Final Sounds

June 27th. I’m writing from a hotel in Kuala Lumpur. There is something that I want to write about while I’m still here.

June 21st was the final day. We held the last talk event and had everyone participate. Some spoke English, some were mixing Japanese, some were helping out others, but either way the participants from Japan were expressing their thoughts about the exhibition with their own voices. The curator Azusa Hashimoto; she is the person that I wanted to have see this event through to the end; briskly dug out the words from everyone’s thoughts. However, they still were not able to completely describe this exhibition. It is not a normal exhibition, and no matter how much we try to explain, it will still be difficult to make sense. Sounds are carried away by the wind, and it’s certainly difficult to explain that nature using words. Therefore I asked everyone to write a report.

Asian Sounds Research is a project of resEARch.

It is not an art project. Otomo yoshihide is the artistic director of the parent body ENSEMBLES ASIA, and three projects started up from it: the Asian Music Network, Ensembles Asia Orchestra and the Asian Sounds Research. Each project has it’s own director. I am the project director for the Asian Sounds Research. I’m not a curator, and there is no special need to do an exhibition. I had instructions to do research about “Sound” and to find Sound Artists, but I felt that it will be difficult after I actually started to research. However, I thought that things might begin to move if I actually “make something happen”. I wanted to feel and hear the sounds of places and people that I find and meet at the locations I go to, and listen to what they have to say, and try to do something with them. OPEN GATE is the type of project that people have to jump-into, share and experience. It is in some way like an improvisation that changes what it presents, and at the same time I might have been directing a piece of music composed by the place and people who participated.

At the end, I can only be a musician. I felt that the world of music was uncomfortable, but I found out how violent the art world handles sound when I made sound installations. However, I think it is possible to bring out the good parts of music and art if someone could take balance between both sides. You could say that OPEN GATE was experimenting to find out how that idea would work. It was easy for someone to criticize what we did. That person just had to leave the venue. I wanted to do something at this space in a way that nobody had done before, just like what I did when made my own place in my own way in the world of music. It is true that this came to my mind at George Town in Penang Island.

“Don’t try to find a new place, but try to bring out the good things of this place.”

I might have planned out OPEN GATE from that idea.

I suddenly put the artists on a sixteen day stage and called it an “exhibition” at the first research location, and had them talk and do events on weekends. A lot of people were coming and going, and OPEN GATE kept on running without any breaks. It is actually still running.

“Collect words for this thing that cannot be described.”

All of us had experienced and had been challenged to do something that we had never done before. In the first place, I know it is unreasonable to tell the artists to keep on making something. But I had all of the Japanese participants talk during Final Sounds, and also had the local artist who weren’t used to performing do a performance. Final Sounds was a performance that had all the artists performing on the last day. It is pretty risky to put inexperienced people on stage, but we spent quite a long time with each other, and there was a lot of trust because of that. At the end, the performers had to think about what they will do, and my reactions to their ideas could have been my directions.

I painted black over the score for Final Sounds that I wrote on to the wall.

“Each person must move with in the range of their work at the end, and restore it to it’s original state.”

This is the ending that I came up with. My favorite moment in improvised music is the introduction and the ending, but there must be a process that leads to them, even if that process cannot be heard. It seems that there is still more coming after this exhibition, and I feel that OPEN GATE was an introduction of a long, long piece of music that will still continue to go on.

This means that I have to accept it, and keep on creating a flow.

Sounds arise and then disappear, but they will arise again. Sounds can be found anywhere, so we don’t have to force our way to make them. What’s important is to not overlook (or should I say overhear?) them, and carefully get close to them.

The journey of Asian Sounds Research will still go on. There is a next gate awaiting OPEN GATE.

This means that the true Final Sounds is still way ahead.

6月27日 クアラルンプールのホテル。まだマレーシアにいるうちに 書きたい事がある。

最終日、6月21日。全員参加で最後のトーク。英語でしゃべったり、日本語混ざったり、誰かが誰かを支え、それでも日本からの参加者は自分達の「声」で今回の感想を述べていく。全ての事を振り返りながら最後を一緒に見届けて欲しかった信頼すべきキュレーターの橋本梓がさくさくときりきりとみんなの思いから言葉を掘り出してゆく。それでも語りきれないだろう、この展覧会は通常の展覧会ではない、いくら説明をしつくしてもおそらく伝わらない。音が風にのって流れてしまうように、言葉というものだけでは伝わりにくいものなのは確かだ。だからここにいた全ての人々にレポートをお願いした。

Asian Sounds Research は resEARch プロジェクトである。

アートのプロジェクトではない。基盤のENSEMBLES ASIA は音楽家である大友良英氏がアーティスティックディレクターを務め、Asian Music Network, Ensambles Asia Orchestra,そしてこの Asian Sounds Researchの三つのプロジェクトを立ち上げた。各プロジェクトにディレクターがいる。Asian Sounds Research のプロジェクトディレクターが私である。キュレーターではないし、展覧会をやる必要は特にない。ただ「音」にまつわるリサーチをする、サウンドアーティストを探すという指令ではあったが、実際リサーチをしてみてそれには無理があるのを感じた、でも実際「事を起こす」ことで動いていくのでは、とは思った。その土地の人、場所、そんな事を感じながら、話を聞きながら何か一緒にやってみる。そんな突撃共有体験型のプロジェクトであり、その場所と人により発表内容を考えていく即興音楽のようであり、そこに参加する人と場所を私がディレクションしていく作曲作品でもあるのだ。

私は結局「音楽家」でしかありえない。音楽の世界で居心地の悪さを感じ、サウンドインスタレーションをやっては美術の世界での音に対する乱暴さを感じた、でも逆に双方のバランスさえとれば音楽と美術のいいところを吸い上げる事は出来る。今回の OPEN GATE はそれを実験してみたとも言える。批判は簡単である、その場から立ち去ればいい。でも音楽の世界で自分のやり方で自分の場所を作ったように、なにか今までにない形でここでやってみたい、ペナン島ジョージタウンでそう思いついてしまったのは事実だ。新しい場所を「開拓」するのではなくそこの魅力を最大限に引き出す事。

そこから考えていったこの OPEN GATE であったのかもしれない。

いきなりの最初の場所で展覧会という名の16日間のステージを作家にさせ、毎週末にはトークとイベント。人の出入りも多く、その中で休みなしで走り続けたこの OPEN GATE は実はまだ走っている。

この表現しようのないものに対しての「言葉」を集める事。全員今までとは何かしら違う事に挑戦し、体験した。そもそも作家に作りつづけろ、は無茶振りであるし、最後のFinal Sounds では日本の参加者にトークをさせ、パフォーマンスした経験のあまりない現地の作家にパフォーマンスさせた。最後の日は作家全員によるパフォーマンス、それが Final Sounds であった。未経験のものをステージにあげる事はかなりリスクが大きいが、かなりの時間を共にしたからこその信頼感はある。あとは本人が考えねばならない、その考えた事に対するリアクションが私のディレクションなのかもしれない。

壁に書いたFinal Sounds のスコアはもう黒ペンキで塗ってしまった。

最後に全員がそれぞれの作品の中で動きながら、最初の状態になるべく戻すこと。

これが私の考えたエンディングであった。イントロダクションとエンディングは即興音楽で最も好きな瞬間なのであるが、そこに至るまでには中身のプロセスは見えなくても聴こえなくてもいいけど必要である。

そしてどうやら今回は続きがあるようで、この OPEN GATE はまだまだ続いていく長い長い曲のイントロダクションであったのだと感じる。

ということは私はこれらをきちんと受け止め、流れを作り続けなければいけない。

音が立ち上り、消えていき、それでもまた音は浮かび上がる。音を無理矢理に作る必要はない。なぜなら音なんてどこにでも転がっている。大切なのは見落とさず（いや聴き落とさず？）丁寧にそこに寄り添ってみること。

Asian Sounds Research の旅はまだまだ続く、OPEN GATE には次の GATE が待っている。

本当のFInal Sounds はまだまだ先ってこと。