Dear Colleagues and Friends,
I hope this message finds you well.
We are pleased to announce the upcoming exhibition, "Speaking the Unspeakable — 15 Years of Dialogue over Okawa Elementary School (Making an Art Exhibition at a Non-Art University vol.4)," organized by the Art & Media Lab (Noguchi Seminar) at Tokyo Polytechnic University.
Fifteen years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake. Following legal proceedings regarding administrative responsibility, the tragedy at Ishinomaki Municipal Okawa Elementary School has become an event that is "unspeakable" within society. This exhibition is an attempt to re-examine this silence and present multi-layered forms of memory and storytelling.
The exhibition features archives of commemorative activities and creative expressions by the bereaved families, alongside newly developed interactive programs. A key highlight of this project is the participation of university students—who have no direct memory of the disaster—as co-creators. Through continuous dialogue, these students confront this "Difficult Heritage" from their own unique perspectives.
It is our hope that this exhibition, through the involvement of people from diverse backgrounds, will serve as a space for intergenerational dialogue—reweaving "unspeakable" events into stories that can be shared and passed on.
Sincerely,
Yasushi Noguchi Project Representative
[Event Overview]
Title: Speaking the Unspeakable — 15 Years of Dialogue over Okawa Elementary School
Dates: March 10 (Tue) – March 22 (Sun), 2026
Note: Closed on Monday, March 16.
Hours: 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM (Until 7:00 PM on weekends and holidays)
Venue: Tokyo Polytechnic University, Nakano Campus
Building 6 (1F, 2F, and B1F)
Admission: Free (All programs)
Official Website:
https://r-dimension.xsrv.jp/okawa/