Art Space Tokyo: An intimate guide to the Tokyo art world

Half a Century of Nuclear Explosions

Posted by Ashley Rawlings on Monday, June 22nd 2009

Recently I came across this video artwork by Isao Hashimoto,
1945–1998.

It is a haunting visualization of the 2053 atomic explosions that occurred on this planet, from the “Trinity” test at Los Alamos, New Mexico, in 1945, to the Indian and Pakistani nuclear tests of 1998.

Using different sounds and colors to denote explosions—by the United States, the USSR, Britain, China, France, India and Pakistan—over 53 years, it is a haunting piece of minimal music that also visualizes the half-century of the nuclear arms race.

It is well worth watching the entire 14 minutes. As it says on the host site, it sounds eerily like a conversation.

Another video by Hashimoto, Overkilled, shows a hand dropping a single ball bearing to represent the Hiroshima bombing, which killed more than 140,000 people. A second ball bearing represents the death of 70,000 people from the Nagasaki bombing.

The remaining minute of the video shows a cascade of 20,590 ball bearings, representing total global nuclear weapons stockpiles (in June 2004).