Wild Grass … er, OK: Lu Xun, 2024 Yokohama Triennale, and ...

 

Shiga Leiko, “Dialogue in the Fog: Fire
 – What Nozomi Onodera, a hunter, told me
 in the mountains of the Oshika Peninsula
in Miyagi Prefecture”

When I heard “Wild Grass: our lives” is the main theme for 2024 Yokohama Triennale (March 15 - June 9, 2024), once in 3 years contemporary international art show in Yokohama, my heart felt a joy. Hurrah! Finally, mainstream art world decided to talk with the Nature! I quickly realized that I misunderstood completely the intention of the two Chinese art directors for the show, Liu Ding and Carol Yinghua Lu.

Sandra Mujinga, “Unearthed Leaves”

Their “Wild Grass” is from “Wild Grass” by Lu Xun, the 20th Century Chinese Literary Giant. The work was written during 1925-26. Lu studied medicine in Tohoku University in Sendai, while ruminated colonialism, political tumults, economic and social upheavals for his homeland China in his entire life. Inevitably perhaps, his “Wild Grass” is not for vegetation, but as a metaphor of human world. I think his idea about “Wild Grass” is the most directly expressed in “Forward” written by himself in 1927 for the book “Wild Grass” after he completed the 23 chapters of the work.

Wild grass strikes no deep roots, has no beautiful flowers and leaves, yet it imbibes dew, water and the blood, and flesh of the dead, although all try to rob it of life. As long as it lives it is trampled upon and mown down, until it dies and decays.

Tomiyama Taeko, “My Liberation”

Ahem. May I? Scientifically speaking in 2024,

“Wild grass strikes no deep roots”  FALSE,

“has no beautiful flowers and leaves”  FALSE, but it could be depending on the taste of the viewer, 

“dew, water and the blood, and flesh of the dead, although all try to rob it of life”  ecologically FALSE. All natural elements is interconnected for circular economy. So, nothing is simply to “rob” but simultaneously everyone must give … Maybe, some orchids have success in this regard (my post on August 12, 2022), but it is the most contentious and cutting-edge issue in botany these days.

Özgür Kar, “Fallen Tree”

“As long as it lives it is trampled upon and mown down, until it dies and decays.”  FALSE. Yeah, we Lovers of Niiharu mow, mow, and mow “wild grass” in our Niiharu Citizen Forest for more than 20 years. But no place has succeeded in eradicating “Wild Grass.” I really want to ask Lu “How are you doing it in China?” If it is so easy to do that, there cannot be problems of destructive spread of bamboo in Yokohama’s Satoyama environment!

Joar Nango, “Ávnnastit/Harvesting Material Soul”

Raffaella Crispino, “Nous”

Real Wild Grass in Niiharu Citizen Forest

… Yeah, mine’s very infertile argument. Lu’s idea for wild grass is more of the world of human of his century and beyond. The 1930s candidate for Nobel Laureate for Literature picked up familiar vegetation of his daily life to express his art, based on the scientific knowledge of his age. Fine. Then in 2024, an art show of the title “Wild Grass” was held based on the notion of “Wild Grass” 100 years ago, it could cause misunderstanding, I guess. The majority of the works in the show was about class struggle, inequality, unfairness, war, … I don’t say they are insignificant. The video collaging verbal expression of sounds by Ukrainian refugees based on their experiences of explosion of bombs. Wow. It is so eloquent to let us think about what war is. The protagonists in the film would be the perfect fit for Lu’s “As long as it lives it is trampled upon and mown down, until it dies and decays.” But, yet.

Open Group (Yuriy Biley, Pavlo Kovach and Anton Varga),
curator: Waldemar Tatarczuk,
“Repeat after Me”

Salote Tawale, “We Are Better Together”

Taichi Yoshimura, “35°27’43”N 139°37’38”E”

Maybe, 2024 Yokohama Triennale was so-eloquent expression how these days people in world-wide downtown think about “Wild Grass.” Anger for world problems is really important for us to proceed for a better world. But summarizing the power of “Wild Grass” in human scale might cause catastrophe, I wonder. Wild Grass in Nature may not be something able to be minimized for the words of “Human Inequality” et al. Otherwise, why do we have the crisis of Boiling Planet? Don’t underestimate the power of non-humans in this universe, I argue.

Pyae Phyo Thant Nyo, “A Story of Our Lives”

which is decorated by these wings of Jewel Beetles.

Unintended art

If you find a problem in the greenery of north-half of Yokohama, please make a contact with

Office for the Park Greeneries in the North
北部公園緑地事務所
Yokohama Municipal Government Creative Environment Policy Bureau
横浜市環境創造局
Phone: 045-311-2016 

FAX: 045-316-8420