Short Stories: Beppu
"Short Stories" is a series of small books compiling Nishino's masterpiece "Diorama Map". "Diorama Map" is a huge diorama created by walking through various cities and piecing together on canvas a vast number of photographs taken from all angles, including bird's eye view, elevated view, and from the street. The specimens of cities, created from the artist's memories and experiences, equally capture the people, animals, and nature that coexist in the area.
In "Short Stories", Nishino once again observes the city he has created, cutting out parts of the work as if to re-shoot it, and reconstructing it by tracing his memories. How Nishino walked the land, what he felt, and the humor contained in the collage create a depth that differs from the experience of seeing the art work in front of one's eyes.
By fitting such a large artwork into a small book, the book maintains the feeling of a bird's-eye view of the city and its people that you get when you look at "Diorama Map", also the book is designed in such a way as to increase interest in the actual size of the artworks.
This series also contains the idea of communicating with the people of the future by recording fragments of a city that continues to change.
The first in the series is the city of Beppu, Oita in Japan photographed in 2020. In this tourist destination famous for its hot springs, Nishino photographed as many as 200 hot springs. Many of the shots are taken indoors, capturing more of the people's expressions. It is contains short essays reflecting on the trip by Nishino.
― from the publisher's description
- Book Size
- 158 × 148 mm
- Pages
- 64 pages
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publication Year
- 2023
- Language
- English, Japanese
- ISBN
- 978-4-9912846-0-1