(10/29/2013)
Creative Media Colloquium website
Two Japanese artists came to CityU for an artist talk and performance in relation to their exhibition opening the same week. The theme of the exhibition, as well as of the talk was ‘Time’.
Lyota approaches the topic mainly from the angle of physical media used to store music – cassette tape, vinyl records – and digital video manipulations that exemplify the relationship between the visual and aural components of a video. I believe his works with tape and vinyl are probably most appreciated by the audience – ‘sound spheres’ coved with magnetic tape that can be played back, a little battery powered ‘phono cartridge car’ driving around the literal ‘tracks’of a record.
Takehiro’s work is more focused on video itself, which is in some cases infused with social situations. He showed long-duration works – 24 hours long video shots of one and the same object – and documents of ‘social situations’ like having an a football team ‘conspire’ on one team player, cutting the playing time in half – everyone was aware of it except one, and the one did not notice it either. Another situation was an actor pretending to carry something ‘heavy’ which was actually light, and waiting for passers-by to help, or the opposite, placing a bag that looks light, but is heavy, and waiting for someone to pick it up. This was very close to the ubiquitous TV comedy series where people on the street are being tricked into funny situations. Japan has many (some quite extreme) of these shows, and the influence on Takehiro is clearly visible.
Both artists first gave talks about their ideas and works, with an interpreter, which made them a bit harder to follow. Then they both did a ‘performance’: Takehiro placed a number of ‘heavy bags’ around the SCM building and installed surveillance cameras to see what will happen: Not much did, except for a few giggles when the lecture participants spotted someone they knew in the live feed. Lyota constructed on-site a little ‘racing track’ made from pieces of vinyl records, and then let his custom ‘sound car’ drive over it. This work was received enthusiastically, and it was indeed playful and simple to grasp.