We were invited by motomoto AIR in Arao/Kumamoto (Japan) to realise an exhibition as part of our 3-month-artist residency. As our work is site- and situation-specific, we had already researched and planned what we would be working on during our time in Arao in the run-up to our trip: Nashi, the Arao Pear. It is a unifying element of the region. We wanted to show individual stories, but at the same time gently point out the complex growing conditions and the increasingly difficult circumstances of a future with Jumbo Nashi due to climate change. Our aim was to focus on the regional speciality of nashi cultivation in order to get people talking to each other and reflecting on their own cultural identity.

QUESTY • OSEIBO NASHI NETWORK
Marie Donike & Johannes Specks
Digital Drawing | print @ seveneleven
21 x 29,7 cm
2023

We publicly invited people to take part in a Nashirelated event at our exhibition. A food performance in which different people, professional and nonprofessional, neighbours, artists, all of different ages and backgrounds, meet right in the middle of the exhibition to become part of the exhibition and thus of the artwork. We served nashi in different ways for tasting and discussion, which we wanted to show as our culinary essence as part of our artwork.

︎ PHOTO ✄:

Nagano Satoshi

Performanceansicht: OSEIBO NASHI NETWORK, motomoto, Arao, Japan