Gaijin X 2.0 (notes)

I wanted to open up discussions pertaining to the use of the Gaikokujin Experimenta v.2 program in performance.

Discussions have begun about the kinds of ways in which this could work:

- The use of multiple screens
- Performing bodies as statues in the space
- The screen as black background with white tracings
- The use of lighting to highlight the performer
- Not using the screen at all times
- Allowing the audience to walk through the program, whilst on the way to their seats

Lets continue to develop these ideas...

During the rehearsals for Gaikokujin Experimenta v.2 Alex and I experimented with a number of different methods of working, both in performance and with the program.

I want to lay down some of these trials and tribulations in the hopes that they will help us, and others wishing to collaborate with us on this program, in the future.

Testing the Water:

Given the last time we had worked with the program was in a tiny apartment in Tokyo, with minimal equipment, our first task in Melbourne was to test colours, lighting, costume and other effects.

At 'Design Festa - Tokyo', where Gaikokujin Experimenta was first performed, despite rehearsals, the program and it's proposed effects didn't work. Without being told, we had rehearsed (with a black background and white tracings) in a different lighting state to the one used in performance. Under the black projection, and suddenly without light, the program could not detect any shapes.

So, we created a series of tests to ensure this situation didn't arise again in Melbourne. The tests consisted of red, white, black and flesh costumes against different coloured backgrounds, black, white, grey, red and blue.

Some interesting finds included that a white background with a white kimono creates an almost ghostly feel where you see only the somewhat manga figures hair and parts of the costume. We also re-discovered that a black screen with out lighting doesn't work, even if the figure is clothes in white. Once we had discovered that the best way for the program to work was with a white screen and black costume we went to work.

Keeping the Content:

In order to discover what Gaikokujin Experimenta v.2 was we went through a number of different possibilities for performance. The main theme which we were working with comes directly out of the program and our experience of living in Tokyo - Isolation amongst the Masses.

We began by re-creating images from paintings, these included works by Goya, Delvaux, Bacon and Janesmann's 'Elements of Isolation'. I would work solo to create small scenes or pictures by creating statues and embodying multiple characters. Once one character is traced, you move on and create the next. But, we soon felt that this work was too aesthetic and not political enough. Another problem with this way of working was that I found myself to involved in the image, constantly looking at the screen, which made it difficult to actually be inside the performance material.

We tried to bring these images to life, by recreating Goya’s ‘The Dream of Reason Produces Monsters’ and actually sitting inside the characters, moving and responding to the thoughts and monsters etc. But this work was slighty over dramatic and a little odd for one person to do…

In order to over come these problems we began experimenting with butoh exercises, not focusing on the screen outcome or the perfromance content specifically but trying to find a harmony between the performance and the screen. In order to further politicise this and to bring it back to a realm where the audience could connect to the work we began playing with giving the performer a series of tasks. These included:

- stacking chairs
- runnning/walking back and forth
- running up the wall
- spinning on the spot
- jumping over chairs
- sitting on chairs
- throwing chairs

As well as more abstract concepts which arise out of my own investigation with what I call the ‘Virtual Imagination Stimulations':

- Being logged onto
- Loggin on to life
- Being part of the routine machine
- examining a virtual image of yourself
- stepping outside of your body and existing in the virtual realm

These experiments allowed us to move away from the narrative images into a more conceptual realm. They also allowed for interesting effects and concepts to arise such as the fuzzy lines which denote fast movement, figures with multiple hands, strings which attatch to the still image, filling the screen with figures, the lone figure, the self layered upon self and the crowd/shadow or mirror image.

Finding the Structure:

The next task was to create a structure. I played around with numerous structures, which were recorded and then watched back so that I could mark down what I thought was working and what wasn’t. In doing so, we cut out a lot of material but also found ways of adding more material, mainly images which were recognisable to the audience.

We spent some time looking at and re-creating Muybridge photo’s, doing simple tasks such as throwing, fighting, walking in different directions. But these images were again very mechanical and didn’t offer much contrast from the performance to the screen. It once again became more of a scientific exercise in aesthetics rather than a live performance.

The Performance:

When Gaikokujin Experimenta went up the performance still needed development. During the week the performance under went a series of changes. These included discoveries whilst performing to an audience, such as the need for more moments of stillness, statues, slowness, moving away from the audience, holding and building the intensity etc. Elements which had somehow been lost with the frantic build up to performance. I also discovered that in the space, people could not link into the sound program as well as would have been liked, meaning that the links in content between the spoken text and what I was doing was somewhat lost. A positive aspect of this organic collaboration though was that in working so closely with the machine I began to hook into it’s timing more and more and the days progressed, creating many happy accidents.

Of coarse Gaikokujin Experimenta is something that can and will continue to be developed right down to the tiny aspects - mapping of the space, timing with the program, and the timing of each and every picture and even element of sound. In trying to tame this beast of a machine though, it has been important not to forget the role of performance in the collaboration, and the different qualities, meanings, images and juxtapositions it can bring to the program. Most importantly though, it has been a struggle to not be seduced by the image and to work toward and stick to a politic.

When setting up the show as a visual exhibition I didn't want the white walls and cultural significance of an institutional gallery to contextualise the work into an uncritical specticle of power and commodity fetish.

Notions of the cutting edge and commerce are already too deeply embedded into digital technology at the expense of truly progressive concepts such as relational aesthetics and potential for open collaborative applications of technology. By placing second hand, older hardware close to the ground in a position of humble display I hoped to engage the eye in the paticipation of the viewer. I did not hide the technology in an effort to clean up the installation nor did I use the usual display solutions of plinths, frames, clear pins and/ or ceiling mounted projection. This low fi approach also makes more idiosyncratic and interesting visual relationships, which seemed to be appreciated by the participant-veiwer.

Overall the lo-fi aesthetic allows for the space a conceptual possibility for the work displayed and focuses on participation rather than passive observation.

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