Chim↑Pom: A Brief History of Making the Sky of Hiroshima "PIKA!"
photo commentary by Chim↑Pom, essay by Kenichi Abe
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Photo: Seiha Yamaguchi
Chim↑Pom took this artist photo in 2019 at the Motomachi Apartment Complex, known for the area’s former history as a so-called genbaku suramu (atomic bomb slum) in Hiroshima City. One of the collective’s members lives here with his family.
2009 video (5’ 35”), lambda print (66.7×100cm)
Photo: Cactus Nakao
Courtesy of the artist and MUJIN-TO ProductionThe work consists of Chim↑Pom spelling out “pika!,” the onomatopoeic Japanese word for flash, in skywriting above the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. Creating a manga-like scenery, the collective re-inscribed the clouds’ gradual disappearance with the fading of collective memory and presented a contemporary sense of history concerning peace in post-war Japan.
Misinterpretation, Reconciliation, Understanding
For Chim↑Pom, 2008 was a year in which, for better or for worse, their name became more widely known. In the previous year, they had answered a call for entries for a public exhibit held by the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, and received the Museum’s award, which could be equated with the grand prize, in that exhibit. At the same time, they won the right to stage a small-scale solo exhibit in a studio within the Museum beginning in November 2008. But it was not that their entry for the exhibit was applauded.
On October 21, 2008, Chim↑Pom created the work Making the Sky of Hiroshima “PIKA!” for display in the aforementioned solo exhibit. They did so by having a small aircraft write the characters of the Japanese “katakana” syllabary for “pika,” meaning “flash,” in the sky over the Genbaku Dome (Hiroshima Peace Memorial), and captured this skywriting on photographs and video. For this purpose, they hired a pilot highly skilled in skywriting, who actually flew a plane and wrote “pika” five times. The writing in pale white stood out well against the clear blue sky, and the photography and video recording were completed without a hitch.
2009
paper, pencil, colored pencil
31.2×20.1cm (image size)
Cooperation: Kenji Itagaki The drawing reproduces the artwork’s first coverage by Chugoku Shimbun, Hiroshima’s local newspaper, which led to controversy. When Chim↑Pom contacted the media outlet to ask for permission to use the front page in their book Why Can’t We Make the Sky of Hiroshima “PIKA!”?, the request was rejected. The collective then created a replica drawing to cite in the book.
However, the October 22 edition of Chugoku Shimbun, a local newspaper, ran an article that strongly criticized Chim↑Pom, based on a photo provided by a citizen who had seen the writing in the sky. More specifically, it introduced comments by people who felt the writing was “unpleasant” and “eerie,” as well as complaints by a representative of an organization of atomic blast survivors in Hiroshima. The critics charged that the work crossed the line of decency because “pika” called to mind “pikadon,” a term that is synonymous with the atomic blast. Naturally, Ryuta Ushiro, the leader of Chim↑Pom, was also interviewed by a reporter.
One morning, the katakana for “pika” suddenly appeared in the skies of Hiroshima, and then slowly disappeared. The happening was also instantly taken up by numerous mass media. The flap quickly spread to the Internet, where Chim↑Pom were subjected to a barrage of bashing by anonymous individuals. Two days later, Ushiro held a press conference to make an apology about the “neglect to inform all A-blast survivors and the families of victims in advance,” before representatives of survivor organizations. Chim↑Pom also voluntarily postponed the scheduled solo exhibit indefinitely. Chim↑Pom therefore temporarily lost the opportunity to exhibit Making the Sky of Hiroshima “PIKA!” as art.
Ironically, the jump in recognition of their name resulted from this sort of controversy that embroiled the mass media and netizens, including people who learned of everything after the fact.
Photo: Tetsuya OzakiOne night, Ryuta Ushiro received a phone call from a journalist who told him that Chim↑Pom was scheduled to speak at Hiroshima City’s apology press conference. Ushiro hadn’t been informed, so he confirmed with one of the curators. Although many people in the art world had expressed that the collective shouldn’t apologize for their art, Chim↑Pom had no intention of going against the survivor organizations and attended the event. Leaders from seven prominent organizations participated in the press conference, but they had no idea about the work. It appeared they only came because they were invited by Hiroshima City. Afterward, Chim↑Pom personally reached out to meet with each group. Their conversations led to the idea of creating Why Can’t We Make the Sky of Hiroshima “PIKA!”?. The collective explained the intention behind the artwork, and the organization members shared their personal stories around the atomic bomb. While they all criticized the guerilla approach in creating the piece, they also shared their concerns of not knowing how to pass down their experiences to the younger generation and showed understanding towards PIKA! as a new approach.
The important part is what happened afterward.
Chim↑Pom immediately began to build personal ties with the members of two survivor organisations. They held symposiums with representatives of these organizations and set about preparation of a book titled Why Can’t We Make the Sky of Hiroshima “PIKA!”? This book contained numerous contributions by art critics and artists, and was published in March 2009. To prevent the book from being about the work of art, Chim↑Pom decided not to show the Making the Sky of Hiroshima “PIKA!” to anyone until the book had been finished. The book consequently examines the whole controversy as outlined above while viewing the question from perspectives such as “freedom of expression and restrictions,” “war and peace,” and “the atomic blasts and modern society.”
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![Book: Naze Hiroshima No Sora Wo Pika! To Saseteha Ikenainoka [Why Can’t We Make the Sky of Hiroshima “PIKA!”?] Editor: Chim↑Pom, Kenichi Abe Publisher: MUJIN-TO Production, 2009 Photo: Kei Miyajima Courtesy of the artist and MUJIN-TO Production](https://assets-global.website-files.com/648a8434c71a42436f2e4db3/64be1267b9983cf20cdc5827_book_2008_KeiMiyajima.jpeg)
Editor: Chim↑Pom, Kenichi Abe
Publisher: MUJIN-TO Production, 2009
Photo: Kei Miyajima
Courtesy of the artist and MUJIN-TO Production
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Chim↑Pom, needless to say, had not abandoned the idea of exhibiting Making the Sky of Hiroshima “PIKA!” in order to present the true intentions behind its creation.
Making the Sky of Hiroshima “PIKA!” was first shown at the “Hiroshima!” exhibit that was planned and held by Chim↑Pom themselves in March 2009 (at VACANT gallery in Tokyo). Real Thousand Cranes, which was originally slated to be shown at the same solo exhibit in Hiroshima, was also displayed then. Copies of the aforementioned book were available at the venue for advance sale. Furthermore, the exhibit run included a talk session with Sunao Tsuboi, Co-Chairperson of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations. The three-day exhibit was carefully put together and drew good crowds. Chim↑Pom sporadically continued to show the work thereafter as well. In 2011, it held the exhibit “Level 7 feat. 'Hiroshima!!!!’” (one additional exclamation mark is added for every holding of the “Hiroshima!” exhibit) at Maruki Gallery for The Hiroshima Panels (in the city of Higashi-Matsuyama, Saitama Prefecture). The Gallery was built for permanent exhibition of “The Hiroshima Panels” series by Iri and Toshi Maruki, who are best known for their anti-war art addressing the atomic blasts.
Photo: Kenji Morita
Courtesy of the artist and MUJIN-TO Production
Right from the start, nevertheless, Chim↑Pom fervently wanted the people of Hiroshima to see their work. They just had to show the completed Making the Sky of Hiroshima “PIKA!” in Hiroshima, where the local newspaper had run a stream of critical articles about them, where they had even been kicked out of the museum, and where they were originally supposed to unveil it as a new work. The chance came in 2013.
At their 2011 solo exhibit titled “REAL TIMES” (held at MUJIN-TO Production in Tokyo), Chim↑Pom dealt with the catastrophe at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. This and other works such as Level 7 feat. “Myth of Tomorrow” and KI-AI 100 succeeded in again underscoring their commitment to confronting nuclear power and arms. Since 2008, meanwhile, they had continued to engage in dialogue with people in Hiroshima, including those who had had a negative reaction toward them. In the process, they gained the understanding of people who managed galleries and ran restaurants in the city. This interaction culminated in the holding of the “Hiroshima!!!!!” exhibit, with the cooperation of these individuals. The funding for this exhibit came from the display and sale of new Chim↑Pom works at their galleries.
Photo: Kei Miyajima
Courtesy of the artist and MUJIN-TO Production
Photo: Tadanori TsukadaThe “Hiroshima” exhibitions, held at the Maruki Gallery for The Hiroshima Panels in 2011 and the Former Bank of Japan Hiroshima Branch in 2013, served as a huge turning point for Chim↑Pom. Local residents had formed a kind of committee to realize the exhibition, especially in Hiroshima. Eleven local businesses, ranging from galleries, music venues, flower shops, cafes to okonomiyaki restaurants, sold Chim↑Pom’s artworks during the summer, gathering funds to hold a large-scale solo exhibition in the winter. With over 5,000 visitors, the show gained much attention. Well-known punk musicians previously critical of the collective repeatedly visited and brought many of their friends. A distinct feature of the exhibition was a survey available at the venue, a cultural facility of Hiroshima City. They received nearly two hundred responses that contained lengthy, dense comments filling up the whole form. The show led to Chim↑Pom’s commitment to work using folded paper cranes sent to Hiroshima City from around the world. Later one of the members married a local resident who worked as an assistant during the exhibition, strengthening the collective’s ties to Hiroshima.
The “Hiroshima!!!!!” exhibit was held at what had been the Hiroshima branch of the Bank of Japan. The building was there when the atom bomb was dropped, but it was not destroyed, and is still in use today as exhibition space. Chim↑Pom staged an impressive solo exhibit that encompassed many new works. The visitors undoubtedly sensed Chim↑Pom’s considerable talent as artists, from not only Making the Sky of Hiroshima “PIKA!” but also their other works. Thanks partly to the assistance from the local people who cooperated with it and stirred interest in it, the exhibit was favourably received overall.
But the story does not end with Hiroshima. The “Hiroshima!” exhibit is going to travel at long last to the United States itself, as Chim↑Pom had earnestly hoped. It is going to be held in 2019 in New York’s Art in General, an NPO exhibition space with a history of more than 30 years.* How will it appear in the eyes of Americans, who have a completely different outlook on the bomb?
Photo by Dario Lasagni
Courtesy of Art in General and the artists
2017
video (3’ 05”), envelopes (package of origami that were unfolded from paper cranes delivered to Hiroshima, instructions on how to fold origami cranes, return envelope and stamp)
For Chim↑Pom, Making the Sky of Hiroshima “PIKA!” is undeniably a milestone work. It was the one that manifested their resolution and determination as artists. Through a course of events that was emblematic of the six members, who can definitely be counted on to come out of any predicament ー regardless on whether they took initiation or not ー with flying colours, Chim↑Pom are steadily widening the scope of their exhibition activity.
