Photo of the month: under pressure.

What price progress? It may be the unanswerable question but it is one posed by this remarkable image – a still that shows the uncomfortable proximity of old and new, farmland and airport.

The airport in question is Narita in Japan, the country’s second largest. Today it is like any major airport: busy yet calmly efficient. But when plans for its construction on rural farmland were released in the 1960s, Narita was far from calm. Protests began that rumbled on for over a decade. Riots occurred, policemen died, burning cars and Molotov cocktails disrupted development. But it appears that you can’t stop progress and so it was with Narita. It opened in 1978, albeit with unprecedented levels of security. Today’s huge metal fences and guard towers are a reminder of a more violent time.

All of the farming families who worked this land were forcibly moved on. All except one. Today, despite constant pressure from the authorities, one family still lives at Narita; their farm at the end of the runway dwarfed by the airport on their doorstep, their conversations constantly interrupted by the overhead roar of planes.

So, what price progress then? The installation at the Whitworth Gallery from which this still is taken – a multimedia piece that combines film, sound art and scientific research – asks just that question, putting together a picture of what life must be like for the family at the end of the runway. As for the answer, well you’ll just have to work it out for yourself.

Air Pressure, the Whitworth Art Gallery, until 12 February. Free. Image: Air Pressure (2011), Rupert Cox & Angus Carlyle, courtesy the artists. Read Angus Carlyle’s blog about the project. Words: Susie Stubbs.

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