Things That Are in Danger of Vanishing

A ban of selling many of the electric appliances that were produced and sold before 2001 will start on the 1st of April, 2006 in Japan. Because of the Electric Appliance & Materials Law, electric appliances and materials produced before April 2001 that do not comply with the new standard are prohibited. Radio cassette players featuring in the exhibition Things That Are in Danger of Vanishing Because of Electric Appliance & Materials Law are surely one of them. On January 16th, came the news that the Ministry of Economy and Industry started the discussion to add a “time stamp” function to products, which make the product stop working after certain time.

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What’s going to happen to electric products sold at second hand shops? Or to the electric instruments and vintage audio player that are sometimes sold at extravagant prices?

This show at the Nanzuka Art Gallery will exhibit the numerous radio cassette players that are stored at TURBOSONIC (a Tokyo shop that specialize in vintage boomboxes and stereo accessories) but also art works using the parts that are stored at Turbosonic. Because of the law, artists who use electric devices – like Tatsuo Miyajima, Kenji Yanobe, and Meiwa Denki– might find it difficult to find material to work with.

Participating artists: Naohiro Ukawa, iseneehihinee, Tsukuda Hiroki.

At Nanzuka Art Gallery, Tokyo, March 24 till April 9.

Via del.icio.us/tag/japan.