Jens H. Liebchen, 2011/03/13 Tsukuba-Narita

Jens H. Liebchen 

2011/03/13 Tsukuba-Narita

Spector Books, Leipzig, May 2011, first edition of 500 copies, signed
Photographs and concept: Jens Liebchen
Text: Christoph Schaden

"I left Japan two days after the quake. The situation was unclear. Information from Japanese and Western media differed to a great extent. The bus from Narita left on time, as usual."

Jens Liebchen's recent work is a direct reaction on the incidents in Japan in March 2011. It brings together 80 photographic images. Tsukuba–Narita 2011/03/13, the title says. A date is given and two Japanese locations are named that supposedly mark the beginning and end of the precipitous bus ride that took place early one Sunday morning in the spring of 2011.
It is here that the images originated, the words tell us. The sun had been shining and the bus is said to have left on time. ”On time, as usual.“ The destination – Narita International Airport outside of Tokyo – was reached. No reason to be alarmed. Though the media – if you recall – issued one unsettling report after another. ”Brutal images“, as they themselves called them.
"How are we read today?" – the images ask in a hushed tone. "How will you perceive us tomorrow? And what will be recognized in us?" (Christoph Schaden)

Jens Liebchen (*1970) lives in Berlin and Tokio.