Luminance

Studio is finally complete.

Here is my second video project:

Dhamma

The past couple of weeks have been uneventful.
A lot of slow hours, editing in the studio.

First video project is complete now:

Thanks for reading!

Revelations

Tonight was a good night.

Was in my den editing, watching the volume bars go up and down on the monitor, when suddenly it hit me. This strange rare realization about how beats work.

I can't explain it. I don't know jack about mathematics or music theory, but I understood something tonight.  Not on an intellectual level, but on an emotional one.

It was getting close to midnight, but I told myself; I'm just going to try this one thing, and it worked! Oh boy, did it ever! When sound does what you want it to, it's like magic.

Thanks for reading!

Back

Hi all,

I'm back in North America, and back at the editing station.

Japan was wild, I got everything I wanted out of it, and more.

Now it's time to take all this stock material and give it form, I'll keep updating this blog as I go through the editing process, and hopefully post some work up here once I have something that I feel is complete.

Thanks for reading.

Making Sense

Hello all,

Apologies for neglecting this blog (yet again) for so long.
I know I say this every time, but really and truly, I have been beyond busy in the past two weeks.

What have I been up to? In a word - Tokyo.
The city that has everything, and the reason why I chose to come down here and do this studio in Japan.

There is a lot I have to say about my humble experience in this world capital, and I know I won't be able to say it all here, certainly not in one single post. However, I will try and express some of my thoughts, along with the usual report of what I've done and seen etc. etc. you know the drill...

On my first night in town, I went to Shibuya station with my friend Hirokosan, who lives in nearby Yokohama.
Hirokosan used to work in Shibuya district, and was very kind to show me the ropes around the station and share some of her knowledge, and thoughts about this fascinating place.

Shibuya is one of the most famous districts in Tokyo. It is a crowded, fashionable area where Japan's youth go to party hard and shop even harder. There are tons of restaurants, shopping malls, bars of all sorts, gaming arcades, music venues and clubs.
Culturally, Shibuya is one of the origins of visual-kei, a worldwide music/fashion phenomenon. As well as numerous internationally beloved fashion trends and design labels.
The area around Shibuya station, from Shibuya crossing, and leading up to the fashion and shopping mecca that is Shibuya 109 is especially busy, with some 200,000 pedestrians crossing the street on the famed Shibuya crossing daily!
I asked Hirokosan how and why Shibuya came to be.

Hirokoan: (laughs) I don't know! Why did Times Square happened? Shibuya crossing used to be a rice field many years ago. Shibuya was already famous when I was born (80s).

Due to the tragic recent events taking place in Japan, the Tokyo municipality has been pledging to reduce electricity usage around the city. Well, at least that's what they are saying on press conferences. In reality, I haven't seen a sincere effort being made to conserve energy anywhere in Tokyo, the city is bright as a chandelier, and I am not talking about traffic lights and hospitals here...
That said, there has been some limited attempts at conservation being made in the private sector, and this is noticeable in Shibuya. It isn't as bright as it was five years ago, when I was last here. Still, the Shibuya crossing area was iluminated and happy, and I had no issue getting the neons and crowds I need for my work.

Hirokosan used to live in Sendai, one of the cities that were hit the worst by the recent calamity. Over a beer and some sushi, overlooking the Shibuya crowds downstairs, she told me about a close friend of hers that died in the disaster.

Hirokosan: Yes, it's usually brighter. But today is a Monday, and we are here now, having a beer, and having a good time, talking and laughing...

Indeed. Who are we to complain.

Feeling more comfortable and familiar now, with the bustling chaos that is Shibuya, I have decided that this will be my base in Tokyo.
Hirokosan introduced me to the cheapest accomodation option in Tokyo (other than sleeping on the pavement).
A mangakissa is a place where people go to read manga (Japanese comics), watch DVDs or use computers to surf the web, or play games.
These venues offer visitors a station of some sort (anything fom a reclining chair to a matress in a closed private space) + a computer, TV and an endless selection of comic books. Most mangakissa charge by the hour, and often have special late night rates for people like myself who just want someplace cheap to crash for the night. Oh, they also provide free soft drinks!
The one I'm staying in feels a bit extraterrestrial, but at under 1000¥ (about 12$) per night, it has to be the best deal in Tokyo!

My next stop after Shibuya was Asakusa district.
There is not a lot to do and see here, but it was worthwhile coming down for two things:

The Skytree building will be the talest in the world (634m) once it is completed (May 22 2012). It is already very (very) tall, but a bit of an eyesore in my personal opinion.

Sensouji has got to be my favorite temple in all Japan. Unlike the many prettier and more austere temples in and around Kyoto. This temple is a down to earth, no bullshit, worker's spiritual outlet.

As such, it is opened 24/7 and there's almost always some traffic around.

I also love the huge market right in front of the temple's main hall, cashing in on the many tourists and locals who come here to worship and pick up a tacky souvernir or an overpriced candy on their way back to the trains.

The neighbouring district of Ueno is also great. There's a park here with some famous shrines and monuments, and lots of museums. The reason I came here however, was the Ameyoko Arcade market. This open air bazar looks, sounds and smells like a market in Shanghai or Bangkok, not Japan. It is laid out under the train tracks and stays opened late.

The sights and lights here are great!

In the years post WWII this was a major black market, and today it still retains some of that lost era's gritty edge, with its decaying shabby construction, homeless squatters in makeshift card-box shelters and women whispering "special massaji?" from darkened, smoky thresholds at passers by.


Shinjuku district is one of my favourites in Tokyo. It is split down the middle by the eternally congested Shinjuku station. Some 3 million people pass through here daily.

West of the station is Tokyo's main civic administrative hub, AKA the Tokyo skyscraper strip.
The colossal Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices twin buildings are here, the tallest buildings in Tokyo (for now).

Along with some beautiful concrete cityscapes, busy broad avenues, arcades, junctions and intersections.
The pedestrian spaces in Shinjuku are very dynamic. There are always two or three levels of traffic, bridges, tunnels, escalators and such. It's really fun just strolling in this area, inspite of being surrounded by concrete monsters, people's movement does not feel restricted. Whoever designed some of these monoliths, apparently was quite fond of German Expressionism...

This lentil shaped wonder is the Moude Gauken Cocoon Tower, overlooking Shinjuku station, its a school, and a fine example of an innovative approach to ergonomics. This style of architecture is called metabolism if I am not mistaken.

There are many homeless people roaming the streets right under the government offices, a lot more than I remember seeing here five years ago.

East of Shinjuku station feels like another world altogether.
If Shibuya is a happy fun-land for people in their teens and early twenties, East Shinjuku is a worn down, sad carnival for weary salarymen in their late thirties and forties.

The famous Kabukicho, Tokyo's vast red-light district, crawles along here. It's bright, loud and very very busy. Perfect for people watching, and is covered with neon signs, floor to ceiling.

I made a new friend on Kabukicho:

Solicitor: Hey is that a video camera?

AD: Yes...

Solicitor: That's cool. Say what is your plan for tonight, wanna party?

AD: No thanks.

Solicitor: Come on my friend, I'll show you the best girls in town!

AD: No, that's OK.

Solicitor: You haven't SEEN what I've got yet, just have a look...

AD: Listen man, I don't like girls OK?

Solicitor: Well why didn't you say so? come with me, I'll take you to the best gay club in Shinjuku!

AD: No! I have like 300¥ (about 4$) to my name! How much of a good time will that buy me?

Solicitor: (genuinely looks offended) Why are you talking about money? I thought we were friends (!!!).

AD: Yes, no, we are friends.

Solicitor: I thought we were friends...

AD: Look bro, what's you're name?

Solicitor: Antonio.

AD: Antonio, can you do me a favour?

Antonio: Sure!

AD: Can you take my picture? Just press here.

Antonio: Over there?

AD: Try and get the lights in there.

Antonio: Say cheese.

AD: Oh, fuck off.

Our acquaintance was short, but meaningful, I'd like to think.


Roppongi used to be a drunk and wild party district, especially popular with the gaijin (foreigner) populations of Tokyo. While it is still a very happy place (so expansive though!) on most nights, the area has also underwent a major facelift, with a bunch of ambitious public projects and no less than three big new museums.

Tokyo Tower, looks like an evil Ci-fi twin of the Paris original, it was built in the early 90s when all Japan wanted was to be a western country.

Everyone here other than myself was a teenager on a date. If you are ever on a date in the Tokyo area, by the way, this place is highly recommended, the views are breathtaking especially after dark. Very romantic.

Roppongi Hills is a scary bubble "utopia" community.
This place took decades to complete. Its planners, went to great lengths, and got very close to realizing Fritz Lang's eerie futuristic vision of Metropolis, It seems some people felt that was a good idea... This M-A-S-S-I-V-E complex easily dominates the Roppongi skyline.

It contains residence apartments (high high end), along with office space and a huge cultural commercial area including shops, theatres, a nursery, an aquarium, the super cool Mori Art Centre museum, a fitness centre, a planetarium and even a green lung. Here people can literally live, work and recreate wthin one contained microcosmos!

Regardless of whether this whacky social/economical experiment works (or whether it is even a good idea to create these "self contained" economic pockets in a city), the buildings are absolutely stunning, if somewhat menacing...

They even went so far as putting up one of the late Louise Bourgeois arachnid-like installations by the main entrance! Seriously, the "Brave New World" cliches are so predominant here, they border on self parody!

Yes... Hurry back to the mothership, my faithful drones...


Ginza district is a snobby, 5th avenue type shopping hub.
The only reasons I ever come down here are the incredible Tokyo International Forum building.

One of the best pieces of contemporary architecture in Japan.

...And the fish market.

Tsukiji fish market is a universe on its own.
Every morning (very early), a daily catch (2,000 tons) of everything and anything that lives in the ocean gets here, and is distributed around the many restaurants in Tokyo and its many suburbs.

Five years ago when I was here, visitors were allowed to go in the tuna auctions, but due to rude tourists interfering with the auction and even touching the incredibly expensive fish (some tuna go for as much as 10,000$), the auction areas have recently went off limits.
Now, I can be a sneaky sneak when I have to, and I did manage to get in there and shoot the fish, but once inside, the police and local vendors were on me like white on rye (guess I can't pass for a Japanese fishmonger).

This was the first and only time I did not feel 100% welcome in this country.
Some people asked me politely to leave, while others slurred things at me in Japanese, that were certainly not polite... Many of them were carrying large sword-like knives for gutting and stripping fish, and  I figured I'd better bounce before I end up a sashimi special in some upscale Roppongi joint...

I don't blame them of course.
These people don't owe me anything. They are working very hard, and it is well known that the fishing industry in Japan has taken a bad hit following the recent earthquake and nuclear crisis up north.


Tokyo as always､ has exceeded my expectations.

I got what I came here for, and then some.
It's the perfect city for a video maker I think, even post-tragedy, with the tension and power rollouts, these difficulties in my opinion add an air of sinister mystery to the footage. The bright and dark sharp contrasts give some parts of the city (Shinjuku/Roppongi) a distinct ominous air...

Anyways, there were very many more highlights, and I am hoping I can write on some of those in future posts.

Thanks for reading.


   

Swampped

There has been so much going on!

I don't really know where to start.

This post is going to be a sort of mega-cram-monster, as I try and condense 4 posts worth of data into one...

About two weeks ago we left Sakura apartment, and moved in to a new place populated by a bunch of artists (yikes).
Between the six of us we have two textile artists, a performance artist/dancer, a drummer/singer/songwriter, a printmaker/intermedia artist and a video maker/jeweller (yours truly).
Needless to say, we are all BFFs now. I am going to do a video collaboration with this guy:

His name is 郷坪 聖史 (Satoshi Gotsubo), and he is the dancer/performer in case you haven't guessed... He also makes his own body suits!


Last week I went to see 遠藤ミチロウ(Michirō Endo) play live with his new band. 
Endo was the founding member and leader of legendary 80s punk outfit The Stalin, one of the earliest and most influential proper punk bands to emerge from Japan. 

Kyoto is a big enough city to foster an active and diverse music scene, but too small for non-pop headliners to fill up stadium size venues. I therefore got to see someone who is basically the Japanese Joey Ramone rock out and perform new as well as old material, in an intimate setting. 
Here he is showing the kids how it's done:

The following evening I attended the annual Nō festival, here in Kyoto, which includes evening performances of Nō in the open air, on a special stage built on the grounds of the beautiful and majestic Heianjingu (Heian Shrine)!

Nō is a traditional type of court theatre, incorporating music and dance. The production is typically rather sparse. There are a few characters, very minimal sets and only one scene or act.

Nevertheless, The action on stage is simply hypnotic. The repetitive chanting of the choir goes on and on and on, transporting the viewer into a meditative mindset.  

It's hard to describe, but I really got into it, I must admit. 
If I can, I would very much like to attend more shows before I leave. I am even considering doing another theatre themed video in the same vein of the Cantonese opera video I did two years ago, we'll see what happens...


In between the somber Nō epics, there was one short comic relief type play. The subtle nuances in high Japanese escaped me, but I could appreciate the colour, form and absurdity.

Here are two words that don't often go together: ALBINO PEACOCK 

Yes, that happened. 

I met this glorious chicken in a Kyoto temple. It is sacred, I guess.

Oh lovely chaos!
On the weekend we went to Nagoya again. There were two matsuri (festivals) happening in town on the same day!

One of them was apparently about carrying large mikoshi (portable shrines) with robotic dancing puppets around town, and drinking a lot of sake. 

I don't know what the second matsuri was, but out of a population of 2.5 million, I am pretty sure that about 2.4 million Nagoyans attended, and brought friends from out of town.

There were fireworks, but we couldn't see it because of the crowds. We did see the priestess of the Atsutajingu (Atsuta Shrine) perform a traditional dance though.

Last but certainly not least, Tokyo!
I got my pass, and have been taking the (very fast) train to funky town, daily.
Tokyo is incredible, and already so much has been happening. I'll write about it in more detail, on future posts.
For now I'll just say that I have visited Shibuya, Asakusa, and Ueno districts thus far, and sign off with a bit of Shinkansen, Tokyo evening, eye candy for y'all.

Thanks for reading!

Thoughts about Video as Interior Design

Now, I know very well that nothing of what is about to be written down here is very original or innovative.

For years now, people who know a great deal more than me about what they're talking about, have been speculating the future of video and the moving image in the domestic space.
It just so happens however, that my personal work has been recently linked with some of these ideas, and it seems like some of these potential developments could very well become logical continuations of what I've already began exploring in my practice.

Therefore, please forgive me as I re-edirate some stuff that you've probably read before many times. I'm new to these ideas, and it's all fresh and exciting for me, so please bear with...

Phew, OK here goes;
When we think about the evolution of the modern domestic or private space, we can identify a number of patterns in the functions and formal attributes of monitors:
We have more gadgets now, that support a monitor than we used to in the past, and as users, we seem to interact more fluently with monitors, especially the younger generations who are so well conditioned in that visual layout.
Video as a domestic form of entertainment and information, has assumed many new incarnations in the recent past. It's not just TV anymore, it's internet, and games, and computing (both work & leisure related), it's electronic books and music, and DVDs and photo albums and so on and so forth.

Most importantly, in par with their growing importance in our lives, monitors have themselves been growing larger and larger in size. And we have more of them, in more areas of the domestic space. Including areas which traditionally were not associated with the consumption of visual content i.e. kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms etc. etc. Moreover, the portable devices (cellphones, laptops, ipods etc.) we use, also accompany us inside the domestic space, and follow us around it.

As technology has developed, allowing all those different visual applications described above to interact and coexist via the same hardware (and often using the same software), the prescribed functions of each individual monitor have been merged into all-in-one type arch devices (TV/DVD, computer/phone/photo album etc.).

So, what am I getting at with all this info we already know...
I think that all these progressions lead to an even greater revolution. One that is already ongoing, and has been for a while, in the public and commercial spheres, but hasn't really picked up yet, in our private and domestic environments.
When I think about video (and sound), I think of it as an environment. A space that is dynamic and occupies a sensual/emotional mass in our perception. I think that in the near future, video is going to break free from the screen that has been containing it thus far. I think that our private living environments are going to become customized visual displays, containing every and all the visual media functions in our lives.

I am not a very technically capable person, but it is easy for me to imagine how a monitor could expand to occupy a wall. This is something that we can already do using projectors. However, projectors are not ideal for a living space because they require a wide clear breath for the light beam.
A more suitable solution in my mind, would be a wiring of the wall itself into some sort of light emitting coating, that could be regulated by a motherboard or a chip or whatever they call those things now.

Obviously once the technology is fully commercialized, it would inevitably become better and better, and in a few short generations we could, and probably will have a whole plethora of competitively priced products that are cheap to manufacture, economically powered, produces a crisp HD (3D?) resolution and is easy to install (ideally, the hardware will eventually become a standard in all residence spaces).
These installations will communicate fluently with our desktops, electronic books, mobile phones, TVs and music and visual media players, finally replacing and taking over all those smaller monitors, and enfolding them under one arch monitor system that's built into our walls, floors and ceilings.
The system will be controlled by a remote control device that would probably look a bit like an ipad, allowing the user to adjust, move and crop the different media outputs into windows on the physical wall space.

The advantages for this sort of technology are great I think.
Quite simply it means an almost absolute freedom in the creation and design of our personal domestic spaces. We can live, work and entertain ourselves and our loved ones in a space that is a true and dynamic visual manifestation of our individual personalities.

Coming back home from work, you turn on the switch, and will be greeted by anything as epic as, say the canine major galaxy, to anything as conservative as a warm fireplace, and pictures of the grandchildren.
Digital images will regain their former positions on our walls, and could be arranged and rotated as ever going slide shows.
Light fixtures, and house paints will become obsolete, as we will be able to decide, and adjust  the colour, warmth and luminosity of our walls in an instant, and change them according to our mood, time of day, the season etc.

The greatest feature of these utilities will be that they will provide an equal stage for all classes, to display our personal tastes in designing our immediate personal environments, rather than be limited by the depths of our pockets. Designing your physical home would become as cheap as building a web page.
You could be working as a supermarket clerk, and have a convincing reproduction of a Jackson Pollock self portrait gracing your bedroom wall. And if those Monet water lilies are just too large for your small, cheap student apartment walls, well, just scale that bitch down! Problem solved.

Needless to say, these visual arrangements will not just be about aesthetics, all the functional aspects of visual media will still be present, and will only become more accessible and enhanced.
We could watch TV in glory, on our walls, larger than life, in a wider aspect than ever before, occupying our entire peripheral visual field.
We could check our email account in the bathroom, or the shower, or while doing the dishes... We could read an ebook before we go to sleep, off of our bedroom wall, taking a break to check our friend's status online, and listening to some tunes off of our mp3 library, or Youtube.

The spaces we create and design will be remarkably dynamic and interchangeable.
Like playlists on our ipods, we will have different audio/visual set ups for different situations. A sleek lounge-like setting for romantic dinners, a cosy, casual array of personal images for when we are by ourselves, a bright psychedelic abstraction of some sort for parties, a serene waterscape for when we yoga, or read, etc. etc.

With so many wonderful options, designing our immediate living environments will soon become an ongoing art practice, one that everyone is constantly engaging in.
This will have wide cultural and economical implications. Interior designers will become interior programmers, and their services will become much more common and highly sought after (my new dream job).
The plastic arts will suffer , at first, but will later adapt and reincarnate as image makers of "stock" visuals that could be purchased online (much like what is happening to the music industry now). Still, and moving image makers will eventually become the greatest beneficiaries from these new emerging technologies.
The furniture industry will take a powerful hit, as a revival of a more minimalist style of design, as far as physical objects go will become prevalent.
In architecture, curved walls that are con-caved to create a better illusion of depth, round merges and corners, oval and almost sphere-like layouts, and smaller windows, or windows that can be sealed will feature more prominently in the design of residence spaces.

And this is the part where you put on your rubber pointy ears, as the more distant future incarnations of the audio/visual simulations discussed above will continue to improve, and our domestic private spaces will eventually become something closely resembling a hollo-deck.

Actually, I don't know what will happen. This is more about what I want, then it is about what I know.

The future of video might not end up looking anything like what I've said here. After all, the restrictions for why it hasn't developed that way yet, are not technological, but psychological. We are used to consuming video via the frame, even if that frame has become larger, more mobile, and versatile. As long as these restrictions hold strong, video will remain contained in its many boxes.

On a more philosophical note, I think that the human mind is also caged in a box.
The physical body, the bony skull that's wrapped up around us, caging our experience to what our senses allow us to perceive, of the outside.
But inside our skulls, we are free to close our eyes and envision things we cannot see. We can imagine imaginations, experience memories, think thoughts, and feel abstract emotions that can't be expressed through any verbal or written language, and there is far more of us, hidden even from our selves in the deeper realms of our unconscious minds.

So if we choose to think of our body, as the immediate cage of our mind, and our apartment, as the cage of our body, why not then, treat that private space with the same freedom we treat our bodies. We have almost the same rights to it, I would argue.
Why not make it more our own, fill it up with images that are ours, represent our thoughts, feelings desires and narratives, make it a truer expression of ourselves.

An honest projection of the mind on the matter, what could make a more natural and comfortable space for our bodies to reside and operate in?

Thanks for reading.