Malin Pettersson Öberg

Konsthall C Tuesday 25th November.
At 1 – 3 pm: Wrapped Words: Listening to Japan, broadcast of radio program by Malin Pettersson Öberg
95.3 MHz / Stockholms Närradio, as part of the series CRP – Centrifug Radio Populär
At 6.30 – 9 pm: Situations of Kekko. Program with performances, radio excerpt and conversation with invited guests
on the theme of Fukushima and Swedish / Japanese identity, organized by Hiroko Tsuchimoto, Malin Pettersson Öberg and Konsthall C

Malin Pettersson Öberg explores in her radio program Wrapped Words: Listening to Japan how Japanese identity has been affected by the 3.11 – the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, followed by the nuclear disaster in Fukushima. Through interviews with Japanese artists and cultural workers recorded during a trip to Japan in February 2014 – nearly three years after Fukushima – Pettersson Öberg investigates issues of identity, appropriation and cultural translations. Part of the project involves questions such as: How does the Swedish and Japanese identity relate to one another, which are our preconceptions of the other culture, and how do the various forms of exchanges between the cultures take place?

For Konsthall C – Centrifug Radio Populär Malin Pettersson Öberg has made a selection from the interviews with focus on the nuclear accident and its effects. How do the Japanese artists perceive that 3.11 affected their lives and surrounding community? In an essayist sound collage, voices and encounters from Malin Pettersson Öberg’s journey are recounted with her own voice. The aim of the work has been to understand more about a sensitive and complex issue, of which Pettersson Öberg is by no means an expert. She has approached the subject as an artist, on emotional and personal levels as well as intellectually, with the purpose to listen. The trip and radio program are parts of her artistic research project Borrowed Sceneries. Enquiries of Identity and Appropriation. The project is carried out in 2014 and 2015 with the support of The Scholarship Foundation for Studies of Japanese Society, The Helge Ax:son Johnson Foundation, Iaspis & The Swedish Arts Grants Committee, Konsthall C and the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm.

During the evening, organized by Hiroko Tsuchimoto and Malin Pettersson Öberg in collaboration with Konsthall C, a new performance is given by Hiroko Tsuchimoto. The performance is followed by a communal listening to an excerpt of the radio program Wrapped Words: Listening to Japan, and an open conversation with invited guests. Hiroko Tsuchimoto and Malin Pettersson Öberg began their collaboration with a joint exhibition and research trip to Japan in 2012. As part of the project they have examined Swedish and Japanese identity and culture. They have looked at properties and characteristics, ideas and beliefs between the two cultures, and explored various approaches to places, national identity, traveling, belonging and translations. The process has resulted in many dialogues but also in individual works and new collaborations.

For the evening Hiroko Tsuchimoto has developed the performance Situations of Kekko, from which the event borrows its title. According to Hiroko, “kekko” might have multiple meanings in Japanese: ”Depending on the context, it can have different meanings, even opposite definitions. Sometimes it means yes, sometimes, no.” The performance will go on continuously from 18.30 accompanied by Japanese snacks from Café Kikusen. At 19.00 visitors are invited to listen to an excerpt of the radio program Wrapped Words: Listening to Japan, which will have been broadcasted earlier during the day. The program continues with presentations by the organizers and three invited guests – Katarina Dahlbeck, Yuko Maki and Petra Holmberg – cultural workers with experience of living and working in between the two countries. An open conversation concludes the evening, where reflections and experiences of Fukushima and Swedish/Japanese identity are shared.

Download the transcribed conversation Situations of Kekko.