The end of day and beginning of the world 

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FILM & PHOTOGRAPHY

 

Open PDF 

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Year : 2015 Siberia-Chukotka, Russia
Length : 22 min.
Format : 4K ProRes 422 HQ

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Synopsis

＊ 極東ロシア、シベリアのチュクチ半島とベーリング海におけるこのプロジェクトは、現地のワタリガラスの神話にインスピレーションを得たものである。

ここには、国際日付変更線の基準となる経度180度の線、すなわちカレンダー上で連続する2つの日にちを分ける線が縦に走っている。我々は、肉とパンを、自然とワタリガラスへの聖なる供物とし、旅の間の加護を祈った。

 

This project at the Russian Far East, namely the Siberian regions of Chukotka and Beringia, was inspired by local raven folk tales. The "Chukchi" people showed us "Yaranga", their tents out of the cities. On our way we saw Eskimos ancient housing made of whale bones. To the North pole and Arctic regions we took meat and bread as sacrificial offerings to

nature and the ravens to thank them for their protection during the trip. 

There is a junction where the Arctic Circle crosses the 180th meridian. The latter runs vertically to set the basis for the International Date Line, which separates two consecutive calendar days.

 

With support of : Red Cross Chukotka Russia, Nortoco Northern tourist company Russia, Beringia National Park Russia

Special thanks  : Ida Ruchina, Vladimir Bychkov, Sonia Pastor, Éric Mangion

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Text by Kazumi Matsushita, Gumma Museum of Art, Tatebayashi (extract)

"The end of day and beginning of the world" is a video work shot in the area near the International Date Line at 180 degrees longitude through the Bering Strait in the Russian Far East in company with a team of the Russian Red Cross. The journey begins with the sound of a small plane taking off, taking the viewer to the ice-snow-covered Chukotka Peninsula instantaneously. Then, however, Yoshida chose a kind of tranquility that does not build up a story. After a close-up shot of the fur of breathing reindeers, another close up with a tent made of reindeer skin swaying in the warm air of the simmering pots follows, and everything is equally juxtaposed: photos of people's old lives, book illustrations telling the myth of ravens, trembling landscapes shot from dog sleds, crevasses running on frozen ground, and towns- capes of modern buildings. By adding a minimal but impactful direction such as the sound of airplane engines and dancing music, with colors so suppressed and contrast so strong that it seems almost monochrome, the film tells the history of people who have been living in awe of harsh nature beyond the information on the surface.
If you look at the map, you can see that the Bering Strait is located between the Chukotka Peninsula in Russia and the American state of Alaska, and people used to travel back and forth between the two countries on frozen waters. In this work, too, Yoshida tells about a boundary – Only for a brief moment in the video, in which the compass on his hand shows 180 degrees of longitude. What really counts there is not the lines on the calendar or map, but the scenery that testifies the intersection between nature and the human spirit, and the attitude of people singing and dancing as they offer the lives of their livestock to the ravens, who are said to be the gods of good luck. The myth of the ravens, which is believed in neighboring Alaska across the sea as well, has no borders.
The question of the boundaries of attributes and categories that define oneself and others is something that can be especially asked from artists who have continued to express themselves in various parts of the world. Whether it's a land with a temperature of - 40 degrees centigrade or the deep forests of South America, he dares to take risks, prefers to travel without predetermination, accepts accidents and expresses what he finds with his intuition between fiction and non-fiction. It is also a journey to confirm and prove Yoshida's own eyes, body, and existence. And those of us who look at his works will share a journey that seems to condense life and history in a time and space far from everyday life, and when we finish watching it, we will reconsider the everyday scenery we see in our lives that we took for granted.

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Filmography

​« Standing on the Earth, Looking up into the Sky » Gunma Museum of Art, Tatebayashi, Gunma, Japan (08-Oct - 04-Dec 2016)

« Videoart at Midnight #67 » Shingo Yoshida : BABYLON, Berlin ( 2015 )

« SHIBUYA EGGS sayonara city hall » Tokyo ( October-November 2015 )

« Kalimotxo blues, Smallville »  - KS / Neuchâtel – Swiss ( 28th May - 3 July 2016 )

« Mulliqi Prize » at National Gallery of Arts in Prishtina.  Kosovo ( 2016 )

« FID Marseille 27ème », Marseille, France  ( 2016) *

​« Landscapes of Loss », The Exhibition for the UN Conference on Climate Change, COP23 ( Berlin // Bonn 2017)