The Memory of the Epidermis and Gorin No Sho

Description:

As part of Performance art from Japan, a nine-city Canadian tour organized by Hank Bull and Zainub Verjee, Haruo Higumo and Tari Ito presented a two-night showcase of their solo work at Western Front. As organizers of the Hinoemata Festival, Ito and Higuma were interested in connecting with Canadian artists and discussing similarities and differences between Japanese and Canadian performance art. 

The showcase began on November 1 with Tari Ito’s performance The Memory of the Epidermis. The forty-minute work began in darkness with a projection of windshield wipers moving back and forth, seen from the driver’s point of view. Emerging from the shadows, Ito synchronized her movements to the rhythm of the projection, swinging, dragging, and jumping with a small object attached to a string. When the video faded to black, only the sound of the object striking her body and the floor remained.

As the lights rose, Ito appeared in a latex garment fitted with tubes, which she blew into to inflate various sections. This material was echoed in the space in large latex membranes coating the walls. Moving between trembling, erratic bursts and slow, deliberate gestures, she pulled and stretched the wall-mounted latex until it snapped under tension, then inflated both a pouch attached to her torso and the suspended membranes around her, expanding and activating the room through breath, movement, and vocalizations. 

The following evening, Higumo presented Gorin No Sho. In this performance, he explored the “ring of five,” a concept within Buddhist esotericism that evokes the five realms of sky, wind, air, water, and earth held in dynamic relation. In the work, Higumo considered encounters amongst people across nations as an expansion of this philosophy. 

Presented with support from the Canada Council Touring Office.

Video documentation is available upon request.