Gert Jan Kocken: until the bomb drops

Quite a few artists carry out research for their work. But the Dutch artist Gert Jan Kocken does so with great thoroughness. He seems to have devoured entire libraries about the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima. You can now see the results of his research at Motive Gallery, an Amsterdam gallery that relocated to Brussels in November 2012. Kocken brings all his sources together in a broad framework, combining copies of authentic documents and telegrams with pieces of text between which he establishes all sorts of connections. The story of the atom bomb begins in Nazi Germany, but soon takes on a global dimension. Einstein plays a leading role, warning Roosevelt on a number of occasions of the danger of a German atom bomb and persuading him to develop one of his own. The rest is history. In his research Kocken combines facts and little details with quotations from the many protagonists, brilliantly interweaving micro and macro history in a single overall story.

The word “Hiroshima” has been added by hand to an official typed document. The bomb had previously been intended for Kyoto, but because one of the generals had fond memories of his honeymoon there, he chose a different destination – an illustration of the capriciousness of history. Kocken serves up a maelstrom of information: a palimpsest, a jigsaw puzzle, a mosaic. And that corresponds more closely to the true course of history than the neat, linear presentation we were invariably given at school. A little further on in the gallery hangs an aerial photograph of the bomb attack on Hiroshima. Signed, strangely enough – as if the pilot was proud of his work and saw it as a work of art. Above the frame stand a few quotations, which allow us to hear other voices. A photograph of a charred statue of the Virgin Mary after an atomic explosion and a compilation of video footage about the bomb rounds off the presentation. Presenting research in a visually engaging way is not always easy, but Gert Jan Kocken shows that it can be done.

Gert Jan Kocken: But We Cannot Speak about the Atoms in Ordinary Language > 11/5, wo/me/We > za/sa/Sa 14.00 > 18.30, gratis/gratuit/free, MOTIVE GALLERY, rue Vandenbrandestraat 1, 02-513.04.95, enter@motivegallery.be, www.motivegallery.be