Untitled (Hodokeru Mimi)

Installation

When Takamitsu Ohta and Asari Daiki proposed that I create an installation for the event “Hodokeru Mimi” at Ryosokuin temple in Kyoto, I instantly thought of something special. But after struggling with myself for many days, I realised there was no need to be special in a temple, and felt the need to focus on the exclusion of the non-essential. So, I took my portable recorder, set it to recording mode and connected it to some small speaker cones. Then I started playing around with feedbacks, using two bamboo sticks with two different lengths and placing them over the speakers. By covering the latter with my hands, I could create a sort of resonant box.

The air flowed differently according to the length of the two bamboo sticks, creating an instable chord and many hard-to-control sine waves. As it is not easy to keep the chord for a long time, I had to concentrate very much, and move the two sticks towards and away from the speakers with millimetric precision. It was like meditating.

Untitled investigates the tension and subtle equilibrium between the fleeting nature of things and the contemplation related to it. The installation creates an ongoing parallel between the notions of incompleteness/imperfection and the profound sense of beauty as a way of approaching things. Whilst referencing various concepts, the focus of this work aims to be no different from a bird passing nearby the temple and disappearing straight away.

No overdub or other sounds were added to the recording, except the use of some silences to make the composition more suitable for the space.