a syntfarm exploration.

Mount Fuji
Tokyo, Japan
Andreas Schlegel and Vladimir Todorovic

July 27th, 2007, 1:20pm-6:35am

performance and installation

open for invitation



today we walked on the fuji mountain. we arrived at 1:20pm local time and started on 2300m above sea level. air is thin and sharp. the soil is volcanic. we are walking on the inner parts of the earth's gut that erupted in 1708 during the edo period. there are several layers in its strata. new fuji is believed to be formed around 10,000 years ago on top of the old fuji which dates around 100,000 years. also, its basalt layer is about several hundred thousand years old and when you walk on this active strato-volcano, you constantly feel, inhale, and are aware of fuji's dust and it is a bit hard to breathe. the wind is making it cold. mist. we are in the cloud almost non stop. then, it's gone. sunshine and the wind. rocks are slippery.

we reach the 6th station slowly (2400m). vegetation looks minimal and green. the smell of pine wood burned in one of the mountain huts reminds on something you don't want to articulate. here, we take our first break and a second sample of soil. it is slowly getting really cold. the dirt is everywhere and it constantly reminds on what is bellow the crust. we examined 5 locations on different heights. on one of them, we found flower ko-iwa-kagami (small-scree-mirror). it looked sad and beautiful. after three and a half hours of climbing, we head back. we see a yellow spider that looks like a toy and is staring at us; maybe laughing. a lot of basalt rocks and various dry red and dark grey rocks, cold lava. near the kawaguchi 5th station, we are passing through the small forest. the trees in the mist look evil. they have curved stems and we are passing by our first sampling location. it is really cold. we see a large portion of soil that has a strange texture and it looks like an arial view of a highly populated city. this is probably a result of soil erosions that happen before the climbing period starts in july, when snow from the top is still melting.

the feeling of the earth's dust in our throats. in the bus, it is worm. we are eating wasabi biscuits and thinking about the earth's core.