“Hiroshima Projection” by Krzystztof Wodiczko (1999)

In this work from 1999, Wodiczko uses the image of hands to animate the A-Bomb Dome building in Hiroshima, Japan. Audio is broadcast of interviews and testimonials from survivors of the attack as well as descendants of survivors reflecting on the bomb’s devastating effects over subsequent decades. The hands of the person ‘speaking’ are projected just above the water line in front of the building, implicating the water itself in the statement, as well as inviting interpretations having to do with metaphors of ripples, reflections, and fluidity. The placement of the hands at the bottom of the architecture anthropomorphizes the building, one of Wodiczko’s favorite tactics.