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INSTALLATION INSTANT TITILLATION INSTANT ELATION



Keita Egami


I had the fortuitous chance to meet prolific installation artist Keita Egami late last night at the IAF Shop in Fukuoka, an important gallery space which hosts openings for local and nationwide artists on a regular basis and also serves as a resource for upcoming artists. He is a long-time resident of Fukuoka, and his work has been shown all over Japan and Europe. He has designed CD covers for
Noise Artist-Guitarist Otomo Yoshihide[Improvised Music From Japan] and I.S.O [Otomo Yoshihide, Sachiko M and Yoshimitsu Ichiraku][Improvised Music From Japan]and also created installation art for the performances of Otomo Yoshihide's Japanorama UK tour. He has a permanent exhibition of tilework on the river walkway near Nakasukawabata station in central Fukuoka, as well as a sculpture at the Fukuoka City Art Museum in Ohori-Koen. This October, his work will be shown at the Frieze Art Fairin London.

I perused through a copy of
Artist in Fukuoka in the 21st Century Vol.4 EGAMI Keita Utopian Melancholia
, trying to subvert the limits of photography to imagine the size and breadth of his installations.
Size and b r e a d t h

見落すことができない設定およびセットのノート:
全体のcoffeetable覆うふくらんでいる黄色いクラッカーの広大な袋がある。 50か60のそれぞれ包まれた袋がなければならない 推定35から40のふくらんでいる黄色いクラッカーを中含んでいるそれぞれ。 約分散する空のふくらんでいる黄色いクラッカー袋がある 質への遺言。これはだれのアートワークであるか。
A note on set and setting that can’t be overlooked:
There’s an immense bag of puffy yellow crackers covering the entire coffeetable. There must be fifty or sixty individually wrapped bags inside the immense bag, each containing an estimated thirty-five to fourty puffy yellow crackers. There are empty puffy yellow cracker bags scattered about, a testament to their quality. Whose work is this?

I ask him if he would allow me to do an interview. I show him the blue dictaphone so he knows I’m serious.

He says that would be alright. But hold on. This isn’t the interview yet. Shayne Bowden will have to be there to interpret. And ask questions. And answer questions. A noise musician, one of the founders of Tetra Artspaceand longtime resident of Fukuoka. He’s going to answer some of my questions. It might be a double interview, but that will have to be my little secret. The thing to do is to get the two of them together in a room, alone, press record and walk away. There will be a stack of flash cards on the table before them, each with a single word. The object of the game is to steer the conversation in that direction. Or away from that direction. Or ignore it completely and hang from the ceiling by our fingernails, pronouncing the end of the end, at the end of the night. The object of the game may be to ignore the game completely. Journey to the End of the Night. The first word in the set I can tell you right now what it will be -- Stockhausen.

これはまだインタビューでない。 Shayne Bowdenは解釈しなければそこにあることをならない。 そして質問をしなさい。 そして答えの質問。 騒音の音楽家、 福岡のArtspace Tetra長い間の居住者の創設者の1人。 彼は私の質問のいくつかに答えようとしている。 それは二重インタビューであるかもしれない しかしそれは私の小さい秘密でなければならない。 するべき事は部屋でそれらの2を一緒に得ることである 単独で、 出版物の記録および去。 それらの前にテーブルのフラッシュカードの積み重ねがある、 単語とのそれぞれ。ゲームの目的はその方向の会話を操縦することである。 またはその方向から。 またはそれを完全に無視し、天井から私達の指の爪によって掛けなさい、 端の端を発音する、 夜の終わりに。 ゲームの目的はゲームを完全に無視することであるかもしれない。 夜の終わりへの旅行。 セットの最初の単語私はそれがであるもの今言ってもいい -- Stockhausen。 私がStockhausenについてのあなたに話したいと思うKeita Egami。
The topic shifts to music, contemporary music. He lists John Cage as one of his major influences. He prefers the American contemporary composers to the Europeans. Why? What about Stockhausen? No. No? No. No? No. This is going to be a point of contention. It’s my new goal in life – to convince Egami Keita of the beauty of Stockhausen. What about Pierre Henry? Yes, Pierre Henry. We’re listening to a release from Alchemy records. Who is it? I forget. What does it sound like? Ruffled mirrors, cellophane cafeteria lunch attack. Test tube broccolli. The topic shifts to Otomo Yoshihide. Ornette Coleman. Bela Bartok. They may be obvious links of attraction, but I feel nonetheless it forms a strong bridge between us, as my sorry Latin ass struggles with the language. Struggle. A handicap. Nearly illiterate. Latin ass. Sorry Latin ass. It’s like the tiled room with the red curtains in Fire Walk With Me. Every goddamn day it’s the talking midget. Sometimes when I’m feeling lucky and I’ve had enough whiskey there are splotches, brief moments where I fall under the illusion that I can understand. But I can’t understand. I’d like to understand. Keita Egami I want to talk to you about Stockhausen.