Leo Okagawa

"This work consists of recorded materials at ‘Abukuma’ and ‘Irimizu’ limestone caves on Abukuma highland, Fukushima. Water is plentiful there, and we can see a long waterfall near our route in Irimizu limestone cave. Both caves are developed and open for public as tourist spots, however, there are some areas that require a guide to enter, and some others prohibited. And also, they are still under survey and possibilities are pointed out that deeper spaces than the deepest spots we recognize now exist. I visited there on October 2018 and January 2019, and brought my small recording set to carry and record in narrow spaces.
My aim with this work is not recording sounds in these caves just as archives, but transforming what I was much impressed with into an audio piece. Lots of inaudible things are also included in temperature, humidity, weight of atmosphere. These are what my skin felt. Therefore, I thought I need to record what we often overlook. Waters that fall from stalactites or run down the walls, a subtle hum from lighting equipment , echoes of my shoe soles on wet floors… I recorded sounds from various distances and angles and mixed them in multilayers.
The length of this work is shorter than the time I spent in those caves, but I would be glad if I could share what I felt there." - Leo Okagawa, 31 July 2019