Four Unremarkable Things You See at Train Stations (2014)
Video installation
The first thing I do is ask the body doing the performing to take in an image. The image acts on the performing body, moves it, weighs dowm or shifts its balance to specific parts ( or tries its hand at doing so). What interests me most when involved in performance is seeing and showing the effects that the image on the body and grasping or conveying the nature of the image that led to such effects is complex, convoluted, and fascinating.
Toshiki Okada
Toshiki Okada’s chelfitsch exhibits a new video installation, “Four Unremarkable Things You See at Train Stations”, that seeks to separate out the dance-like elements of theatrical performances. Four young men and women were filmed individually as they talked about something unremarkable or “everyday” that usually happens at a train station. Each monologue is projected at life-size onto separate screens. Super-directional speakers hang form the ceiling before each screen, positioned so that viewers can hear each actor’s words only when directly beneath them. When viewers are outside this area, the actors’ only expressive language is physical and they seem to be dancing. Conscious of this double-layering, Okada has directed the segments to create stronger forms while shifting the symbolic characteristics of the body.
from catalog ”Seeking New Genealogies ーArt/ Bodies / Performances”
Video: Loop of 3min performance per each × 4 patterns
Exhibition space (metres): W 10m × D 10m × H 4m Screen size(metres): W 1.2m × H 2m × 4sets Past Exhibition: 2014 “Seeking New Genealogies” Museum of Contemporary Art tokyo (MOT)
