Lines—Listening to the Growth Lines of Molluscan Shells


2015-(ongoing)
mixed media

Production Assistance: Professor Kenji Okoshi (Toho University), Masahiro Suzuki (Toho University)
Samples provided by Professor Kenji Okoshi
Thin Sections Production Assistance: Tajiri Thin Sections Plant

制作協力:大越健嗣(東邦大学理学部生命圏環境科学科 教授)、鈴木聖宏(東邦大学理学研究科博士研究員)
試料提供:大越健嗣
薄片制作:田尻薄片製作所(アサリ 2011.7.3福島県相馬市松川浦 採集)、AKI INOMATA(アサリ 2015.7.17福島県相馬市松川浦 採集)


Formed into the cross-section of a clam’s shell are countless lines. These ‘growth lines’ provide a record that reveals in what kind of environment and in what way the clam lived. They resemble the age-rings of trees, but are much less well-known. In the same way that the tree’s rings express the degree to which it has grown, one can perceive the growth of the shell—day by day—from the growth lines formed in the cycles of high and low tides. If the interval between the lines is long, it shows that on that day the shell was in a suitable environment to grow fast; if it is short, it shows the reverse.

I became interested in the growth processes of clams in the coastal areas of Japan’s Tohoku region, which underwent dramatic environmental change after the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011. I visited a research laboratory which had been continuously studying clams since before the earthquake. The dramatic spectacles that we saw in 2011 were scorched into our memories, and I wanted to see how that world had been seen from the clams’ perspective. And, in 2015, how did they see the ongoing construction work on ground and foundation improvements in order to enhance the coastline’s future?

Ver.1.0 and 2.0;
I have transposed those growth lines of clams into grooves on record disks. The world as seen by living things which dwell within the boundaries between sea and land - and the voices of that world - have been transformed into sound. The sound of this recording is not the clams’ voice itself, however, perhaps within the sound, we may feel a fragment of the world the clams felt.


  • Lines—Listening to the Growth Lines of Molluscan Shells Lines—Listening to the Growth Lines of Molluscan Shells ver. 3.0
    Top: Asari clam sampled at Matsukawa-ura in Soma, Fukushima on July 17th, 2015
    Bottom: Asari clam sampled at Matsukawa-ura in Soma, Fukushima on July 3rd, 2011 Sampled and provided by Professer Kenji Okoshi, Toho University
    2018
    UV print with acrylic
    H60 x W155 cm each

    Lines—貝の成長線を聴くver. 3.0
    (上)アサリ 2015.7.17福島県相馬市松川浦 採集
    (下)アサリ 2011.7.3福島県相馬市松川浦 採集
    2018
    UVプリント、アクリル
    各W155xH60cm
  • Lines—Listening to the Growth Lines of Molluscan Shells Lines—Listening to the Growth Lines of Molluscan Shells Ver. 2.0
    Asari clam sampled at Matsukawa-ura in Soma, Fukushima on May 20th, 2015
    Asari clam sampled at Matsukawa-ura in Soma, Fukushima on May 21th, 2011 Sampled and provided by Professer Kenji Okoshi, Toho University.
    Acknowledgments: Professor Kenji Okoshi(Toho University), Masahiro Suzuki (Toho University)
    Kazuhiro Jo(Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences [IAMAS])
    Reference:
    Kenji Okoshi, Masahiro Suzuki, Yuta Maruyama, Wataru Shinohara "Trace of the earthquake and tsunami observed in shells." Bio-mineralization and Calcification: from gene to global environment -Ⅱ vol.36, No.1, Ocean Publishers(2014): 42-52. Yuya Maruyama, and Kenji Okoshi "Examination of influence of earthquake and massive tsunami on the Manila clam Ruditapes philippinarum by growth break analysis in the inner bays of Tohoku and Tokyo Bay" The First Asian Marine Biology Symposium 2012 (Phuket Thailand) Jo Kazuhiro, "The Role of Mechanical Reproduction in (What Was Formerly Known as) the Record in the Age of Personal Fabrication" Leonardo Music Journal 24 (2014): 65-67. Lines—貝の成長線を聴くver. 2.0
    《2015.4.20 福島県相馬市松川浦 採集》
    《2011.5.21 福島県相馬市松川浦 採集》
    試料提供:大越健嗣(東邦大学理学部生命圏環境科学科 教授)
    制作協力:大越健嗣(東邦大学理学部生命圏環境科学科 教授)、鈴木聖宏(東邦大学大学院理学研究科博士後期課程)
    城一裕(情報科学芸術大学院大学[IAMAS])
    参考資料:
    大越健嗣・鈴木聖宏・丸山雄也・篠原航(2014)「貝殻に刻まれた 地震・津波の痕跡」,月刊地球編集部編『月刊地球 バイオミネラリゼーションと石灰化-Ⅱ』2014年1月号⟨通巻412号⟩vol.36, No.1, pp.42-52, 海洋出版
    丸山雄也(2013)「東北地方太平洋沖地震による大規模攪乱がアサリに与えた影響」,東邦大学大学院理学研究科環境科学専攻 修士論文
    城一裕,金子智太郎,「紙のレコード」の作り方 -予め吹き込むべき音響のないレコード編-,YCCschool,2013年12月22日, slideshare, https://www.slideshare.net/jojporg/131222-papaerecordjp
  • Lines—Listening to the Growth Lines of Molluscan Shells Lines—Listening to the Growth Lines of Molluscan Shells Ver. 2.0
    Asari clam sampled at Matsukawa-ura in Soma, Fukushima on May 20th, 2015
    Asari clam sampled at Matsukawa-ura in Soma, Fukushima on May 21th, 2011 Sampled and provided by Professer Kenji Okoshi, Toho University.
    Acknowledgments: Professor Kenji Okoshi(Toho University), Masahiro Suzuki (Toho University)
    Kazuhiro Jo(Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences [IAMAS])
    Reference:
    Kenji Okoshi, Masahiro Suzuki, Yuta Maruyama, Wataru Shinohara "Trace of the earthquake and tsunami observed in shells." Bio-mineralization and Calcification: from gene to global environment -Ⅱ vol.36, No.1, Ocean Publishers(2014): 42-52. Yuya Maruyama, and Kenji Okoshi "Examination of influence of earthquake and massive tsunami on the Manila clam Ruditapes philippinarum by growth break analysis in the inner bays of Tohoku and Tokyo Bay" The First Asian Marine Biology Symposium 2012 (Phuket Thailand) Jo Kazuhiro, "The Role of Mechanical Reproduction in (What Was Formerly Known as) the Record in the Age of Personal Fabrication" Leonardo Music Journal 24 (2014): 65-67. Lines—貝の成長線を聴くver. 2.0
    《2015.4.20 福島県相馬市松川浦 採集》
    《2011.5.21 福島県相馬市松川浦 採集》
    試料提供:大越健嗣(東邦大学理学部生命圏環境科学科 教授)
    制作協力:大越健嗣(東邦大学理学部生命圏環境科学科 教授)、鈴木聖宏(東邦大学大学院理学研究科博士後期課程)
    城一裕(情報科学芸術大学院大学[IAMAS])
    参考資料:
    大越健嗣・鈴木聖宏・丸山雄也・篠原航(2014)「貝殻に刻まれた 地震・津波の痕跡」,月刊地球編集部編『月刊地球 バイオミネラリゼーションと石灰化-Ⅱ』2014年1月号⟨通巻412号⟩vol.36, No.1, pp.42-52, 海洋出版
    丸山雄也(2013)「東北地方太平洋沖地震による大規模攪乱がアサリに与えた影響」,東邦大学大学院理学研究科環境科学専攻 修士論文
    城一裕,金子智太郎,「紙のレコード」の作り方 -予め吹き込むべき音響のないレコード編-,YCCschool,2013年12月22日, slideshare, https://www.slideshare.net/jojporg/131222-papaerecordjp
  • Lines—Listening to the Growth Lines of Molluscan Shells Bird’s eye view of Matsukawa-ura Lagoon. Situated in the center is the completed tsunami seawall (photographed July 2019)
    松川浦上空より。画面中央は完成した防潮堤(2019年7月撮影)
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