Besides from dreams, memories can also emerge in the form of images. In the State of Amnesia is a work in which Meiro KOIZUMI presents a man with memory disorder caused by a traumatic brain injury. The man faces the camera as he tries to describe a true story. His narration becomes more confusing as he struggles to remember. Finally, he forgets what he has said. People who do not suffer from amnesia lose their memories too. What will the images of memories be in the state of amnesia?
In the State of Amnesia is a collaborative work produced by Meiro Koizumi and Nobuhiro Tanaka. During the 2-day shooting, Tanaka, who suffered from memory disorder due to the brain damage from an accident in his early days, had to memorize a testimony of a Japanese solider. In the testimony, the Japanese soldier confessed having killed a little boy on a covert mission in his service in China during the World War II. The work captured his endeavor to recall and recount the testimony. Nevertheless, due to Tanaka’s memory disorder, the more he tried to remember the lines in front of the camera, the less he could remember. In the end, he fell into silence, as all the words escaped from his memory. Unlike Germany, the testimonies of Japanese as aggressors in the Asian countries have been hidden, repressed, and untold in the Japanese society. Seventy years after the end of the war, the people today almost completely forget how aggressive the Japanese have been during the wartime, commented by Koizumi.
In the exhibition space of Meiro Koizumi's double-channel video work "In the State of Amnesia," I utilized the steady brightness and flickering characteristics of a flashlight concealed within a translucent white robe. With my hands tucked inside the robe's pockets, the movement of my limbs was restricted by the clothing, making it difficult to extend them fully. The flickering light resembled sudden glimpses of memory, while the constrained body evoked a state of repression akin to constantly recalling but struggling to remember.
KOIZUMI Meiro - In the State of Amnesia, double-channel video, 13’05”, 2015
Venue｜Hong-gah Museum、Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-LAB)
Opening Participant Artist＿
Sound Art：Hsieh Xiande
Performance Coordination：Hsu Shenghan
Performers：Shi Ruxuan、Wu Wenyi、Wu Bingzhen、Liu Yuning、Jian Tzuyi、Chung Kaining
DJ：Jared Xu
First Floor Lighting Design：Tsai Yiting