Bushwalking Royal National Park from Heathcote Railway Station to Karloo Pools and back.
Nov 19, 2011. Photos by Mike and Andrea.
Photo Essay: Bushwalking Royal National Park
20 Tuesday Dec 2011
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Monthly Archives: December 2011
Big in Japan
20 Tuesday Dec 2011
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The annual Big in Japan festival graced Sydney again in November this year, bringing with it 2006 High Zero alum, Fuyuki Yamakawa of Tokyo. His heart stopping (literally) performance wowed us back then, so we were thrilled by the chance to see him again. We contacted him and got ourselves on the guest list for the first night of the fest, a technically invite only night for the Ksubi fashion house. Showing up admirably suited in a dress that was “so two years ago” with my husband whose fashion sense hasn’t changed since 8th grade, we made our entrance and took cover in a back corner until the performances began.
The show opened with Sydneysider, Pia Van Gelder, a noise artista and projectionist whose work is well worth a listen. Her kooky style and manner remind me of a number of B’more friends piled into one body and put me immediately at ease.
Unfortunately, the fashioniistas didn’t seem to share my perspective and talked loudly through her performance. This was a common theme threading through the night and only got worse as they got drunker. (Did I neglect to mention that the event was sponsored by a Japanese beer company that provided free drinks all night?…)
Next up was a Butoh dancer who used an interesting mix of movement and colored plastic grocery bags (at times placed over her head) to challenge the audience as to the limits of the human form. A couple of fashioniistas standing next to me critiqued her loudly throughout her performance, but she gave barely a glance at them and proceeded to wow me with her often spasmodic gesticulations and sharp grunts and shouts.
Fuyuki took the stage as we were joined by friend and fellow noise artist, Lucas Abela, and his partner, Keg de Souza, both of Sydney. Lucas has performed in Baltimore on more than one occasion with his blood-smeared contact-mic’d-glass screetch fest, and we’ve been super happy to meet up with him and Keg down here on the flip-side (of the world, that is). Once again, Fuyuki blew us away with his art, and once again, the fashioniistas talked right through it (but you don’t detect any bitterness on my part, do you? no…)
So anyway, Fuyuki. Picture this: early 30′s, long straight black hair with a long face and a dramatic pointed nose. His shirt is off, and he’s taped a contact mic to his chest, over his heart. There is also a contact mic on his nose. Nearby is a stand with a number of large light bulbs, all wired up. A snare drum and electric guitar are also near by. He starts off the performance with an example of Tuvan throat singing combined with percussive thwacks to his forehead, which resonate through the PA. The light bulbs begin to flash, whomp, whomp, whomp, in time to his heart beat. Suddenly, he gasps! and tightly holds his breath….. the bulbs dim down into almost darkness and the heart beat fades away before he gasps again and the bulbs and noise of his heart become a deafening/blinding flood of relief. He hasn’t died, this time. As the performance continues, he adds kicks to the drum and feedback from the guitar into what truly is a spectacle of human endurance. In a later conversation with him, I asked him what his doctor thinks of this performance, to which he replied, “he tells me I cannot do it! But for now, I am ok.”
Because the of the general audience’s ignorance towards the performers and our absolute fascination with his work, we convinced him to do a show later in the week at Lucas’ house along with some other local musicians. Lucas played a noise set with a few of his friends (Lucas in green below on contact mic’d cut crystal–no more blood!), Mike played a duo with Pia as “Pia Mater,” and Fuyuki blew everyone away yet again, but with a respectful and even awe-struck audience this time.
From Nov 15th and 20th, 2011. Photos by Mike, except one of Lucas by Andrea.