health and beauty



by Yuko Nexus6 (sound) & Mariko Tajiri (image)

Cosmetics?
Chemicals?
Hygiene?
Sanitary Napkins?
Commercialism?
Drugs?
Gender?

Health and Beauty is a performance of sound experimentation and real-time video.
Through this sound and image performance, audiences will experience a tactile enactment of gender.

* We will use this performance to pose some of the questions we have
about how Health and Beauty influence the construction of gender identity:

How are Japanese women oppressed? --We often think about it.
Who is the oppressor? ---- The mass media, the bondage of love and fealty, self-preservationÉ
such are the new oppressors that appear in the place of the traditional Asian family system in this cyber-age.

For example, let's think about make-up.
There was a potential for magical meanings and subversion in its origin.
Empowering a human body through transformative masquerade.
On the other hand, in the modern age, women are tumbled and tossed in a sea of chemicals
and too much information. Make-up can become manipulation.
Sometimes the desire for "Beauty" makes women sick.
But ambivalence continues to surround this ritual -- many women still find make-up fun and enjoyable.

Or the enactment of voodoo rituals--- how can I get a serious boyfriend?
If I eat a hair of my boyfriend, will he love me for all my life?
Will I have success with this lucky charm? How can I succeed in professional goals?
Can I create a balance? --These questions will be articulated in handwritings.
The daily gestures that quietly accompany the noisy demands of life
----clipping nails, makeup, brushing, checking the mirror---- will be performed with sounds.

In our daily life, two aspects surface clearly and unclearly.
1. Voodoo, magic and witchcraft----hot & wet
2. Techno-tronic way of life---cool & dry

While we seek to juxtapose these two aspects, we don't provide judgments.
At the end of our performance, the audience won't get clear answer.
Our intention is not to provide answers but rather to stimulate the audienceÕs senses.
The audience sits in their chairs, they watch, smell, listen, and we leave them to ask their own questions.

*About our performance

If the venue is large enough, it is possible to incorporate further elements.
For example, Mariko can make pre-recorded & edited video work (PAL/VHS, DVD/NTSC or DV/NTSC) and bring it.
She can make a small installation using 1 or 2 monitors and player that are pre-prepared.
In this case, we will perform with this installation.

Duration of our performance is quite flexible circa 30mins - 50mins as preferred.

NOTICE! We just need one coffee table (low table).
We perform on the floor.
We may use some powder and atomizer, meaning the floor might get a bit messy.

*Tech-Rider
If available, one big video monitor (40 inches or biggger).
If monitor isn't available, big screen or a blank wall and video projector (NTSC/PAL)
PA system(Yuko's sound out--L,R stereo go to PA system)
AV cords (more than 3m and 5m)
video changer (play & live images)


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