Osaka: Austrian Artist Hundertwasser In Japan
Friedensreich Hundertwasser was an amazing artist from Austria. He helped design the Maishima Incineration Plant in Osaka. I like how he was always interested in all aspects of life, making even the most mundane aspects of life more artistic - such as toilets and garbage:
...According to the guide, the plant didn’t cost any more than a traditional one because they cut corners in other areas. Inside, visitors will see what must be the world’s cleanest incineration plant. The whole place is spotless, high-tech, well-decorated and modern. Trucks pull up to a giant garbage pit, and two giant robotic hands (each 6m in circumference) pick up the garbage and dump it into a huge incinerator. The plant can handle 900 tons of garbage a day and is extremely impressive.
If you are interested in finding out more about this quirky waste disposal icon, free tours are available with reservations. There is a good English pamphlet available but the guides do not speak English so please arrange an interpreter or come with a Japanese speaker.
Access: From Sakurajima station on the JR Yumesaki line, take the Maishima Sports Island bus and get off at ‘Konohana Ohashi Nishizume’ stop. The plant is open every day except Sundays and national holidays. Tours start at 10am, 1:30pm and 3pm. The tour lasts about 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by telephone, mail, or fax, but must be received at least one week before the visit.Construction period: Begun in March 1997, completed in April 2001.
For more information see Osaka City
From Greenz.jp
Exhaust gas treatment:
bug filter, moist cleaning equipment, catalytic equipment for removing NOx, etc.
Coping with dioxins:
The plant keeps exhaust gas concentration below 0.1 nanograms by computer controlled high-temperature operation + use of bug filter + catalytic NOx removal. Dioxins in escaping ash are decomposed with superheated dechlorination equipment
Chimney height:
120m
- Location
- 1, Hokkoshiratsu 1cho-me, Konohana-ku, Osaka
In his architectural projects, Herr Hundertwasser, "implemented window right and tree tenants, uneven floors, woods on the roof, and spontaneous vegetation."
His first visit to Japan was back in 1960, according to this biography.
| 1960 | Visits Japan. Receives the Mainichi Prize at the 6th International Art Exhibition, Tokyo. Very successful exhibiton in Tokyo. Paints in Hokkaido and returns to Vienna via Siberia. |
| 1961 | Marries Yuko Ikewada (divorced 1966). Very successful retrospective at the Venice Biennial. |
My introduction to Hundertwasser was sometime in the early 1990s, when his works were exhibited at the Teien Art Museum in Meguro, including the drawings for his clever toilets!
I find his wikipedia page severly lacking in many ways, but, ok, I guess being an artist has never been easy. Furthermore, my knowledge of where my garbage ends up is even more lacking. How about you?
大阪市環境局舞洲ごみ処理工場
Video from inside the massive Osaka garbage disposal plant:
Comments
Not sure I like the idea of dressing up such facilities with an artsy facade - let's face up to the ugly consumption and waste of resources that they represent.
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