Takashi Arai is a Japanese artist who exercises the daguerreotype, video, sound, text, and research on the relationship between individual and collective memories. Arai views daguerreotypes, one of the earliest photographic techniques, as “micro-monuments” that convey the sensation of encountering subjects in a way that transcends time and space and stretches its contemporary significance primarily on the subject of nuclear histories.

During their residency at Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Arai will research attempts at artistic practice in response to the trauma of mass death, particularly the activities of female artists during World War I. Intertwining with this research, they will also pursue how collective mourning rituals are possible in our time through artistic practices associated with non-binary/animistic narratives.