“Homo Fukushima” is a mutant… the most advanced representative of the human species, more or less adapted to an environment whose climatic and geological components are intertwined with politics, economics and demographics…

 

I have chosen Japan for my demonstration, like a symbolic laboratory of the universal challenges facing humanity. It is a country that encapsulates nearly every potential risk, and is known for its geologically vulnerable terrain. Although volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis have always shaped Japan’s topography and culture, recent history (Hiroshima), the economy (high tech), urban density, ecology (the civil nuclear industry) and politics (in granting a private operator the right to set up nuclear reactors at the ocean’s edge, for example) add their impact to the mix…

 

Fault lines and subduction zones have always posed a threat to Japan’s survival, but in the event of a major incident, it may be man who will outsmart geology and enable a complete evacuation of the archipelago.

 

Homo Sapiens, who always adapts, now faces brutal and deeply disruptive change. Unconsciously, he becomes Homo Fukushima: he who draws strength from the very nature of this new challenge.

 

Beyond the struggle for survival, which stimulates man’s intelligence and ingenuity, a gnawing impression of fragility and an acute awareness of instability endure. This is where intelligence—but also spiritual strength—will rise to the occasion…

 

“Homo Fukushima” can be summarized as an artistic rendering of postmodern man. 

 

Michel Kirch