Installation view of "The invisible enemy should not exist" (2023) by Iraqi American artist Michael Rakowitz. (Courtesy of the Aichi Triennale Organizing Committee, photo by Kido Tamotsu)
(excerpt)
Elsewhere in Seto, Rakowitz serves up another politically driven installation in a bustling Middle Eastern Japanese cafe at Umemura Shoten, a rental space, which includes a poster showing the Palestinian flag near a quote from American rock musician Bruce Springsteen and a record player. An outhouse displays large panels from Rakowitz's "The invisible enemy should not exist (Northwest Palace of Kalhu)" (2023).
Each panel is accompanied by a note reading: "... location: missing" or "... location: ... destroyed by ISIS" (a reference to the Islamic State group). The effect recalls London-based Syrian photographer Hrair Sarkissian's "Stolen Past," showing at the Aichi Arts Center, in which 48 plinths display 3D-printed images of objects looted during the Syrian civil war.
The cafe is crowded with visitors lining up for a taste of Rakowitz's menu -- an Iraqi take on the okonomiyaki (savory pancake) made in Japan's Kansai region that he has punningly renamed "okonomiraqi." Rakowitz spent months perfecting the dish, with input from Umemura Shoten's owner and Yaari Honda from the triennale.
"[They] helped me dial in the recipe to make it even more Iraqi," he says. The small pancakes are thick, almost like flatbread, and drizzled with date syrup. Rakowitz serves them with chopsticks. It is a mean feat to eat these pancakes with Japanese implements, but it is good to see an overseas artist engaging with local culture.