移山｜BAM moves mountain

This year BAM took part in Alp Triennale in Omachi City, Japan. Following its inaugural running in 2017, the Japan Alps Art Festival takes place in Omachi City once every 3 years. Produced by Fram Kitagawa (creator of the famed Echigo-Tsumari Triennale), Omachi’s festival attracts world-class artists for some absolutely stunning art installations taking advantage of Omachi’s picturesque mountain scenery. Omachi City itself is centered on a 700-meter elevation river valley at the base of the 3000-meter tall Northern Japanese Alps.

Nagano Prefecture used to be Shinano. One of the few agricultural counties in Japan, known as the horticultural kingdom. The forestry is developed, and the woods of Muzeng Mountain are known as one of the three beautiful forests in Japan. With a rich mountain lake and river, rainbowtrout farming ranks first in Japan. Rich in sightseeing resources, it is called “Switzerland in Japan” and is one of the few sightseeing counties in Japan. In 1998, Nagano Prefecture hosted the Winter Olympic Games and the Paralympics.

Great idea BAM, but how on Earth are you guys planning to move a mountain from one place to another? The answer is simple: “piece by piece”. We start with a square piece of land measured 25 by 25 meter, located nearby a scenic spot. This piece of land is then divided equally into 25 smaller pieces, that are numbered. This process of dividing land into smaller pieces, is repeated three more times until all land is broken up into units of 200 by 200mm. Every single piece is carefully catalogued, by documenting the location of every stone, loose twig and tuft of grass for the entire site.

日本城市化的特点是高山和崎岖的地形。大多数日本的村庄、城镇和最终的城市都存在于高地形条件之间的空间中，在稻田柔软的山谷中，新鲜的山间溪流源源不断地流入大海。随着日本人口的爆炸性增长以及城镇为了地址日本自然的独特力量，而向钢混和高新技术工程转型，低洼的山谷失去柔软性，逐渐硬化，这种改变进一步加剧了奇趣自然山地条件和在其中发展城市的对比。

“一旦日本开始混凝土浇筑，那可真是拦也拦不住啊。” 

-James Fox，日本学家

“ONCE JAPAN STARTS CONCRETING, BOY IT CAN NEVER STOP.” 

-James Fox, JAPANOLOGIST

在20世纪，日本社会迅速现代化，城市扩张，大片土地被开发，公路和铁路横贯全国。与此同时，日本不断遭受自然灾害的蹂躏。这让日本人更加坚定了控制环境的决心，他们用混凝土加固了海岸线，并在数千条河流上筑起了堤坝。据说，如今日本只有三条河流没有修建水坝，但即便是这些河流的大部分也用混凝土进行了修整，以追求文明、国际和现代化的面貌。大自然的改造不是日本独有的，这在世界各地都在发生。但是在日本，一切改造都是在有利于工业发展的这一理念迅速而彻底地发生着。BAM 通过将这片森林“固化”，引见了这种历史和文化的张力。

“现在有些时候，日本看上去并非在与自然和谐共处，而是在与其交战。”

“Today sometimes it almost seems the Japanese aren’t in harmony with nature, they’re at war with it.”

-ALEX KERR, JAPANOLOGIST

In the 20th century Japanese society rapidly modernized, cities expanded, vast sites of land were developed, and roads and rail linescut across the nation. At the same time, Japan was repeatedly ravaged by natural disasters. These made the Japanese people yet more determined to control their environment, ‘concreting’ their coastlines and ‘damming’ thousands of rivers. It is said that today only 3 rivers in Japan remain free of dams, but even those are for the most parts straightened out with concrete, in aspiration for a civilized, international and modern look. Transformation of nature is not unique to Japan, it happens everywhere. But in Japan it happened with great speed and great thoroughness based on the idea that everything should be made industrially useful. BAM references this history and cultural tension by ‘concreting’ the piece of forest.

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