Gesamplete Sound unterschiedlichster Objekte und in verschiedenen Graden der Bearbeitung stellen einen großen Teil des Klangmaterials dar, wozu auch eine Reihe traditioneller Instrumente zählen, ferner eine ganze Reihe an Klängen, deren Herkunft unklar bleibt und deren Konturen verschwimmen, während ihre Schönheit bestehen bleibt. Auch die menschliche Stimme spielt – neben gelegentlichen Tierstimmen – eine wesentliche Rolle als intim anmutendes Flüstern, als geloopte, multiplizierte Form des Dialogs mit sich selbst sowie als vordergründig nüchtern klingende Rezitation, die sich nicht selten wie eine weitere Komponente in den Kontext einfügt. “The pandemic claimed so much”, betont Hojo in den Liner Notes, “and for a time, touch fell victim. In the album Touch, Alexandra Spense, KMRU, Viv Corringham, Myriam Van Imschoot and Federico Protto, Tomoko Hojo, and Melissa Pons prod at means of non-tactile touching. They explore spaces where touch is only a memory, a recording, something missing to find replacements. In assembling this six-piece collection, artist Tomoko Hojo recalls Yoko Ono’s 1964 event which invited attendees to “watch the sky and touch”. Over the course of Touch, the listener is an attendee, witnessing sonic reconstructions of haptic happenings”.

Neben Kuratorin Tomoko Hojo selbst haben, die jüngst mit ihrem “Grass Eater Diary”-Soundwalk zusammen mit Rahel Kraft von sich reden machte, tauchen einge bekannte Namen im Tracklisting auf, so die auf Bezüge zwischen Raum, Sound, Publikum und Objekte fokusierte Künstlerin Alexandra Spense und der in Berlin lebende Sound- und Improv-Künstler Joseph Kamaru aka KMRU. Ferner die Vokalistin und Soundperformerin Viv Corringham, das Performance-Duo Myriam Van Imschoot und Federico Protto, und die Sounddesignerin Melissa Pons mit ihrem guten Händchen für ungewöhnliche Field Recordings. Die Sammlung entstand mit Unterstützung der Ogasawara Toshiaki Memorial Foundation und der Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan, entstand, erscheint zum Download mit umfangreichem Textmaterial.

@ Dragon’s Eye

“Grass Eater Diary is inspired by the Japanese idiom ‘Michikusa Wo Kuu’ the origin of which is: a horse eats grass on the way to a destination and wastes its time. The grass-eater forgets about purpose, time and goals and just ambles around, observing, smelling, thinking – consciously or unconsciously. The green, juicy grass is an image for pleasure and contemplation, a state of luxury in a childhood mind. This state is neither wanted nor needed in capitalist societies and already suppressed in childhood by negative idioms to make clear that one needs goals and time is money. In Grass Eater Diary, Hojo+Kraft have transformed the image of the eating horse which is constantly moving or pausing at a very slow speed into a sound walk on headphones. You can experience stillness and movement at the same time to tune into your surroundings and make fresh connections.

Originally, this piece was made for the 2019 Nakanojo Biennnale in the Japanese town of Nakanojo, where the entire creation process took place. The piece is influenced and characterised a lot by this environment. The sound walk begins near a foot bath and continues to a playground with benches under a green canopy. Then go down the stairs to a river path and a rice field with a small hut that serves only to shelter the resting people. The temporary artist studio was in one of the many primary schools that were closed due to the depopulation of this rural mountain area. Lots of the instrumental sounds come from an abandoned music room, where everything still was in place as if lessons would start the next day. Hojo+Kraft also hold a workshop to record the local festival song ‘Tori Oi’ (means keep birds away), which became one of the motifs of the composition.” (LINE)

Porträt © Shunsuke Hiroi