A day before the opening, I am at the Japan Foundation office, resting a bit before getting back on exhibition site to install works.

As I wrote on the other day, I am working on the two works. One is about listening to the sound of Hanoi; the title is “THE WAY I HEAR / HAY LẮNG NGHE.” The work would be combined with a small piece called “tuning plugs,” which probably help people reading the sound description in a little silent way, and it will create another moment but I won’t write it here, you should try and see if you can get it.

The other one is one of my etude works; etude no.11 variation for 2 electric fans and 200 tin hangers. I have made the similar variation for hangers and electric fan in Aomori, and in Taiwan this year. And this time in Hanoi.

etude no.11 steel hanger with fan (C) 2011 mamoru / photo: Motoyuki Shitamichi

I have written more about two other artists, and I can write about mine more, however, instead of doing so, I would like to introduce the text that Mizuki Takahashi, a curator of the Contemporary Art Center Art Tower Mito, wrote for our booklet of the exhibition.

The Freedom to Say That “It Is Beautiful”
Mizuki Takahashi / Curator, Contemporary Art Center, Art Tower Mito

I would like to consider the issue of stating “beauty” by examining the works of Mami, Motoyuki Shitamichi, and mamoru. It must be worth discussing about it because of the fact that people no longer respond to the art works saying that it is “beautiful” anymore. Suzan Sontag, a critique, once wrote that the people recently tend to employ the word “interesting” instead of “beauty.” In her essay, “An Argument about Beauty”(1), she raised an “interesting” discussion about how “beauty” as a word representing a sense of value has been replaced by “interesting.”

The word “beauty” tends to give such an impression that it is referring to a standardized form; the form nearly stands as something absolute, together with a set of value which is rigid and restrictive. The alternatives that deviate from it are most likely to be excluded. Therefore, people prefer to say “it is interesting,” hoping that it implies much broader and flexible senses of values rather than this binding and conservative “beauty”. The word “interesting” is surely convenient as an opinion on the work that you cannot appreciate or understand at a first glance. You can avoid making your clear standpoint and postpone your final judgment on it for a while.

Mami, Shitamichi, and mamoru practice and realize their art with different media: body, photography, and sound. However, instead of producing art objects, all of them create ephemeral moments that do not have any physical shape, such as relationship between people, and the awareness to the subtle gestures that we normally do not pay any attention to. Therefore if I define art as the fabrication of the objects, then their artistic practices are off the grid, and in this regard, their works are “interesting”. But I am reluctant to label them as just being “interesting” since I find the notion of “beauty” underneath their practices. They discover “beauty” in the humor that is brought into being through communication among people, in the everyday creativity that is indistinct and that may only last for a short while, and in the sound of the everyday objects that we use without any care. These three artists look into those elements with their affections and mold them into the art works.

They draw you into the understated yet fundamental “beauty.” Therefore their artistic practices that we would be witnessing can be understood whether it is “now here” or “nowhere”, any place where people run their lives around. They invite us towards the opposite direction of the current art world, which is market-driven, and full of commercial art productions. This is why I feel encouraged when I observe or learn about what these three artists are doing. I can feel free to say that “it is beautiful” in everyday basis, and feel also free to believe that art can break the chains of our hesitation and give us freedom to say that “it is beautiful.”

(1) Susan Sontag, An Argument About Beauty, Daedalus, Vol. 131, 2002

Only 2 and a half days to open our exhibition!

All of us are busy working on our own works. I have made boxes to put the listening note. And Finally, I started working in the gallery space from yesterday. I am installing one of my etude, “etude no.11 hanger, variation with two fan and 200 tin hangers.”

I would like to write little bit about Mami, one of the participating artist.

Những hình ảnh trong ngày thứ nhất của dự án / Images from the first day of project (11.10.2011)

He is preparing his new project-work called “The Celebration of Our Moment and Love.” It actually is a part of his “Celebration” series, which he has been developed in Korea, and Germany.  In Korea, I guess country side, he found unique benches in many of the houses. He borrowed them and asked people to all gather in one big yard. In Germany/Munich, he turned  his farewell party into a performance; along with him, the people invited to the table were asked to put eye-mask, and the other people just gathered around the table and become the observers. I cannot write details about the 2 projects, but in both projects, he is addressing the pre-existed object or behavior that generates the relationship between people, and stating his own idea about it, and most importantly, he provides the opportunity for people to re-experience the essence of those things or behaviors by reframing the structure. The participants play extremely important roles.

I also met Mami in Tokyo, same place I met Michi. So this exhibition is like a reunion for 3 of us. Anyway, he came through a program, which Japan Foundation organized, called JENESYS. The program is to energize intercultural exchange between Asian artists and curators. At first, I recognized him as being a performer and his past work was showing his concerns, emotion towards the ambiguity of his identity. Covering himself with the cans of condensed milk, cutting his skin and planting rice, and so on. We had artists presentation every month for new comers, and Mami always emphasize the word “identity.” I could just guess how hard it may be to be himself in where he is from. (I mean in essence it is difficult thing anywhere for anyone though.)

Looking back now, I think Mami was in transition when he was in Japan. At first, like I just said, his works were mostly about his own “identity.” but in Japan, or even before, he started “exchanging” it more. He did 2 small project, as far as I know, that made a bridge into his new projects. He exchanged his cloth and other people and asked them to take picture afterwards. He exchanged his breath with other people’s. I simply thought that he was dealing with his “identity” problem, but looking back from now after knowing what he did in Kore and Germany, I think these were the attempts or first few steps for him to really change his art practice.

For his new project, he mentioned that he wants to let people carry the heart of the project, not him. To do this, he needs to first identify himself, and be willing to exchange his role as an artist, and takes all the risks to see if his idea has communicated with someone, and if the “world” can be trusted or not. Very briefly about the project, he selected his assistants and asked them to find 50 participants for the project. The participants receive some money and are asked to buy gifts for a person they want to express their gratitude, generosity, and love. They are also asked to take photo of the gift-giving moment, and write a short text about the occasion, or their feelings, thinkings, or impressions of their experience. His installation will be consisted of these photos and texts, and one more very important element, which is an event he is planning to do on the opening day. You should come and see what he/his participants do.  Please be a witness to his experiment. I am sure you would find some delight in it. Come to the opening for the “Celebration of Our Moment and Love.”

check also Mami’s Web

Thanks for reading, and I write about my project soon, maybe even tomorrow.

I am getting use to the city, meaning I know some faces at restaurants that I go often and I started to learn several useful expressions in Vietnamese to buy or order what I want now. Most  importantly, I don’t hesitate to cross the street anymore! (maybe at night it still scares me sometime, though)

Well, the exhibition opening is getting close. and all of us, Mami, Michi, Mamoru = 3Ms are preparing for own works to be installed. I want to write a little bit about the two other artists participating in this exhibition.

Today I will introduce Michi, my artist friend, ex-neighbor, now-roomate, one of the 3Ms.

"connection" (C)2011 Motoyuki Shitamichi

I met him in 2009. We both applied for an artist-in-residency program in Tokyo at the same time. After the interview, sitting down on a couch at the entrance of the building, I saw him walking by and looking confused as I was, so I talked to him. “hey, what did they ask you?” That was how we started our conversation. Both of us got in to the 1 year program, so we spent a year as a neighbor in the center of Tokyo. Now, we share an apartment rooms together in Hanoi. so He is now my roommate. It is a funny feeling to see him such often here and there.

In Hanoi, he is walking around the city and especially into the small alleys to take photos of something he named as  ”connections”. They are the little bridges made with wood or stone, basically to smooth the steps into the house when people put their motorbikes in. (I guess)

He told me his installation plan, and you should see it rather than reading about it. He has some unique idea to present them to you.

This is some of the images from his past exhibition. (It is a heavy loading page…so be patient!)

Ok. that’s it for today. I have to work on my project!
I will write about Mami’s “Celebration of Our Moment and Love” ! 

thanks for reading and see you soon!

I have been taking the listening notes that is quite similar to what Raymond Murray Schafer introduced as a educational exercise in his texts.

You just sit down and listen to all the sound around you for about 10 min or so. While listening, you take memos of what you hear or describe the scene/action you can imagine from the sound and in some case together with the information about the place if you already know.

For example, as I am writing this texts, I hear

“someone throwing water on the street” and “a guy making com rang/fried rice with his Chinese pan(=sound of iron pan hitting the iron stove)”

After listening in several places, on weekdays or weekends, at the different hours of the day, you start to have some common sound such as “horns of motorbikes and cars” that gives you an image of what is the soundscape of Hanoi is consisted of. Sometimes, you encounter dramatic moments such as “sudden heavy rain”, or sound-marks such as “a melodic call from the street seller”, or “street hairdresser using his scissor”.

Those are all ordinary sound and easy to be undermined after living in the place for a while. So a stranger like an artist from Japan may be able to activate the conscious towards it and remind people what they are hearing everyday and make them wonder what those sounds actually are.

I have been reading about the history of Vietnam from the ancient time to the present. Even though I am just scratching its surface, I can tell that the present condition of rapidly-developing-dusty-Hanoi is probably very unique and very rare moment in their history, at least in their current 100 years that they had survived the times of occupations and wars.

For example, I hear numbers of motorbikes running on the street making horns almost everywhere I go. I asked my friend one time how it was before, and he said that the people were riding bicycle instead of motorbikes 10 years ago. In this sense, the continuous “noise” of this city, which already becomes one of the sound character is a remark of the changes, or representation of the present era.

I am not simply saying that it is interesting because it carries some meaning, but I think it is worth of listening to and wonder about it. Maybe I can say that I hear the history by listening to the sound of the city? I guess it can be modernologic, sociologic or historical to archive the sound in this way.

When I was preparing for my first book to be published in April, I experienced the earthquake and the problems afterwards. I added a few lines to my end notes of the book to mention my feelings and wrote “I pray that I hear the ordinarily sound once again in the future.” I remember this experience after a while I have intending to take listening memos in Hanoi. This city is vibrant, full of energy. It is alive.

It goes without saying, but the fact that someone has heard some sound is a proof of the existence of someone and his/her action. There is a contour of a “society” in minimum scale. When you have no sound, or no reflection, we call it is “dead”. The fact that you hear something can have the notion of hope in a sense: something is arrive and relating to each other.

Yesterday, I had visited some tin-box shop in the center of the city and ordered several boxes to put the notebooks. I am planning to ask 4 Vietnamese friend to be a “listener” and collect the sound through out a week or so. The box is to treat them as something valuable.

I have titled the project as “THE WAY I HEAR” SImply, it will show 5 different person points of view/listening, and also the reader might become the second listener by imaging the sound and have their ways. We’ll see how it goes!

There will be another sound installation with steel hangers. I will write about it maybe next time I post.

Thank you for reading it.
I go back to work/listening now!

。。。。。。。。。。。。。

Emerging Artist Series 02:
Motoyuki Shitamichi x Mamoru Okuno x Tuan Mami

Triển lam｜Exhibition
NOWHERE
29.10 – 20.11.2011

Khai mạc｜Opening = 18:00 Thứ sau [Fri.] 28.10.2011
Buổi tro chuyện của cac nghệ sĩ｜ Artists talk = 14:00 Thứ bảy [Sat.] 29.10.2011

[Giờ mở cửa ｜Opening hours: 09:30 – 18:00]
Phong triển lam｜Exhibition Hall
Trung tam Giao lưu Văn hoa Nhật Bản tại Việt Nam
The Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam
27 Quang Trung, Hoan Kiếm, Ha Nội

I am not sure what to show in this city. But from yesterday, I started to do “sound-mapping” as a start. Maybe I will present the study as a document in the gallery space.

The show starts on Oct.28th. 20 more days to set up.

more later.

I will be in Vietnam, Hanoi from tomorrow on. The Japan Foundation has invited me and another artist from Japan to do an exhibition there. I will be there for more than a month, and am lookign forward to hear the noise of the city. I have been studying about the history and culture of Vietnam, and it makes me very curious to see what is there now. I want to hear/listen and see the people.

I will be updating my trip on blog and also Twitter. so if you have an account please follow me @afewnotes, and if you dont you can still see my tweets and mostly images from my iPhone if you scroll down and check the right field on this page.

They are currently preparing an exhibition that will open at the Japan Foundation in Hanoi on 28 Oct and run to 20 Nov 2011.

The three artists -

• sound artist Mamoru (Mamoru Okuno)
• photographer Michi (Motoyuki Shitamichi)
• and Hanoi artist Tuan Mami, probably best known for his performance pieces

- met in Tokyo recently when Mami was doing a residency there.

One of the artists, Mamoru, is blogging about his work and experiences in Vietnam and has agreed to let Hanoi Grapevine reproduce his posts here. A big thanks to Mamoru for giving us a great chance to gain some insight into the process of collaboration and the creation of an exhibition.

You can find Mamoru’s original posts (in English and Japanese) on his blog and see more photos on his Twitter account.