Chim ↑ Pom. SUPER RAT, 2006-2017. Courtesy of the artists

Chim ↑ Pom. Still from KI-AI 100, 2011. Courtesy of the artists

CHIM ↑ POM
Non-Burnable

Dallas Contemporary, 2017

Responding instinctively to contemporary events, Chim↑Pom continuously creates works that intervene in society with strong social messages. The exhibition Non-Burnable spotlights the decade-long artistic career of the Tokyo-based collective. In their multidisciplinary practice, the artists examine themes of inheritance, survival, and co-existence by responding to environmental and political circumstances.

Chim↑Pom is recognized among the few artists who spearheaded critical reflections on the Tōhoku Earthquake, which caused the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident in 2011. Their work juxtaposes the idea of an atomic sublime with the notion of nuclear disaster as lived experience. Informed by atomic bombs as a motif of collective memory, they invest in building meaningful relationships between time and historical sites such as Hiroshima.


Non-Burnable revolves around the concept of non-combustible waste represented by radiation, environmental pollution, and even symbolic prayers sent to the city of Hiroshima from people all over the world in the form of hand-folded cranes. Using a small collection of the 10,000 tons of sacred, and therefore indestructible, origami cranes sent to Hiroshima each year, Chim↑Pom reflects upon peace invocation and the legacy of communal trauma.