I attempted the very basic idea of how the live performance would be executed. The gesture is simple, the performer holding a loaf of baguette, breaking it bit by bit and 'feeding' it to an empty fishbowl below him. The sound of the bread hitting the water surface is interesting, one that I did not quite expect. There is a sense of bliss from the plinks, but also a sense of danger if the impact were to be human vs solid ground. The bread instantly turns soggy, not only suggesting an image of a school of animals in the bowl, but also slowyl saturating the clear color of the water.
The performer will be standing on top of the parapet, created from the carton boxes, hence he will be vertically upright and higher in relation to the landscape of the exhibition site. He will be a monument, a clear indication of a constructed reality- a person about to jump.
The texture of the structure is surprisingly soft, that I am expecting because of the duration of the performance, there will be some sort of indentation of the performer's foot prints on the very surface he is standing on- over time, it creates a sculptural residue of the live action.
came across this short video on youtube of 聲の形's segments that inspired this whole project:
And this is an amazing interview of its director, the amazing Naoko Yamada. She said:
"Because I am neither a judge nor God, I tried not to judge what they did, what they saw, what they felt, and all the circumstances surrounding them. I just tried to understand and respect their emotions and actions, which consisted of many layers and reasons. I took this approach again and again for various characters, and wove it into the world of this film. We all have experiences like them when sinking into the darkness of loneliness, and times that we think we see the light but miss it."
And when she was asked about the setting of 'high school era' within the film:
"I never thought about it consciously, but maybe you are right. I never insisted on having this topic in my films, but I always feel attracted to this era. Maybe because it is a border between a child and an adult, the ending of puberty. I feel beauty in the mesmerized feeling that teenagers have when the growth of their mind and body confuses and scares them."
End of month entry: Seems like I will be settling with the single parapet style instead of the koi-pond structure, as the latter seems less abstract and more didactic in its visual projection compared to the previous. The single-lined parapet is projected to be presenting a plinth, an unfamiliar object, a sculpture that seems misplaced yet the focal of the work. I enjoy the obscurity that revolves around it, it is neither protective nor hazardous. In a way, it seems more sterile.
I have also decided on the size which is approx. 205cmx102.5x41cm
Next stage will be to order the wood panels and start constructing.