DangerInEvolution by Kicca Igaly and Nessuno Myoo

All eyes on the destruction...

All eyes on the destruction…

 

There is no question that the new joint installation by Kicca Igaly and Nessuno Myoo at LEA27 focuses on one of the most devastating and humanity-changing events in our history. The dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 not only changed the course of the war, but saddled humanity with a new threat, one which we have lived with ever since.

The bomb dropped on Hiroshima was nicknamed Little Boy; a rather surprising name (at least to me) considering its intention and ultimate effect. One is more likely to think of (most) little boys as mischievious rather than downright sinister, powerful and destructive. However, when I contemplate this work, I see an underlying element of innocence despite the destructive effects of Little Boy. For instance, Igaly incorporates two rather child-like figures sitting innocently before a wall of radioactive containers adjacent to a lab. There they sit, seemingly oblivious to the dangerous and life-altering work being done just beyond the window; work that will unleash death and destruction in previously unknown measure.

Continue your journey to Myoo’s part of the installation…a fanciful amusement park ride at the apparent epicentre of Little Boy’s arrival. Innocents swinging wildly in ultimate thrill and enjoyment…spinning and whirling through air…defying gravity. But we have arrived at the precise moment of destruction, a destruction that is frozen for our contemplation. We look, just as the eyes of the world all around us watched the end of the ride, and the end of innocence.

The installation also includes a link to this video on YouTube…

More photographs of this installation can be found in this set on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pj_trenton/sets/72157632549767065/with/8392867532/. Read more about it on the Linden Endowment for the Arts blog.

This is partly what I took away from this interesting, dark and thought-provoking exhibit. Visit at LEA 27 (SLURL) while you still have the chance and see what you take away from it.