The artist-duo Fischer and el Sani produce video works employing a wide range of modes and methods, including documentary, film, and photography, focusing on architectural structures and places that have lost their original purpose due to changes in social and political systems, and on history, memory, and complex web of human emotions tied to these locations. Fischer & el Sani have participated in residence programs and international exhibitions throughout the world, including in Japan, and have exhibited work that delves into recent Japanese history. After the Great East Japan Earthquake, they created Spirits Closing Their Eyes (2012), a work dealing with a physical and psychological state of emergency – following the continual nuclear disaster in Fukushima – which oscillates between actual threat and subtle changes in everyday habits.
For their new work for the Aichi Triennale 2013, I Live in Fear - Record of a Living Being After March 11, Fischer and el Sani invited fugitives who escaped from the aftereffects of the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, residents of Aichi Prefecture and actors to a screening of Kurosawa Akira’s film I Live in Fear (or Record of a Living Being) (1955) to re-evaluate Kurosawa’s concern after the nuclear weapon tests on Bikini Atoll in the ’50s. The screening was followed by a discussion and improvisation workshop that focused on the exploration of fears and uncertainties surrounding the nuclear catastrophe and threat of radiation.
Ida Shihoko, Curator, Aichi Triennale 2013 / and the artists
社会や政治体制の変化の結果、本来の目的を失った建築物や場の歴史、記憶と共に複雑に絡み合う人々の思いに注目し、ドキュメンタリー、フィルム、写真、などさまざまな手法で映像作品を制作するアーティスト・デュオ。日本を含む世界各地の国際展やレジデンスで活躍する一方、日本の現代史を掘り下げる作品も発表してきた。東日本大震災後は、実際に起きてしまった脅威とこれまでの日常の微細な変化との間で動揺する人々の身体的・心理的切迫感に関心を寄せた作品《目を閉じる精霊たち》(2012)を発表した。
あいちトリエンナーレ2013のための新作でフィッシャーとエルサニは、福島第一原発事故を原因に逃げてきた避難者、愛知県民、そして俳優たちを黒澤明作品『生きものの記録』（1955）の上映会に招待し、1950年代のビキニ環礁沖水爆実験を受けて黒澤が取り組んだ問題の再評価を行った。上映後に話し合いの場を設け、即興ワークショップを実施し、原発事故と放射能の危険をめぐる恐怖と不安の探究に注目した。
飯田志保子, Curator, Aichi Triennale 2013 / and the artists