Vibrations of 11 March 2011 in Japan’s Performance Scene: Yamakawa Fuyuki and the Sound of Radioactivity

This article discusses the strong resonance provoked by the 2011 triple disaster in the Japanese performance and visual arts by focusing on multimedia artist Yamakawa Fuyuki and the antinuclear activist network’s intersection with the underground music scene. Directly plugging into the disaster, Yamakawa re-elaborated his artistic practice in relation to the nuclear crisis by addressing internal and external exposure to radiation. Illustrated are connections between polluted environment, corporeality, politics and performance art, and how his performative experimentations offer novel insights into the interaction between art and disaster enhancing alternative modes of interpretation in technoscience and aesthetic theory.