Background

GARBAGE HEAD 2 follows the previous series GARBAGE HEAD. When I produced this artwork in 2002, I was thinking about the power of music. I depicted the world of this series, as I contemplated the very moment when music is created, and its effects over us humans.  

 

Concept Story

After the shower of acid rain in the evening, damp air was filling the place. 

One robot was trying to get on his feet with all his strength. 

But, caught in the tangled cords growing out of his own body, 

he could not move his arms and legs, 

and tripped and slipped on the oily ground. 

 

He ripped all the cords off his body.

Struggling in the pool of oil, he felt he was not allowed to stay there. 

Driven by this restless feeling,

he started to walk far and far away, not knowing where to go.

 

Unintentionally he looked back at the direction he had come from, 

and saw a crowd of robots wriggling in the tangled cords 

or falling on the ground with a splash of oil just like he did a while ago.

After watching them for a while, he resumed his journey.

 

Sound was the first thing he sensed.  

It was his iron feet stepping and crashing the machine trash.  

 

Ding Bang

Ding Bang 

 

As he walked with the sound, he came to realize that he was alive and moving.  

 

When he tumbled over the rusted iron debris on the ground, 

he unconsciously landed on his hands to protect his body.

At this moment he recognized that he was obsessed with staying “alive”.

 

He kept walking, stamping his feet and beating the walls and ground

with the iron pipe that he happened to grasp when he fell on the ground.

It could be the power of rhythm;

something was stirred up strong in his heart.

With the vibration, he felt he could go on walking forever.

 

To intensify the sound, he took a longer stride and kept on walking.  

 

Ding Bang, Ding Band Dong 

Ding Bang, Ding Bang Dong 

 

Ding Bang, Ding Bang Dong 

 

Just how long, he did not know, 

but found companions stamping and beating with him. 

 

One was making a big sound by clashing irons, 

while the other was making a strange sound by bending the iron slat. 

There was also a sound of wind blowing through the hole of one’s body, 

and a sound of another’s rusted body squeaking.

 

These sounds never intruded each other,

and were played in a perfect harmony with exquisite rhythm.

 

In a barren world, lively moving things appeared. 

They created sounds.

The sounds created vibrations when played together.

Then, the vibrations gave the robots the energy to move.

 

And finally, enjoying sounds became the source of their lives.