Yuta Orisaka’s “nostalgic journey”. Talking about an intense experience at “The Last Class”

As you visit “The Last Class” by Christian Boltanski and Jean Kalman, a large sclae installation in the closed elementary school, the first space you walk into is a gymnasium with straws on the floor and benches and fans scattered around in the space which are dimmly-lit by bare light bulbs. “What impressed me most in the previous visit was this artwork”, Orisaka tried to recall his memory.

Orisaka: Now I remember. I went to “a free school” since I was around ten years old. We made theatre pieces every year. I was acting in these plays when I was small but from some point onward, I wrote scripts and casted younger students.

One of the stories I wrote was about a man who made artificial satellite in the deep mountainous village. One day his sister visited him and they discussed. The rocket was launched in the end. The setting of“something unusual in the village” in this story must have been an influence of what I saw through this artwork.  

It is surprising to hear that the experience of this art festival contributed to your theatrical piece.

Let’s walk deeper inside. As we walked through a corridor with number of framed black glass which looked like portraites painted black and climbed up stiarcases, we reached at a science room where light bulb switched on and off in accordance with the sound of a heart-beat resonating in the space.

In the music room you will find objects in the sheves that carried memories of this elementary school.

As he walked up one more level, he saw class rooms covered with white clothes – an overwhelming installation capturing memories of the place and absence of humans. 

“First of all, the bulding itself has strong presence.I can’t imagine if museum could do the same.” Orisaka started to articulate his impressions after ten years.
Orisaka: I was taken by “the smell” of straws. You wouldn’t normally associate a school with smell of straw. While it is not a smell you are familiar with, you would feel something like “nostalgia for someone”.  Although I was not a student of this school myself, it became a caliber to recall my memories and unconscious minds.

Orisaka: The meaning of the black glass reflecting nothing paradoxically becomes like a mirror projecting onself in a place with stronger sense of locality. The more details it holds such as this community and the elementary school, the place turns into something uninvated.

Orisaka continued by referring to the field he operantes, the music.

Orisaka: It often happens in the music, too. When listening to American music and you hear the name of place such as Tennessee, you feel nostalgic even you have never been there. You are reminded of an old memory from the place featured in a film that you don’t know. Such sense must be important in various expressions. 

When I saw “The Last Class” for the first time, I found the expression was rather unique and I even felt scared. However, as I continued to look at the work, I was struck by the sense that the scene I saw in far distance felt somewhat so close to where I stood. 

Orisaka was impressed when found out that the graduates of the school manage this facility. “That is so significant. I can see the work has truly integrated into the community.”

Orisaka: I feel that the place where the actual elementary school stood in the past and “The Last Class” are well tuned. The school stands in the corner of the nature of the landscape of Echigo-Tsumari and you will find the artwork as you walk into the building. How can I describe? “the perfect encounter”. That is why the message of the artwork reaches to our heart as it is.