Tactical Museum

'Sora Mimi Hour' - Best Japanese TV

My favourite TV in Japan is 'Sora Mimi Hour', a 3 minute slot within 'Tamori Club' late on Friday nights on channel 10. More of a diversion, than a proper programme or segment, 'Sora Mimi Hour' is nevertheless a masterful example of making the most out of seemingly ordinary experiences. The programme asks viewers to send in segments from songs which sound like they are being sung in Japanese. These segments are lovingly choreographed into mini video clips which hilariously illustrate the Japanese sounding lyric segment. Thus a phrase from a song sung in english also sounds remarkably like a completely different phrase in Japanese, with completely different meanings. The more surreal or strange sounding entries are awarded  with special 'Sora Mimi Hour' goods - a thin towel for mediocre entries, a T-shirt (rarely given) and a wind breaker (I have never seen this given away). Tamori (wearing the sun glasses below) judges each entry and decides which ones merit which award. The programme is, for me, a perfect example of intentional tactical diversion and digression - altering the meaning of lyrics (mostly English songs but also Spanish or Italian) into something totally different which only those who understand the Japanese language can ultimately appreciate.  Unbeknown to songwriters and bands, every Friday night in Japan their creations are mercilessly appropriated and gently torn up.

The presenters of 'Sora Mimi Hour'.

Chief judge Tamori reviews the original English lyrics of a song.

 

 

SUN RA Re-Incarnation in Tokyo - via film

I went to see and listen to a wonderful thing last night. My friend and manager of Super Deluxe Tokyo, Mike Kubeck, organised a Japan tour of 'Cinema Soloriens & The Cosmo Drama', with former Sun Ra Arkestra Alto Sax player and leader, Marshall Allen leading. James Harrar, who also plays bamboo flute, has been re-compiling footage of Sun Ra from the 1960s and 70s into amazing short films. These were projected on three walls in Super Deluxe, with Allen, Harrar and R.E. Mohoney on guitar and drum, accompanying.

The sounds were free and 'out'. Allen played alto sax, a small electronic sax and a tiny Casio keyboard, sitting beside one of the projections and occasionally responding to the images. Mahoney would sometimes bang the single floor drum in tribal-beat like patterns creating intense sequences, which would then fold back into minimal passages. The projections showed a mix of abstract patterns, Sun Ra interviews, stage performances and people putting beads around their heads. Thanks Mike, for getting this together....a rare treat.

Dance and Liberationist potential - Tim Lawrence

From Tim Lawrence's great homepage and blog, an article about disco which appeared in Liberazione.
"Disco: Liberation of the Body"
Tim mentions my good friend Jeremy Gilbert in the post, author of Discographies, and member of The Lucky Cloud Collective London who have organised The Loft nights with David Mancuso.

What were they doing at the UFO club London?.

An excerpt from J.L. Locher's 'Mark Boyle's Journey to the Surface of the Earth' which describes a typical situation at the UFO club in London during the late 1960s. The article can be found at The Boyle Family website.

'A typical evening at UFO would begin around 10.30 to 11.00 with Vivaldi very loud on the sound system and our light environment all around the room. Then, when the place was full, the first rock group would appear. Then you might get a theatre group from the Royal Court Theatre doing mime, followed by the Soft Machine or the Pink Floyd. Then I might be asked to make yellow projections while the current hit Mellow Yellow would be played and David Medalla and a group of dancers would fill an arena with more and more yellow objects, yellow cloth, yellow confetti, yellow paint etc. A folk group would follow, then a clown, more rock, more Bach, a theatre group called the People's Show and then at about 7 a.m. a jazz group called the Sun Trolley would play. Most people would be sleeping against the pillars or in little piles on the floor by now. Usually it was just the Sun Trolley and Joan and I who were awake. Then we would go away and get some breakfast.'

What were they up to at The Electric Circus?

This is a pretty interesting essay written by James N. Lapsley, Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, sometime in the late 1960s. It surveys the new youth movements of the time, with particular analysis of the psychedelic environments created at Electric Circus , New York.
'Psycho-theology of the New Left''

Yason Banal 'Disaster But Disco' Interview part 2

  Yason as 'high priest' sits at his ritual table.
 

'Disaster But Disco' happened without major disaster on Friday at AIT room. Yason and his two performers animated his installation set up with a series of actions and short gestures which included a fictional news cast about visionaries appearing in Daikanyama and Yason tattooing his two cohorts with fake sticker tattoos. The image above shows Yason applying tattoos under a rotating cheap disco light that was positioned in the centre of the space. Part 2 of my interview with Yason about this performance-installation is below:
Can you explain a little about the performance element of tonight? What the two half naked tattooed men are doing and your role in it?
The performance tonight is quite important, at least to me personally, as I haven`t presented my body 'live' for quite some time. Usually what I show are traces of my performance via photography, video and sculpture, or if done 'live' employ other people/bodies instead.
The two guys in the performance resemble sculptures; they are not actors.  It continues my interest in masculine stupor and awkward figurines, as well as sleepwalking as an in-between state  between reality and the subconscious, stillness and action.  Visually, the black strip of electric tape on their eyes and headphones on their ears are very similar to the 'straight' guys you see appearing on amateur Japanese porn. I find this fascinating - the Japanese notion of outer and inner realities (I forgot what they're called) - blocking out 'disasters' and other disturbances to norm, and living in a sort of fantasy 'disco' land. I think its also dangerous, because there is little acknowledgement or tolerance of certain deviations and ideas.
The black strip on the eye-line also remind me of visionaries in the Philippines, religious devotees who claim to have seen God, Jesus or the Virgin Mary. In both cases (porn and religion), the focus is on the eyes - the epicenter of ecstasy and knowledge. But also in both cases, these porn actors and religious visionaries are amateurs and charlatans. The realities and apparitions they claim to see are fake, blocked by their own pathology.
My participation in the performance will move between various elements culled from different sources/ constellations, marked by my stenciling of tattoos on the two males bodies as well as small actions inspired by samurai porn, death metal disco, folk science and news-casting.   
Why is everything black! Its the colour of many things - death and mourning, but also a sense of high fashion and minimalism. I noticed you have taped objects like umbrellas up in black tape and sprayed things black. Its like you are pushing everything into a state of deep space?
Yes.. deep space.. Not just constellations in outer space but in sunny islands such as the Philippines. I've become interested in macho minimalism, as well as the notion of a 'tropical gothic' - something I want to further develop formally. To explore the dark side of the "dancing sun" so to speak, and sunny, supposedly "happy" people and forms.
Another deep space that comes to mind is the  beach. Its a place for frolic and fun, but can also quite be quite menacing. I like the idea of how black waves devour/embrace all the colourful creatures and objects in its path. And it continues, the destruction and creation of patterns. There's a certain horror to it, but also melancholy. Deep within the void/the disaster is a tropical island of colors and flavours, clashing but engaging nevertheless. Its resurrection and quite hopeful.
Is this installation a prelude to your work for the Singapore Biennale in September?
Yes. Yes!
Finally, how has Tokyo been to live in? What have you found interesting, strange, wonderful?
Many things - people, places, music, the culture and of course the city. I like getting lost, and Tokyo is the perfect place to do that, discovering new unintended paths in the process. I feel normal here too, which is probably good for me these days. I wish I had more time though, language skills, resources and
sleep. Hopefully next year when I come back I can get to relax more, see more and say more than "arigatoh" and "gomen nasai."
Thanks Yason

Rocky Places

I worked with Pierre Huyghe in 2001 when he showed 'One Million Kingdoms' at the Yokohama Triennale (2001). A lonely Ann Lee strolls through a Martian landscape of erupting rocks.

I was listening to one of my favourite tracks the other day, 'New Dawn Fades' by Joy Division, on 'Unknown Pleasures' and realised how its album cover reminded me of the above image. Realised by Peter Saville, it is a graphic plot representing radio waves from a distant star - the pulsar designated PSR 1919+21.

'Beauty and the Beat', A party to go to in London.

I was in London this past February for the first time in over 15 months or so. It was an opportunity to catch up with friends (and work!). One of my closest friends is Jeremy Gilbert, one of the authors of 'Discographies' and a great music and party host. Jeremy has recently been involved in organising the London Loft Parties  with David Mancuso as one member of a collective, and he has also recently begun a party night called Beauty and the Beat. For those in London on April 1, with a penchant for dancing to eclectic sounds played through what is probably the best hi-fi system in the UK (the collective has bought sets of huge corner standing Klipschorn speakers, Musical Fidelity amplifiers and customised turntables) - go. I guarantee it will change your idea of dancing in a room full of people.

Justus Kohncke at UNIT Tokyo and Kompakt night 9.

I just came in from Kompakt Night Vol 9. at UNIT, Daikanyama. This is a new club and lounge opened one year ago just opposite the AIT offices. The small red figure pictured above is German music man, Justus Kohncke, who made a fantastic performance of recent album tracks. At AIT we actually often listen to a Kompakt CD compilation given to us by artist Johannes Wohnseifer when we was resident artist in Tokyo last year. I think maybe even Johannes has collaborated with some Kompakt music poeple on his LP releases of Braun alarm clocks and Honda beats. Tobias Thomas came on after Justus to DJ. Justus's sounds are a wonderful mixture of 80s pop, electronica and beats, while Tobias played Kompakt-ish sharp, cool techno, but with many experimental sounds. Kohncke was also formerly with the Whirlpool music group, I believe, and made several interesting albums with German artists such as Kai Althoff. Its all in the mix.

Museum Audio Tours remixed using i-pod

A mailing circular from the Asian Cultural Council in Tokyo informed me about a group of students and art fans who use i-pods to produce unofficial audio guides for the Museum of Modern Art in New York. I have not heard them, but the idea is highly tactical and innovative. As far as I know, museums have not banned visitors from listening to their own portable players while strolling around galleries, so I suppose that until they do this kind of initiative will continue to proliferate. I am sure people like  Kandinsky and Len Lye amongst others, who held deep interests in the relationship between music and the visual, will be quietly celebrating.
An excerpt from the mail:
"The creators of this guide, David Gilbert, a professor of communication at Marymount Manhattan College, and a group of his students, describe it on their Web site as a way to "hack the gallery experience" or "remix MoMa," which they do with a distinctly collegiate blend of irony, pop music and heavy breathing. It is one of the newest adaptations in the world of podcasting - downloading radio shows, music and kitchen-sink audio to an MP3 player.
Specifically, these museum guides are an outgrowth of a recent podcasting trend called "sound seeing," in which people record narrations of their travels - walking on the beach, wandering through the French Quarter - and upload them onto the Internet for others to enjoy. In that spirit, the creators of the unauthorized guides to the Modern have also invited anyone interested to submit his or her own tour for inclusion on the project's Web site - Art Mobs. "