Japanese Performance Art at the Carriageworks
Just returned from a good feed at the Parramatta Roxy with my Wednesday Night Dinner Crew. As you might have guessed from our name, we meet on Wednesday nights for dinner. A couple of weeks ago two Crew members were unable to come because they had free tickets to the Kirin Big In Japan event at the Carriageworks in Redfern, Sydney.
From the sounds of things it was a whole lot of Japanese performance artists doing stuff. Like the guy who played guitar while a machine painted onto a canvas in response to his music. About halfway through the song the paint machine broke and stopped painting, so another guy came and picked up the brush and continued painting.
It sounds absolutely riveting, and I know you as well as I would have been overwhelmed by the level of profundity. From all reports, the Inner City Chic Crowd were totally engaged with the performance works and lapped it all up with furrowed-brow seriousness. I really wish I could have seen the dudes with electrodes attached to their faces.
Another performance that sounded unmissable was a music act called Trippple Nippples. There are many fine photos of these Japanese ladies I could share which could give some sense of just how solid they are. I hear on Wednesday they were using gaffer tape as a bra. Maybe like in this video?
And here’s a sample of their music. My friends from the Wednesday Night Dinner Crew said they were having trouble not laughing throughout the event. The main reason they didn’t was because everyone around them seemed to be taking it all so seriously.
Now I’m quite a fan of performance in many shapes and forms, but I really struggle to find words to describe things like this other than ’self-indulgence’. It strikes me that the people who take this stuff so seriously must be completely out of touch with anything resembling reality. And the fact that these people are Sydney’s in-scene fills me not so much with horror as dismay.
I have no doubt that there are many fine performance artists out there. But I doubt they’ll be found at events put on by beer companies.
The author of http://www.sansicarus.com has written an excellent article. You have made your point and there is not much to argue about. It is like the following universal truth that you can not argue with: No matter how well rehearsed an important speech is, you will forget it two seconds before you need to present it. This is especially true when speaking to the opposite sex. Thanks for the info.
I like to watch those crazy things. I don’t think I could be too serious about them though. It’s good that people like that exist, people who are crazy in a serious way. Like they work hard at being crazy. Kudos to them.