Suspended Moment (Yuki Kawano)

Listen to a sound clip from a live performance at Joan Mitchell Residency Program (New Orleans) here.

Suspended Moment captures the human implications of nuclear technology through a sculptural installation, magnified by a Butoh performance, soundscape, video projections, and poetry.

At the center of the installation are life-sized sculptures of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, created by the artist Yukiyo Kawano. Yuki was born and raised in Hiroshima, a third-generation atomic bomb survivor. She creates her sculptures from WWII-era kimonos that belonged to her grandmother, and sews them together with her hair, melding the DNA of generations of atomic bomb survivors.

Each installation of Suspended Moment includes a Butoh performance by dancer/choreographer Meshi Chavez, with music by Lisa DeGrace, projections by Stephen Miller, and poetry by Los Alamos-born poet Allison Cobb.

 Yuki’s vision is simple and profound: bring Suspended Moment to the most important nuclear sites around the world:  Hanford, Washington, where the materials for the bomb dropped on Nagasaki were created. Los Alamos, where the bombs were built. Hiroshima. Nagasaki. Fukushima. Adelaide, South Australia, a site for hundreds of nuclear tests. At each site, in addition to the installation, the artists will engage with local communities through a Butoh workshop and performance, bringing an even more personal aspect to those participants.

By allowing viewers to personally connect with our dark nuclear past, we hope to prevent these events from repeating in the future.

“I want to give people a space to rethink everything from the beginning.” – Yukiyo Kawano