THE AIR OF ISHIGAKI ISLAND
installation (2020)
Period: November 2020
Production: Fusaki Art Week (local art festival in Ishigaki Island)
Venue: Fusaki Beach Resort, Ishigaki Japan
Fragrances extracted from local flowers are exhibited in the way representing the sphere of the island.
1. Powder Puff Tree
2. Night Jasmine
3. Silk Jasmine
4. Lotus
5. A Queen of the Night
6. Taiwan Sugar Palm
KYOTO LOVE STORY
- a blind-date event for the other senses inspired by The Tale of Genji -
participatory installation for the other senses (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al6XEOM151o
DATE: 19 Dec 2015 [premier]
VENUE: Kyoto Art Center (www.kac.or.jp)
CONTEXT: Les cheveux noirs et la madeleine (Black tresses and the madeleine) Exhibition
CURATOR: Yoko Iwasaki
SUPPORT: Kyoto Saga Art University(http://www.kyoto-saga.ac.jp)
Once upon a time, a man fell in love with a woman just by sensing her atomosphere behind bamboo curtains. He used all the other senses than the sight just to synthesize the whole vision of her as a person. Subtle information as the scent of incense and her silk kimono carried by the wind, and the friction sound of her touch, was already enough for him to fall in love with her.
Back then in Japan, women were not allowed themselves to be exposed to public. She was kept behind curtains her entire life, not even allowed to give a word to a man that she liked. The Tale of Genji is a classic work of Japanese literature in the early years of the 11th century that illustrates such unique depiction of the lifestyles of high courtiers during the Heian period.
This event started from a question: "Can we also fall in love like that?"
Modern communication is a lot thru by the sight so sex appeal is often made visually. But in this event, the dating setup simulates the world of this novel, in the context of olfactory art.
Setup:
- Waiting rooms are completely isolated visually, but sound-wise not (Japanese room is often made with paper)
- A man prepares a haiku poem related to the season and seasonal flowers. A woman gives permission to meet him if she likes it.
- They meet behind the curtains for 10 min. The man may speak a word but the woman not. Her maid intermediates instead.
Testimonials:
“I experienced re-construction of the senses. When you have the sights, scent is just simple additional information. But in this setup, when imagination becomes delution, you lose control. I was in total confusion: Any tiny information becomes sex appeal.”
M to F sex appeal examples:
-smell (perfumed on hair and kimono)
-letter (poem, calligraphy, flowers, scent on paper)
-talk
-play music
-the subtle sound of silk clothes and tabi socks
-gift
F to M sex appeal examples:
-atomosphere
-smell (perfumed on hair and kimono)
-letter (poem, calligraphy, flowers, scent on paper)
-words carried by the maid
-the subtle sound of silk clothes and tabi socks
MICHIYUKI - PERFORMANCE IN TOTAL DARKNESS -
道行き
Collaboration with: Daikichi Yoshida (ヨシダダイキチ)
on: June 16, 2015
at: Uplink Shibuya, Tokyo
暗闇の中での、香りとシタールのライブセッション。ヨシダダイキチさんは、ベースシタールの重厚感ある音を奏で、途中からシタールに切り替え、活動感溢れる音に。パレットとなる香りはさまざまに持っていき、音のシーンに合わせて薫香しました。
ライブは完全に、打ち合わせなしで、その時のライブ感を大切にしました。音が香りに映り、香りが音に映る。そんな双方向フィードバックの緊張感あふれるライブとなりました。暗いので寝る人も続出するのではというこちら側の予想を裏切り、みなさんふだん体験しない世界観に覚醒したようでした。
アフタートークでは、ヨシダさんは実は「平家物語」の弁慶と義経の戦うシーンを奏でたとのことでした。
暗闇の静寂を確保するため、録画もしませんでした。そのため、パフォーマンス最中の記録は全く残っていません。お客様のテスティモニーをご紹介します。
Testimony:
一昨日は素晴らしいイベントにお招きいただき
ありがとうございました。お礼が遅れて申し訳ございません。
最初のわかりやすい薫りからはいって、松っぽい香りが
間にはさまれながら、だんだんとインドの世界にはいり
そして経験のない香りの世界が見えてきて、最後に日本の
和に戻るストーリーと初めての経験の音とで宇宙空間に
入った気分でした。癒しというか身体がどきどきわくわくして
くる力を感じました。同伴したxxさんも身体が舞った
ようです。また上田さんの世界を感じる機会を楽しみに
してます。
(東京大学 東原和成教授)
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マルチな活動を展開するシタール奏者ヨシダダイキチと“嗅覚アーティスト
”ウエダマキの二人が、UPLINKの空間全体を使って行うスペシャルライブ!
シタールの音色と匂いが織りなす宇宙を五感全開でご体験ください。
*当ページでの[参加予定]では予約完了とはなりませんのでご注意下さい。
(予約方法:下記参照)
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【日時】6/16(火) 19:00 open / 19:30 start
【会場】UPLINK FACTORY http://www.uplink.co.jp/
東京都渋谷区宇田川町37-18 トツネビル1階
【出演】Yoshida Daikiti (スルバハール)
MAKI UEDA (嗅覚アーティスト)
【料金】予約:2,500円 / 当日:3,000円 *共に+1ドリンク500円
【予約】http://www.uplink.co.jp/event/2015/37877
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【出演者プロフィール】
◆ ヨシダダイキチ:http://www.yoshidadaikiti.net/
200年近くに渡りシタールの可能性を探求しているイムダッド派の7代目ウスタッド・シュジャート・カーンの弟子。
YOSHIMI(ボアダムス/ooioo)、U-zhaanとのユニット「SAICOBABA」、様々なアジア楽器のポリリズムと歌唱法を取り入れた「AlayaVijana」、シタール5~30台を使ったユニット「sitaar-tah」などで国内外のレーベルより多数のアルバムをリリース。また、「ファティマとセミラ」「テュリ」をUAに楽曲提供、プロデュース。インド楽器、バリ・ガムランなど多彩なアジア音楽でアレンジした、奄美民謡の朝崎郁恵のアルバム「はまさき」をプロデュース。フジ・ロック・フェスティバル他、多数のフェスティバルやTV、ラジオ番組への出演。シタールやインド音楽に関する本「シタールのほん」執筆。他、民謡~ポップス~現代アートなどインド古典音楽に留まらずボーダレスに活躍。
◆ ウエダマキ:http://www.ueda.nl/
嗅覚とアートの融合を試みる「匂いのアーティスト」。
匂いを素材として作品を制作・発表する。現在は石垣島を拠点とし、ヨーロッパを中心に世界各地で展示やワークショップを行う。約10年のオランダ生活経験があり、オランダ王立美術大学でも定期的に嗅覚アートを教えている。欧米で流行の兆しを見せ始める嗅覚アートのリーディング・アーティストのひとり。
SWEATY-OILY SOUR-CHEESY JUICE
Artist: Shota Yamauchi and Maki Ueda
Premier: October 7th, 2023
Production: Kyoto International Performing Arts Festival 2023 (Kyoto Experiment)
Venue: Kyoto E9, Kyoto Japan
Credit:
Shota Yamauchi & Maki Ueda, Sweaty-oily Sour-cheesy Juice, 2023.
Photo by Yuki Moriya. Courtesy of Kyoto Experiment.
‘The Witch of the Black Forest lives by feeding on people's smells.
If she eats the scent of a person, she can transform herself into that person.
The Witch's pleasure is to embrace smells.
Eat the smell
Embracing the odor.
Caress the odor.’
- When the “Smell of Love” Intertwines with the Body -
In this play, the characters are "I," "The Witch," and "The Beast of Smell. The Witch and the Beast of Smell are the products of an image created by “I”. “You” or “Smell Slave” are the audience .
The word "stink" is not used until the very end, and it is only in the third and final chapter, "Smell Paradise," that the word "stink" is used. Here, “I” wake up from a dream. “I” turn “stink” into joy. “Stink” is a metaphor for being alive.
Atop the stage sits a device combining a glass distiller and a large water tank with thin tubes—it is a distillation machine for extracting the body odor of humans. Using the distiller, a number of performers transform body odors collected from audience members into a perfume which is then blended with various fragrances in the large water tank to create “smell juice”. The performers soak themselves in the smell juice, playing with the smell and attempting to become the “smell of love” itself. An extraordinary indescribable scent lingers in the air. As the work progresses, the scents in the theater gradually change. What smell will envelop the venue at the end?
Emerging contemporary media artist Shota Yamauchi works at the intersection of digital technology and physical expression; this new piece is his theater debut. In his 2021 Maihime, Yamauchi explored animalistic tendencies in a human’s sense of touch, depicting a pseudo-sexual encounter between a human and a virtual gorilla in virtual space. His curiosity has extended into the realm of “smell,” which is closely tied to emotion and memory, leading to a collaboration with olfactory artist Maki Ueda for this new work.
A paradise of smells is born from mixing the body odors collected from audience members and various “smells of love”. Through the performance, encounter a moment when human reason and animalistic nature intricately coexist through the sense of smell.
[Scent diffusion list]
Scene1: grass field
Scene2: ransid sweat (by the wild animal)
Scene3: blood (by the witch)
Scene4: distilled collective sweat of the Smell Slaves (audience)
SMELL-LIFE-TECHNOLOGY - SYLLABUS
Smell, Life and Technology
Maki Ueda
Willem de Kooning Art Academy / Crosslab / Lifestyle and Design
April 2010
7 April
- Introduction about my self – slide-show of my work
- Discussion – ‘what does smell mean to your life?’
- Brief introduction to smell and technology
- Assignment [1]: Research and find an interesting, existing example of “Smell – Life – Technology”. It does not necessarily use the digital technology, but it should be something surprising, innovative, and interesting. You can use the internet as resources.
Explain briefly on your blog-site what it is about, and also why you got interested in it. Make a presentation the next week with using your blog.
Presentation time: 3 to 5 min per person
Language: English (good chance to exercise this for you and me!)
COPYRIGHTS MAKI UEDA 2023 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.