The consistency in incoherent works – Tadasu Takamine’s Melody Cup
Show Flyer
In watching the performance of “Melody Cup”, I can’t help but thinking of the previous interview in which the artist/producer mentioned “People always asked me what is coherent in my variable works, after pondering for a while, I can only bounce back the question to them…Is it necessary?” The lack of specific style in the works certainly brought him a wider possibility in presenting his concerns and interests to the reality world. And the characteristic can also be seen obviously in the Melody Cup performance, in which he splits the show into many parts, each scene contains the factors he wants to talk about, the questions range from social-problems to cultural differences, the ideas come one after one, but they are not exactly coherent to each other. The connections between scenes are arbitrary; the performing style also varies, performers might act, sing, dance or simply read out load the meaningless sentences. The procedure of coding and decoding between producer and the audiences becomes the most interesting part in enjoying the whole show.
There are a few ways to approach the coding system in the performance. First, the operating of the language of contemporary art, in the show artist/producer intends to break the boundary of language by pointing out the collaboration of performers from different countries (Japan and Thai). Meanwhile, instead of hiding the fact of language barrier, he shows the similar methods of internalization the alien terms. The subtle differences in the same thing from two languages actually help to measure the distance between two different cultures. It sounds similar, yet still different. And that is certainly the attitude the artist/producer holds towards the evading of major culture to the minor ones. It might be undeniable that culture invasion does happen when facing overwhelming mighty ones, but the influence differs as it is taken in different ways. The juxtaposition of the loan words here provides a potential solution to the endless debate of culture integration: The true understanding of differences never comes from the emphasizing of the known gap, but from the patient observations to the misguided same parts. The same topic keeps appearing in the show, though the scenes move on to another, we still sense the consistent concept in dealing with cultural differences, positive but not aggressive, firm but not intensive.
Another thinking line twisted in the rapid changing scenes is the concern to the social relationship. However, the relationship here does not only refer to the interactions among people, but also the hierarchy in the society, the unwritten laws in urban living-style and the fetishism to spectacles. In this aspect, artist/producer arranges a series of actions in which we see how order has been generated from chaos. The defining of leader, follower and outlier reflects to the rigid institutions in society and our unavoidable becoming of agent. However, he doesn’t stop the using of imagination here. The stage has been extended to the entire theatre, in one scene every audience is included into the performance and is encouraged to raise questions to the performer. While the audiences are amused by the awkward behaviors acted by the performer, the illusions that mass media created also present itself to the audience. The ridiculous reaction of the performer can not be treated as simple entertainment, but the leak of light sheds on the reality. We thus realize how we are trapped by the mass media which provides no fact but only spectacles. And if we have to be honest to ourselves, the hilarious performer on the stage is no less fictional than the reality surrounded us off the stage.
The third very important building brick which constructs the show is the endless questioning of “Death and Life”. People might think the human existence has long been one of the themes in Takamine’s works, in Melody Cup, the topic has spread to the beings in the universe, the relationship between human-beings and the nature, the mysterious ceremonies in some religions, fantasy and dreams, he is using quite big amount of metaphors trying to get closer to the eternal puzzle of life. When white-dressed people keep retiring each other, we see the flow of time without a pause. When the unknown terms hit our sensation by screaming, we sense the fear to unpredictable future. With no difficulty to imagine what these metaphors could have conveyed, the heaviness of topic fall directly onto our shoulders. In confronting the question with no answer, we all fail to escape. Nevertheless, the intension to show this fact does not base on a passive understanding, but a sincere invitation to the limited yet splendid journey of life. It’s hard to say whether the artists/producer has managed to show his idea completely, but the existence of this section could be a meaningful link to different atmospheres among scenes.
Weaving in different factors to make a dazzling garland, Melody Cup has got a good practice of tempo, trying to balance the multicolored subjects. In combining irrelevant topics, Takamine has been consistent in showing his position as a patient observer to the reality. His practice is beyond forms of visual art, yet still honest to his faith, and that penetrates his variable artworks. There are still many ways to approach the performance of Melody Cup, and without a doubt every one sees different reflections through the mirror of show. Instead of questioning the artist/producer, perhaps a deep retrospective to ourselves is rather recommended. The work provides an entrance (or, exit) to reach the questions lying deeply in our mind.
