Flaskolation

Injection Affection

It’s been a tough year. It’s been over a year, actually, living with the pandemic, a rollercoaster of emotions and altered reality. It has effected us all, in every country around the world. Maybe there’s hope in a syringe, but every time we take two steps forward, we take one step back.

Flaskolation by Yasuaki Kikuchi

It’s a sentiment that artists know how to express well, no matter their medium. We have all been trying to express these feelings. I wrote a few pieces about the pandemic theme when it was just getting started, not fully understanding how long it would last, and the impact to our lives. After a while, it wasn’t fun to write about any more. Yet there is hope, and things are improving in some parts of the world, despite set backs in others. I found reflections of the crisis in puzzle boxes last year, and now comes another, with a perfectly beautiful sentiment that has matured over time.

Japanese Karakuri Creation Group artist Yasuaki Kikuchi has been thinking about life in the pandemic for a while, and wanted his new creation to express his observations, his frustration, his belief in science, and his ultimate hope. He talks about his new work for the Karakuri spring exhibition, “Flaskolation”:

You’ll want to experiment with this one

This exhibition’s theme is “Experiment” as you know. At first, I was just thinking of making something like “laboratory equipment” as a personal interpretation. But, from [my core], I really wanted to express this global pandemic. Because the response was very different from country to country and from person to person. And, of course, as one who earnestly hopes that this plague will end as soon as possible. Here in Japan, the number of infected people is broadcast on TV every day, and there are no penalties, but a state of emergency is issued every time it gets worse, and people with limited freedom are beginning to get tired like other countries. Therefore, every day people are frustrated that even if they are careful, they will be returned to the beginning after a little bit. I thought that this frustration could be expressed as a [mechanism] of a Karakuri box. It’s like something will be returned to the beginning with a little adjustment, but with trial and error, if you overcome it, you can open the box. And after all, I thought that vaccines will be the decisive factor in this era, so I used a syringe as a motif.

Kikuchi has done a remarkable job of expressing this sentiment in his work. It’s not that hard to imagine how this idea could be realized in a puzzle, at least once you hear him describe the thought. Yet it is still surprising to see it in action. The box is like a poem, an ode to the times, and captures the feeling so perfectly it’s uncanny. You don’t need to know the story of the box in order to open it, but it brings a new depth and appreciation. It’s a rare achievement.

Almost like a lighthouse, a beacon of hope

In short, I couldn't find a word that could describe all of the plague turmoil in one word, so I just coined it. Flask and Frustration. But, your idea is good too. Isolation. This pandemic turmoil has increased my knowledge of the virus and I learned about the history of the battle between humans and viruses. There, the great doctors and scientists of each era make and develop great discoveries(there must have been many setbacks behind it.) If you imagine their great achievements, their weapons include flasks and test tubes. I could have imagined it. However, viruses are just as clever, and they can easily overwhelm such achievements by means of mutation. And ironically, this kind of battle between viruses and humankind, it is also true that the evolution of both has been promoted because of this. Such a cat-and-mouse battle between humans and viruses is also like an experiment in a large flask called the earth, and the effects of viruses are not limited to the body. Discrimination, human rights issues, economic issues, totalitarianism, controlled society, interests, divisions, disparity issues, etc.  ..  All human problems are occurring. It seemed as if humanity was being tested, and it seemed like a truly experimental worldview. However, this kind of thinking can sometimes be very unscrupulous depending on how you receive it, so please be careful not to misunderstand it. It's just a slightly forced coined word that describes the dilemma and change between humans and viruses.

Penicillin by Sam Ross

I think it is a perfect new word that captures the essence of this epic battle, man versus virus, science versus nature, progress versus mutation, and the unrelenting quest for a solution. Speaking of which, I have an apropos solution with which to properly appreciate this puzzle box. In keeping with the theme, one of the greatest scientific discoveries of modern (Western) medicine was made by Alexander Fleming in 1928. Penicillin led to the discovery of antibiotics, a tool that turned the tide in the battle against bacterial infection and which has saved millions of lives since.

Great Scots!

In 2005, Sam Ross, an Australian making his living during the cocktail renaissance in the storied New York bar Milk and Honey, discovered the Penicillin cocktail. As a delightful riff on another Milk and Honey invention, T.J. Siegal’s Gold Rush (itself a clever variation on the classic whiskey sour), Ross’s new cocktail was pleasing but he could never have predicted its own lasting impact. The drink replaces the whiskey with a mild blended scotch, and adds ginger to the honey syrup from the Gold Rush. This mix of ginger and honey, which are often associated with comfort in illness, play remarkably well with scotch. The final flourish is a float of peaty Islay scotch on top. The drink is meant to be consumed with a straw, so the smoky aroma tickles the senses while the sweet honey gingered body of the drink is first tasted. It’s a tremendously effective sensation and there’s no wonder it is one of the most enduring modern classics. It’s absolutely delicious! If you’re feeling tossed about by the viral waves of the world at the moment, have some penicillin. It won’t do a damn thing to protect you right now but it will sure make you feel better. Cheers!

This pair is worth a shot

Penicillin by Sam Ross

2 oz blended scotch

¾ oz fresh lemon

¾ oz honey syrup (1:1 honey:water)

¼ Islay scotch

2-3 rounds of fresh ginger

Muddle the ginger in the bottom of a shaker tin. Shake scotch blend, lemon and honey syrup with ice and strain into a favorite glass with ice. Float the Islay scotch on top and garnish with candied ginger (or a straw /  syringe). Cheers.

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