How the body of whales is involved in and becomes the agency of ideological ideas, and thus also monumental? A whale is a divine body in diverse art forms such as poems and religious instruments. On the contrary, actual whale bodies have been in danger of extinction by indiscriminate hunting during the last centuries. What does it mean to verify the power of whale bodies when Japan left IWC in 2019 after over thirty years of moratorium on commercial whaling? How and when does the whale body turn into ideological ideas or become the agency to confront power? The research project Geo-Body of Whale is based on artistic and aesthetic practice and relies on multiple disciplines such as social sciences, cartography, and field research, seeking to build aesthetic evidence around the controversial discussions. The project is also driven by different mediums such as performance, sculpture, drawing, photo, video, and text.

As the first step by thinking about the political confrontation between the Japanese and Korean(s) governments regarding the ocean's name between their lands, can the idea of Geo-Body by Thongchai Winichakul apply to investigate the nationalism identity construction by naming of oceans? The introduction of the project is to trace some of the old maps and cartographic history of the birth of the Sea of Japan(日本海, Nihonkai)/East Sea(동해, Donghae) and review how the sea is entangled in imperial powers. In the time of not being able to get a common new name by consent after decades, the name Sea of Whale(鲸海/Jīnghǎi), which we can find in some poems around the Yuan and Ming dynasty era in Mongol/China, can bring up an alternative imagination about the ocean to be proposed. It can give a different perspective on the Sea of Japan/East Sea, which is closely linked to national ideology, by examining simultaneously the world map Kangnido(疆理図) and the poems in the word 鲸海/Jīnghǎi is used and made in the same period.

Another question more related to actual whale bodies is how whaling in Japan becomes so intricately intertwined with the nation representation ideology? It is important to note that the process of introducing modern whaling technology was a national project that took place at the same time as the invasion of Korea by the Japanese Empire. In other words, whaling, which had been practiced in determinative local parts inside Japan, became a national project and grew along with the invasion of the other country. It is also interesting to note that the Korean people used the whaling bases built by the Japanese whaling company after the liberation, which became their industry. With the decision to impose a moratorium on whaling by IWC, whaling is no longer possible in Korea, but the effects of the whaling industry can be seen in different ways along with the history of each region. Their history by tracing some sources and introducing the current situation of each area as reviewed through fieldwork can tell how whale bodies can become an agency in a complex way.

Keywords: Whale, Geo-Body, Ocean, Aesthetics, Power

Yuske Taninaka works as artist in Berlin. His works and projects are about the alternative network of monumentality in our time, which is the crisis of monuments as agents: the reductive approach of postmodern sculptures and the danger of commemorative in commemorates Post-Truth. Taninaka's interdisciplinary approach to sculpture, performance, and historical research is in his current project, "Geo-Body of Whale" he thinks whale body as a monumental representation in different plural ecologies.