© Envie de Tempête Productions

11th Art Division Grand Prize

nijuman no borei

Video work

Jean-Gabriel PERIOT [France]

Outline

A documentary footage which spun out a history by connecting an enormous quantity of documentary photography related to the A-bomb of Hiroshima with great care. A calm monolog in the background, pictures with the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima in their center are collaged and unrolled.

Reason for Award

This work is a collage of time which shows about 90-year history of the Atomic Bomb Dome which was opened as a produce museum of Hiroshima in 1915 and became a ruin in the bombing. The work was created by accumulating 1000 still pictures like a frame-by-frame animation. Placing the dome (since this is a hemisphere, it can be identified as it is from any direction) in the center of the picture, the change of the surrounding area, a drama of the process of its construction, destruction, and reconstruction is presented. The dome, which plays the main role in this work, transforms being related to the surrounding area into a life of its own. The theme has been adopted many times in the past and could fall into clichés, but director Périot says, “By continuing to create work, we can give to it a new point of view and draw emotion from the audience,” and stresses how important it is to keep sending a message for nuclear disarmament. Today, in trials where many documentaries and arts are crossing to seek what media arts can do now, this work is calm but creates a deep impression.