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mukojima networks >> projects >> [ Asphalt Surgery ]

an art work by Yutaka Kobayashi

Scattered "Akichi" (vacant lots) are found in various places around Mukojima and Kyojima; they seem to be standardized. The akichi are not accessible, surround by locked fences reminding of military bases. They are beautifully coated with asphalt, but create a suffocating feeling. This asphalt may be removed when it is turned into a site for a park, a building, or even a road.

Why are they coated with asphalt? Not only coating most of the urban area makes an anoxic condition, but it is also suffocating us. I would like to give them a little chance of breathing by this project.

1. Scalpel to asphalt for making hole to breathe

2. Plant plants in the breathing hole of restored Akichi

3. Let them flower by the power of the breathing Akichi

4. Close the hole with concrete, mixed with dyes from the flowers that lived there

5. The colored concrete will stay in the Akichi until used again as a memorial of the breathing hole

to visit Yutaka Kobayashi's page >> http://home.att.net/~yart/mu.html

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