An innovative art installation called "fernsehen" has established a unique dialogue between Mount Rokko in Japan and Berlin, Germany, using twin concrete cube sculptures that transmit live and recorded video footage between the two distant locations. The project, conceived by artists Riku Ikegaya, Kohei Hayashi, and Yu Kamijo, connects two landscapes that share parallel histories of environmental destruction and renewal through cutting-edge video technology embedded within identical concrete structures.
The installation draws its conceptual foundation from the shared histories of both locations, which have experienced cycles of destruction and regeneration. Mount Rokko underwent extensive granite quarrying during Japan's Edo period, resulting in widespread deforestation and significant environmental degradation. However, during the subsequent Meiji era, deliberate reforestation efforts gradually restored the mountain's natural landscape. Today, Mount Rokko bears the layered traces of both environmental damage and recovery, creating a complex narrative of human impact and restoration.
Berlin, which serves as the artists' base, mirrors this cycle of destruction and renewal through its tumultuous urban history. The German capital has experienced multiple periods of devastation and rebuilding throughout the 20th century, making it an ideal counterpart to Mount Rokko's environmental story. This parallel between natural and urban transformation forms the conceptual backbone of the fernsehen project.
Each installation site features an identical cube-like concrete sculpture punctuated by narrow tubular openings that recall the form of telescopes. These openings house sophisticated video devices that project real-time and recorded images from the paired location. The Mount Rokko installation displays Berlin's bustling urban activity, including the movement of people, vehicles, and the rhythmic pulse of city life. Meanwhile, the Berlin installation transmits images of Rokko's natural environment, capturing vegetation changes, shifting weather patterns, and animal movements.
The contrasting yet parallel realities captured by the video transmissions create a powerful juxtaposition between urban and natural environments. Viewers in Berlin can observe the serene natural processes occurring on Mount Rokko, while visitors to the Japanese site witness the dynamic energy of German urban life. This mediated exchange of perspectives highlights the coexistence of natural and urban conditions across vast geographical distances.
The project's title, "fernsehen," references the German word for television, which literally translates to "to see far." This etymology underscores the installation's exploration of distance and mediation, positioning the work as an investigation into how perception, technology, and context influence our understanding of landscapes across time and space. The artists deliberately chose this term to emphasize the duality of physical distance and technological connection.
Beyond its function as a perceptual device, fernsehen operates as a contemporary monument that questions the role of vision in shaping responsibility and possibility. The work by Ikegaya, Hayashi, and Kamijo highlights the act of seeing far not merely as a spatial connection but as a reflection on shared futures shaped by climate change, urbanization, and mounting environmental pressures. Through this technological mediation, the installation invites viewers to consider their relationship with distant environments and the global interconnectedness of environmental and urban challenges.
The twin concrete structures serve as both telescopes aimed at distant views and monuments to the parallel narratives that connect seemingly disparate locations. By revealing contrasting perspectives that ultimately expose shared realities across distance, fernsehen examines how vision can bridge space and time, creating new forms of environmental and cultural awareness in an increasingly connected world.
