Anti cool

Interviewed by Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Espejo Ovalles Morel for

The Interior Beauty Salon.

www.interiorbeautysalon.com/anti-cool

Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Espejo Ovalles Morel: We met in Kitchener, Canada, in 2005, and I still remember our adventures together at Dandy’s. The potato wedges! So much fun, and also an organic insight into the day-to-day of a country about which we only used to hear from time to time, that is, until the new US government started the whole thing about tariffs. Was this your first time in Canada? How did you come about the performance that you presented at Contemporary Art Forum, Kitchener + Area? Can you discuss what went on during this outlandish action in Ontario? 

Anti-cool: During CAFKA.05 X INDUSTRIA, we, the artists, stayed at the locals’ homes. That setting definitely gave me the introductory feel of Kitchener and also Canada; I was new to the country at that time. Later we both had a chance to exchange intriguing conversations with the local people.

Allurements of Mass Media was made from my reflection on how consumerism affected me on a personal level. As a person who lived through both the peak of consumerism in the 1980s and the subsequent post-bubble era of Japan, without even realising it, the effect of it was undeniable. I became indecisive facing the numerous products/choices, and oddly enough, I almost felt my self-value required to be validated by others. This might also be affected by experiencing the gender gap in societal reality as a woman. In the performance piece, there’s a TV monitor that showed several TV adverts played in Kitchener on a loop. While the commercials were on, the artist (myself) with a business suit and high-heeled shoes kept consuming the products, such as cleaning detergent, food, and cosmetics, while walking a balance beam from one side to the other. The performance was situated in various places in and around the city hall, including the Reflecting Pool at the open-air public area.

NDEREOM: How can I forget this performance and the riot that you created? If I may, I feel that consumerism is even more outrageous now than it was. It seems that we are approaching the last show on Earth, our own destruction, and I hope not. What is your relationship to scandals and disturbances? I am asking because of the uproar that many of your pieces have caused internationally. Like when you smoke a gazillion cigarettes? Also, how do you take care of yourself in the midst of such extreme undertakings? Can you talk about some of the works that I am implying here and the loud reactions from audiences world-wide?

A-c: Sometimes my pieces and projects can cause a few waves. In my early work I sometimes used cigarettes, and for some pieces I smoked a large quantity of cigarettes in public spaces where smoking was banned, such as the non-smoking area of a station in Niigata. My intention was to create a temporary smoking area and gradually extend such space using floor markings with tape while consuming cigarettes holding an ashtray. Ironically, I’ve never been a smoker outside of my performances.

In 2005 I held a lonesome Oktoberfest (beer festival) at a bar located at Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff. I heard there was an Oktoberfest at the venue a week before, which I missed, and I was interested in responding to it in my own way. My performance piece, another part of Allurements of Mass Media, was supposed to be presented at the venue for two nights to the audience. Since I wanted to do something open to everyone with or without a ticket, I asked the Head of Theatre, James Tyson, to allow me to present it in a public space on one of the dates. He and his team fully supported my experiment. I used about 40 bottles of beer and a balance beam, wearing my usual suit and high-heeled shoes. Regarding the media responses to this piece, one leading UK newspaper wrote an article called “Probably the worst art in the world”. I remember that I was upset about the false information about my age and the artist’s fee; however, I didn’t argue with their feedback at all. Soon after I returned to Japan, and was too busy doing my part-time jobs and working on my new pieces to care too much.

NDEREOM: What an honor. So much of the art I see today feels like homework that artists turn in to curators to exhibit. In your case the badness the reporter saw in your action was not mediocrity, it seems that your work really stroke a nerve in him. Well done!

I relate to you work through an approach that mimics gossip. Chisme. I like that. I remember hearing you talk about the one-person band that you formed in Haiti. Please say more about it

A-c: Lone Orchestra is a series of projects in which I imitated a local band’s performance. In fact, I have worked with four bands. For example, a pop band in Belfast, a drum-based rock band in Glasgow, a punk band in Montreal, and a Twoubadou band in Jacmel, Haiti—trying to master every different instrument and vocal style in three weeks. The result was that I jammed with other me’s in a video showing me playing all the roles in the bands simultaneously, singing, drumming etc. In 2009 I collaborated with a Haitian band that plays folk music using banjo and drum with some handmade instruments. Over there it was necessary to extend the three-week time frame due to my broken Haitian Creole, which I was strongly suggested to learn prior to my visit by the regional embassy. Also, their improvised playing made me confused to articulate the authentic notes. On some occasions, I felt as if I were becoming a historian who tries to document their versatile oral story. However, the project allowed me to look closely into the genuine persona of each band member, both on and off stage. My initial aim was to capture, through the project, the unique characteristics of the people in different cultures. I recalled myself been drawn to transformative moments that occurred during their jam sessions, and altered my aim to become invisible during the process.