7/11 around Japan by train
Hanna Burkart
2020
Artist Statement
7/11 around Japan by train is one work in the series 7/11 working sleeping living in Japan. It's a performance I did, where I traveled the outline of Japan by train. In seven days: 83 hours 15 minutes from station to station, 67 hours 52 minutes on the train, I did 6652,3 kilometres in 4072 minutes with 33 trains with an average speed of 98 km/h. The series of drawings documents the lines of the train ride from one day. Next to the drawings there are pictures which are presented in the book /11 working sleeping living in Japan. The question if it would be possible to circumnavigate the island in seven days triggered me to figure it out myself. How does Japan look outside of well-known places? How does the environment, architecture, mentality of the people change from north to south?…
The work relates to Japan revisited now. The pictures I saw while looking out of the train as well as the experience I made through this one week performance is an ongoing story I am constantly sharing in words and pictures. The relationship between space and time, the rapid changes in the landscape but also the coexistence of old and new technology becomes visible through the train journey. It gave me a better understanding of the land and the people which is something I want to let others experience through my work from close or afar.
Artist Bio
Hanna Burkart completed her Master of Industrial Design and her Master of Fine Arts at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. In the context of her work, she has long been involved in the constructive forms of action and inaction, and the relationship between space and behavior. In her performances, she takes a step back from accepted certainties and practices, exercises abstinence and concentration and explores the spatial and social aspects of walking, sleeping and living. Since April 2016 she lives without a fixed abode moving to the places she works on to pay acute attention to site-related issues.