performance
"12th NIPAF pre-event"; Kid Ailack Hall; Tokyo, Japan. 2005
A juicer is set up alongside a row of ten shot glasses, and an opaque container filled with produce.
The audience is invited to whisper in my ear, in their own language or dialect, a memory they wish to erase from their minds. I listen (depending on the language spoken) to the words or the tone of the memory, then feed the juicer with what seems appropriate.
For instance, a bitter memory may call for the bitter gourd, for its purifying properties as well as its apt flavor. Or anger may want root ginger mixed with lemon rind for an extra vitamin boost and mouth-pucker.
I fill two glasses with “customized” juice, and toast the participant with a clink. We down the shot, and depending on the taste of the memory, share a simultaneous grimace or cough or smile.
An artist at the same event, Jekatarina Anzupowa, who deals with issues of authenticity and translation, was to make a piece that was a complete and exact derivation of the performance directly preceding hers (which happened to be mine).
photos by: Stephanie Senge