FADING SMOKE (2015)

(Better life and better future)

It is over 400 years since our belief converted from divine providence to the development of technology. We have extended human capacity and successfully got rid of everyday’s fear of nature. With no doubt in the concept of progress, we have composed the infinite mission to be “better” than the past, and constantly updated our hope for the future.

(Past and future in Brändö)

FADING SMOKE is an art project by Hiroko Tsuchimoto, in which she summarizes her one-month residency in Vaasa. Her focus is the social impact of transitions in Brändö during the intervening quarter-century, -from cotton to knowledge industry. She chooses an old factory site as a stage and invites the audience to a site-specific performance. In this project Tsuchimoto comments on the universal purpose of our lives -”progress” and presents hidden question mark in the city narrative. This leads to an open discussion about the future of the island as well as our global economic system.

Performance at Technobothnia, Vaasa, Finland

This project is a collaboration with Platform, Vaasa Museum of Labour and VAMK: University of Applied Sciences.

(photo by Panu Sivonen, video by Mikko Manninen)

Graphic design: Nallebjörn

Food presentation: Raawka

Reference: Ehrström, P. 2010. Från Bomull till kunskasindustri. Vaasa: Scriptum