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Ocean
white - Cross-disciplinary, Inter-cultural Installation
Performance Development - 1 |
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Open
Stage; the University of Melbourne, November
2010
Supported by The Australian Academy of the Humanities, The
Japan Foundation - Sydney
Griffith University and The University of Melbourne |
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Personnel:
Naomi Ota (visual artist)
Genta Iwamura (lighting designer)
Tim Humphrey and Madeleine Flynn
(composers/musicians)
Soo Yeun You (choreographer/dancer)
Peter Eckersall (dramaturg)
Ocean white is a collaborative visual-sound-lighting installation
performance with the international collaborator Genta Iwamura
who is the lighting designer for acclaimed Butoh dance company Sankaijuku
since 1990 and is highly-experienced in design for performance and installation
projects.
The project explored two spatial concepts. They are notions of 'Yohaku-no-bi'
(Japanese term: literally translated as beauty of extra white) and 'pathway'.
Yohaku-no-bi, in the sense of 'open space' which focuses on what is
left out of a design rather than what is put in. The aesthetics of yohaku
(extra white, white space) is often associated with the concept of 'emptiness
' or 'nothingness' of Zen philosophy and it is visualised in Zen garden
for meditation purposes.
However what we emphasise here is a new perspective of Yohaku-no-bi
generated by Naomi's research in Okinawa. Utaki (Sacred grove:
also called 'on') in Taketomi island is non-decorative and empty, but
a powerful and sublime space. While Zen gardens such as Karesansui (literally,
'dry landscape') are precisely designed, with a solemn atmosphere suggesting
a resolute attitude, the open space of Utaki exists as very carefree,
and fits comfortably within people's everyday lives.
Some pathways on the island act as a guide to the Utaki space. Utaki
is naturally found by following those attractive pathways. The concept
of pathway in the project will be interpreted as a transformative element
leading audiences into open white space.
White here represents open space but also includes colour of white.
One side of Taketomi's seashore is covered by coral bones, dazzling
white under the tropical sunshine. The variety in the details of those
corals gave an impression of rich whiteness and feeling of stillness.
That could be from the factor of coral's nature of 'slow-growing'. (The
slow-growing species grows only between 2 and 6 mm/year. The corals
provide multi-century records.) The notion of stillness will be also
experimented with as an element of the Ocean white project.
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The installation
was developed through a collaborative process that investigated the artistic
concept through visual art, sonic and lighting combinations and techniques.
For example, the idea of pathway was created not only by placing visual
objects but also through sound and lighting media, allowing for the evocation
of multiple pathways as trajectories in light and sound. The visual (material)
objects were developed as sound sculptures, interpreting a disclosure
of spatial and temporal relationships between material form and resonating
sound frequencies.
The installation was constructed as a treatment of pathway and open white
as spatial and temporal metaphors, dynamically shifting experiences of
spatial disclosure towards experiences of place and finally site. Varied
elements was discovered along the eventually disclosing the open white
area. The project also investigated activations of the environment through
dance experiments.
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Dramaturgical
note
In this workshop we have explored the interactions of light, sound, body,
space and form. Dramaturgically the encounter is multilayered. One aspect
is the visible and tangible relationship of forms such as when their transforming
potential can be seen and sometimes activated by viewers. Another aspect
explores cross-cultural exchange as the artists draw on unique cultural
histories, imagination and levels of engagement with technology. The result
is a decentred dramaturgy that ebbs and flows with the transformations
taking place.
Peter Eckersall, Dramaturg
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photo:
Jave Lee
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Scent
of whiteness |
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Solo
installation exhibition at Esplanade
Theatres on the Bay
- main concourse, 12 April - 18 May 2008
Suppoeted by Multicultural Arts Vicotria, Australia Council for the Arts,
Arts Victoria and Esplanade Co, Ltd >>
Read text
from the catalogue
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In
the stillness |
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- Solo exhibition at Craft Victoria, Melbourne, 03 Nov - 03 Dec 2005
Opened by Roger Leong: Curator - International Fashion & Textile,
National Gallery Victoria
The
exhibition also toured to Japan Foundation Gallery, Sydney (7 - 27 April
, 2006 )
as a part of the official event, "2006 Australia-Japan Year of
Exchange". It is to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the signing
of the Basic Treaty of Friendship between the two countries. |
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Ota explores the elegance and restraint of white ikat traditionally practiced
on the island of Ryukyu and the surrounding Japanese archipelagos through
sculptural works. Her work asks us to imagine expanses of time and space
where the texture of traditional weave engages in delicate play with references
to bleached pathways of coral bones and sacred groves. We are reminded
of the unfolding rhythms of everyday life together with the beauty and
power of nature. Essential here is the tension between the sureness and
structure of the pieces themselves and the sublime space and sense of
stillness they evoke.
- Craft Victoria media release >>
Read text of exhibition
catalogue
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Gallery
1 - installation |
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Materials:
ramie fibre, cotton, shikkui (Japanese lime plaster), sand, paper, wood |
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Gallery
2 - framed works |
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Materials:
ramie fibre, , silk yarn, cotton,
shikkui (Japanese lime plaster), sand, gold leaf |
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Photo
by John Sones |
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