Reporting Breaking News From Other Side of the World
Yelena Maksutay+Yoshinori Niwa
2020
Artist Statement
Reporting Breaking News From the Other Side of the World, 2020 The film documents a performances in which the Japanese artist (Yoshinori Niwa ) asks the Swiss, German artist (Yelena Maksutay), who does not understand Japanese, to report the breaking news of seven days in Japan in various public spaces in Vienna, such as Stephansplatz and Schloss Schönbrunn, where tourists have disappeared due to anti-corona restrictions. The manuscript of the breaking news about the corona virus in Japan has been phonetically converted into an alphabet, so that she can pronounce the news even if she does not understand what she is reporting about. The Japanese local news is reproduced in Vienna without a receiver and drifts around like a ghost going nowhere, clothed with the body of a voice. In the age of the Internet, where the world is closely connected, we wonder how local news is embodied and clothed in the body.
Since we are an international couple, one from Japan, one from Switzerland, Germany, we are always confronted with a cultural gap between us. The COVID 19 pandemic confronted us with a new challenge of how to work together in these difficult times and how to deal with uncertain information and a different cultural background. We live in an age in which, due to the Internet, we are able to instantly make the best use of information from the other side of the world. We think it is time to challenge the cultural identity and language we speak by dealing with raw information before translation.
Artist Bio
Yelena Maksutay+Yoshinori Niwa is a collaborative project with works that all have self-explanatory, slogan-like titles and are mainly performed on the street and in public spaces. Yoshinori Niwa Born in 1982 in Japan. Niwa graduated from Tama Art University. Niwa’s work has been exhibited at Mori Art Museum, Wroclaw Contemporary Museum, Aichi Triennale, Setouchi Triennale, Steirischer Herbst etc. His work is included in international collections such as the KADIST Foundation. Yelena Maksutay Born 1981 in Switzerland. Since 2016 she has been studying Fine Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Maksutay's work has been exhibited at Kunst im Traklhaus.