years!

The ‘female nudes’ are like an alter ego of myself. This exhibition responds to the words ‘stand silently’ that can be heard echoing around the Hakkoda Mountains and Towada Lake, and throughout the corners of our society.(Odawara Nodoka)