When the Atomic Bomb Exploded

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Harpa, Concert Hall and Conference Centre in Reykjavík exhibit a collection of art pieces from The Equator Memorial Project / International itinerant artists project opened December 15 of 2016, when it was formally 60 years from the beginning of the diplomatic relations between Iceland and Japan. The first exhibition which is achieved partly in collaboration with the Embassy of Japan was opened by the President of Iceland, Mr. Guðni Th. Jóhannesson and Ambassador, Mr. Yasuhiko Kitagawa. The theme of the exhibition is material from Hiroshima and Reykjavík Harbour with historical informations on the pieces. 

In May 2012, Sigmarsson was watching a report on the evening news about the Association of Icelandic Ports and its intention to refurbish the Reykjavík Harbour. Apparently, much of the jetty was to be removed and discarded. This was the beginning of a brand new idea. 

Aside from being environmentally friendly, this recycling was also a kind of resurrection. Way back in 1903, the very same material was used to construct a dock for the herring fleet, which later became a part of the Reykjavik Harbour that was constructed between 1913 and 1917. Closer examination revealed that some of the wood originally came from a German schooner that sank off the south coast of Iceland in 1890. The vessel was brought to Reykjavik and disassembled for scrap. Fascinatingly, research indicated that that the trees may have been more than 200 years old when they were first used for shipbuilding. 

The wood is pine, which can live anywhere from 100 to 1000 years. The oldest preserved pinewood dates back nearly five thousand years. The Romans commonly used pine and other conifer wood to build many of their houses.

 Exhibition Artist; Jóhann Simarsson

Guest Artist;  Steingrímur Eyfjörð

Exhibition Curator;

Jón Proppé

Japanese models for motifs of sculptures of Hiroshima victims created from over 100 years old wood from Reykjavík Harbour;

Toma Toshiki, Asako Ichihashi, Nina Katrín Jónsdóttir Ichihashi and Nagisa Hirose

Studio Coordinator;

Daniel Howard Newton

Photographs;

Ómar Sverrisson, Jóhann Sigmarsson, Daniel Howard Newton and Marteinn Thorsson

Assistants to exhibition; Gunnar Svanur,  Árni Ingólfsson, Jón Guðjónsson, Davíð Þór Jónsson, Guðjón Baldursson, Mao Malgorzata, Gunnar Gunnarsson and Bryndís Erla Zoega. Documentary teaser; Marteinn Thorsson. Music Score on Documentary teaser; Johann Johannsson. Exhibition Producer; 40,074KM EHF / Jóhann Sigmarsson. 

The exhibition is dedicated to the memory of the United States atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. It was August 6, 1945 the explosion killed 70,000 people in one fell swoop. A large part of the city was devastated, heat of the explosion was so great that shadows of people were burned into stone walls and pavements. The Sculptures in this exhibition are based on these shadows and are carved from 100-year old wooden planks salvaged from the recently excavated old Reykjavik harbour. 

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The project was created and implemented by The Equator Memorial Project which is a platform for artists working with content related to historical events. For this exhibition the city of Hiroshima has for the first time donated tiles of the Genbaku Dome building, one of the characteristic buildings of the city, which was destroyed in the atomic bombing, these tiles are now preserved as part of this Memorial devoted to peace and are now part of the exhibition at Harpa, Concert Hall and Conference Centre in Reykjavík.

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That autumn in Hiroshima it was said “For Seventy-five years nothing will grow” However, new buds sprouted and the green that came back to life. Among the charred ruins people recovered their living hopes and courage.

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Jóhann Sigmarsson Artist and the founder of The Equator Memorial Project, International, itinerant Artists project.

Art piece from over 100 years old planks from the Reykjavík harbour. When the atomic bomb exploded a Japanese man was sitting on the steps outside a bakery waiting for it to open. The house with the bakery was destroyed and the man disappeared at light speed from the exposure of the bomb. 

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These steps is a peace symbol and represent all that was left of this man, his shadow burned into the steps of the entrance from the wreck of the building.

Exhibition at Harpa, Concert Hall and Conference Centre in Reykjavík from a collection of art pieces from The Equator Memorial Project / International itinerant artists project.

Art piece / “match of a shadow of old woman walking in stairs when the exposure and heat came” created from over 100 years old planks from Reykjavík Harbour.

Tiles from the roof of the Genbaku Dome the most precious building which is still standing in Hiroshima as a symbol of the bomb.

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The atom bomb exploded in the front of the dome above the ground and the stones were found over 30 years later in the river Motoyasu. 

From left; Ambassador of Japan in Iceland, Mr. Yasuhiko Kitagawa, Japanese model for motifs of sculpture of Hiroshima victims created from over 100 years old wood salvaged from the recently excavated old Reykjavik Harbour, Ms. Nina Katrín Jónsdóttir Ichihashi, Jóhann Sigmarsson Artist,  President of Iceland, Mr. Guðni Th. Jóhannesson and Japanese model for motifs of sculpture of Hiroshima victims created from over 100 years old wood salvaged from the recently excavated old Reykjavik harbour Ms. Asako Ichihashi.

For the exhibition the city of Hiroshima has donated for the first time tiles of the Genbaku Dome building, one of the most characteristic buildings of the city. The Dome was destroyed in the atomic bombing, these tiles are now preserved as part of this Memorial, devoted to peace and are now part of the exhibition at Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre in Reykjavík, Iceland. The President of Iceland, Mr. Guðni Th. Jóhannesson and Ambassador of Japan in Iceland, Mr. Yasuhiko Kitagawa opened the exhibition. In the presidents opening speech he talked of the exhibition highlighting how the tragedy of war impacts on innocent people. Like in Hiroshima this is happening now and has been for years in Aleppo and many other places all over the world. Peace is needed by any means.

Traveling History- and Art exhibition independent from The Equator Memorial Project

“I may have disobeyed my government, but if I hadn’t I would have been disobeying God.” – Chiune Sugihara –

The Equator Memorial Project is now working on bringing the exhibition “When the Atomic Bomb Exploded” which was at Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre in Reykjavík to Vilnius, Lithuania. The intention is to create and add some other new art pieces in the exhibition from the time of Chiune Sugihara, when he was in Lithuania helping people and children from the tragedy of the World War II. The team sent Sugihara house in Kaunas request about artifacts that can be donated to the project. The task is to point out for innocent people being forced to flee their country in order to escape to safety which was happening then and is happening on our current time because of war. Chiune “Sempo” Sugihara (杉原 千畝 Sugihara Chiune^?, 1 January 1900 – 31 July 1986) was a Japanese diplomat who served as Vice-Consul for the Empire of Japan in Lithuania. During World War II, he helped between 10,000 and 40,000 Jews leave the country by issuing transit visas so that they could travel to Japanese territory, risking his career and his family’s lives. The Jews who escaped were refugees from German-occupied Western Poland or Russian-occupied Eastern Poland, as well as residents of Lithuania. Sugihara decided to disobey his government and grant visas on his own. He continued to hand-write visas, when he had to leave his post before the consulate was closed. He was still writing visas after boarding the train at the Kaunas Railway Station, throwing visas into the crowd of desperate refugees out of the train’s window even as the train pulled out.

Later on people started to call Sugihara “Oskar Schindler of Japan”. 

In the long term the idea is to select a number of historic sites connected to Japan and create new art pieces and add to the first exhibition. The final expanded collection of the Japanese artifacts and art pieces will be exhibited in Tokyo with  a informational text of the selected historical events and the art pieces. The team contacted ŠMC Šiuolaikinio Meno Centras / CAC Contemporary Art Centre if they would be interested to collaborate and exhibit the project for this aim.

Tsuruga Port in Japan and the Tsuruga Museum for the possibility to provide / donate materials to the project which can be used for creation of the art pieces from the life-saving era of Chiune Sugihara in Lithuania. The material we ask for is from the dock where Amakusa Maru, the Japanese water tanker picked up the refugees from Vladivostok that were transported to Port of Tsuruga, earning it the nickname “Port of Humanity.”We contacted

NOAA’s Okeanos Explorer which discovered the shipwreck of Amakusa Maru just last year on the August 10 2016 at the bottom of Wake Island which was sunk by the USS Triton submarine on December 24, 1942 to obtain historical materials for creation of art pieces because of the exhibition. We contacted as well It is our hope to obtain permission to use materials /ruins from the ship.

The task is to have a series of exhibitions in galleries or museums worldwide in support of a sustainable environment, justice, freedom and peace.  We contacted the following museum / galleries to cooperate with the project;

THE NEXT EXHIBITION

The Headquarters of UNESCO in Paris is collaborating with The Equator Memorial Project and envisages favourably to exhibit a collection of the art pieces at their headquarters. The idea is to have the exhibition for support of sustainable environment, justice, freedom and peace. The theme of the exhibition will be material from all the historical materials / ruins which has been donated to the project and the historical informations on the pieces.The Exhibition will with auction and Peace memorial dinner “Make a Peace Worldwide” at the headquarters.10th of December in honour to the day when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is announcement of gifts to humanitarian and community projects worldwide which has been accumulated through the sale of the artworks of The Equator Memorial Project and its artists charity fund. 

TIME SCHEDULE / ART PIECES FOR THE HISTORY- AND ART EXHIBITION

The operation from 1st of March 2018 to 1st of February 2019 is to bring the most of the historical material to UAB / STUDIJA VILNIUS in Lithuania where it will be worked and created art pieces for the exhibition. The material of the Reykjavík Harbour, Genbaku Dome in Hiroshima (A bomb) and two broken windows from office of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg in the Norwegian government’s headquarters in Central Oslo after it was damaged from terrorist attack by Anders Behring Breivik, Graveyard of Lenin monuments and Stalin statues and from the era of Chiune Sugihara, when he was in Lithuania helping people and children from the tragedy of the World War II will be transported to Vilnius for the operation.We will have the Art Studio with working facilities / equipments to work the exhibition as well to use various companies to assist us in the creation such as; Metalworking, glazieries, fab lap, textile fabrics, workshop and printmaking etc. The artists and team who will work on the exhibition comes from, Iceland, Lithuania, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, USA and Japan. The main artist will be Johann Sigmarsson, Models / motifs for creations of the sculptures of the refugees and assistants to the artists. The set up of the art pieces for the exhibition will be organised and designed by Josemaria De Churtischaga architect and curated by Jón Proppé and Robert Carrithers.

The wood from the Hamburg Port and the Berlin Wall for the creation of art pieces will be worked. in Berlin from 1st of September to 1st of November 2019.

The team will concentrate on obtain some of those artifacts for creations of the exhibition if achievable from the French village of Oradour-sur-Glane, which has been preserved untouched since almost all its inhabitants were massacred on June 10, 1944, the Czech village of Lidice, 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, former Soviet Union – GULAG, Colosseum, ruins of the Buddhas of Bamiyan which was destroyed in Afghanistan by Taliban in 2001 to demolish holy icons and disrespect ideologic of the religion, the Basque town of Guernica and Liverpool and the slave trade, the Sugihara House, the dock where Amakusa Maru, the Japanese water tanker picked up the refugees from Vladivostok that were transported to Port of Tsuruga, earning it the nickname “Port of Humanity, from the shipwreck of  Amakusa Maru which was sunk by the USS Triton submarine on December 24, 1942 and was discovered at the bottom of Wake Island in August 10, 2016 by NOAA’s Okeanos Explorer.

We will as well select art pieces from the exhibition “When the Atomic Bomb Exploded” at Harpa, Concert Hall and Conference Centre in Reykjavík to be exhibited in UNESCO Headquarters. We will use printed boards with short information text, photos, documents in all forms of media collected together from all the historical sites for the art pieces at the exhibition. In some cases we will create several different small set design and atmospheres from the era of the historical sites. 

For the the idea of the charity auction and Peace memorial dinner “Make a Peace Worldwide” at the exhibition ending 28th of June in honour to the day in 1919 when 100 years since Treaty of Versailles. We will look for good recommendation for a fine dining service and concentrate on our relationship to collaborate with CHRISTIE’S on the auction of the art pieces. A part of the income for each sold or rented piece will be allocated to a charity fund for humanitarian and community projects. 17th of November 2019 in the honour of the 22nd Anniversary of The International Day of Peace is the announcement of gifts to humanitarian and community projects worldwide which has been accumulated through the sale of the artworks of  The Equator Memorial Project and its artists charity fund. 

All the project historical material and the creation of the art pieces will be scheduled and worked in STUDIO VILNIUS, accommodation for guest international artists and crew, gallery, film studio and the main operation of the project will be situated there for its headquarters etc..