Ground zero

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After visiting a couple of cities in Japan, I came to my finally destination, Tokyo. One day I succeeded in getting lost and came across a gallery called Art Trace Gallery (google-map helped me remember the name) and had a look inside. In the first room there was a small exhibition with a female Japanese artist. She showed about ten works, which were all consisting of the same elements: two photos and two texts (my photo shows one work):

The work that made the biggest impression on me was called "Ground Zero". The first photo was black and white and I could recognize the motif from a museum I had visited Hiroshima. It was an aerial photo of Hiroshima a few days after the atomic bombing in 1945. Beside the photo there was a text I've written here:

"The origins of the term ”ground zero” began with the Manhattan Project and the bombing of Japan. The Oxford English Dictionary, citing the use of the term in a 1946 New York Times report on the destroyed city of Hiroshima, defines ”ground zero” as ”that part of the ground situated immediately under an exploding bomb, especially an atomic one.”

The term was military slang - used at the Trinity site where the weapon tower for the first nuclear weapon was at "point zero" - and moved into general use very shortly after the end of World War II.

Relating to a specific event, the term was first used to refer to the devastation caused by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

(small text) Text from Wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_zero."

The second photo was in colour. Again it was an aerial photo, but this time of recent date. I think most people can see that it is a photo of the site where the World Trade Center stood prior to 11. September 2001. It is probably taken a few days after the attack, as there is no chaos, but still a bit of smoke. The text to the right of the picture said the following:

"The term was also used to describe the site of the World Trade Center in New York City, which was destroyed in the September 11, 2001 attacks. The adoption of this term by the mainstream North American media with reference to the September 11th attacks began as early as 7:47 p.m. (EDT) on that day, when CBS News reporter Jim Axelrod said,

”Less than four miles behind me is where the Twin Towers stood this morning. But not tonight. Ground Zero, as it's being described, in today's terrorist attacks that have sent aftershocks rippling across the country.”

Rescue workers also used the phrase ”The Pile”, referring to the pile of rubble that was left after the buildings collapsed.

(small text) Text from Wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_zero."

When I saw the work I did not know what "ground zero" meant in addition to being the place where the World Trade Centre stood. I was very sceptical and did not really trust the first text, which allegedly explained the origin of the term. It seemed unlikely that in connection with the terrorist attack American media would use a term that could lead ones thoughts towards the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Furthermore it seemed almost too convenient that the term should have been coined during "The Manhattan Project", when being known public in relation to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and eventually return to Manhattan.

Later that day I was at an Internet cafe and checked out the Wikipedia page on "Ground Zero". To my surprise, I could see that the texts were taken directly from it and the page-history showed no sign of manipulation.

I came to think of a conversation I had had about a month earlier with a young Chinese guy. He had been learning English in school, but so far he had only used it to read Shakespeare. Within a couple of hours, we exchanged a wide range of views on china and the rest of the world. He was uncritical and very interested in my view on all kind of things - even though much of what I was saying most have been radical compared to what he had been taught. When we parted, I think his view of the world was dramatically changed. I walked away with a feeling of representing a free and open view on the world. Today I would have acted differently.

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