Kyoto Dai-Ichi Hotel
My video piece ‘Kyoto Dai-Ichi
Hotel’ documents an erotic dance I performed in the window of my hotel room
from across the street. The roughly three minute piece was filmed by Katie
Raphael. This work stemmed from my research about the state of LGBTQ visibility
in Japan. It is uncommon to be ‘out of the closet’ with family members or
co-workers. This makes the LGBTQ community hardly a topic of discussion in
mainstream Japanese culture. Overall though, Japanese culture places less
emphasis on how one identifies themselves. So one’s identity as ‘gay’ for
example carries less emphasis. Though one’s sexual preference may not be public
knowledge, most Japanese simply share less personal information than Western
people do. This got me thinking about ways a ‘closeted’ person may interact
with their sexuality in an environment like Japan.
The erotic dance in front of a
window is a way to perform ones sexuality and also maintain a certain level of
privacy. My figure is lit from behind making me a silhouette. The anonymity of
the figure in the work is key. It’s shadowy form shifts from feminine to
masculine throughout the performance. It is also unclear who is watching from
the street. Though the cameraperson is intently watching and recording the
performance, cars and pedestrians are seen walking below the hotel windows. The
dance is both for the public (who may or may not be receptive to it) and is intimately
enjoyable for the performer. The sexual preference of the performer is not
clear either. But their performance asserts a type of personal freedom and
individuality.
Dance and performance are also a
form of entertainment. In Japan, there are a large number of popular LGBTQ
celebrities and entertainers (like Tanoshingo and Haruna Ai). The prevalence of
trans celebrities is particularly remarkable. It seems that entertainment in
Japan is a pace where otherwise abnormal desires and peoples are celebrated. To
perform a dance refers back to this history. Though the performance may have only
been seen by a few people, the dance provided a platform for the visibility of
an alternative body. The performance draws from a type of dance circulated through
mass media. Sensual dancing can been seen in a wide number of Japanese music
videos and television shows.
Cigarette
My video piece ‘Cigarette’ is
documentation of a performance by myself and Ke Wang. I made my body into a
ball shape which Ke sat upon and smoked a cigarette in front of a rock garden.
The video was filmed in Koya-san at the Rengejoin temple. My research of LGBTQ
life initially inspired me to create rituals for LGBTQ people in a less
accepting environment like Japan. However spending time in the Rengejoin temple
(a place saturated with ritual and tradition of a totally different kind)
shifted my focus. Instead of crafting rituals for LGBTQ people I decided to try
and make the existing rituals of the individuals around me more accessible.
Observing the activities of my piers
in contrast with the activities of the monks at the temple highlighted some
interesting behaviors. Reflecting by the rock garden is a daily activity for
the monks who live there but they did not seem to sit by it for long. Instead
they would acknowledge it in passing. My SAIC piers however would often sit on
the patio adjacent to the garden and spend 10-20 minutes by it. The people who
spent the most time by the garden were the smokers in the group who would
habitually enjoy a cigarette or two on the patio. The idea of needing a
cigarette to spend time by the garden was fascinating to me.
I understand smoking alone as a
contemplative activity (though I am not a smoker myself). I also understand the
rock garden as a site for contemplation. Providing a seat for someone to
comfortably smoke and enjoy the garden is an attempt to make a transition
between these two forms of thinking. The rock garden is abstract in nature and
its forms provide a number of evocative associations. It is nonetheless
challenging to look at because of the ambiguity of its forms. The cigarette
however is consumed. Though it is a ritual to be visited it is one that has
limited time and material qualities.
In the video the shape of my body
mirrors the shape of the rocks in the rock garden. By smoking on me there is a
material link that the smoker now has to the rocks in the garden. My body
provides the platform for both contemplation and consumption. These things seem
to exist in equal measure in contemporary Japanese (and American) society.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6Q1zfDIAQk
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