November 30, 2008

Mako Ishizuka (JPN)

Mako Ishizuka is a Japanese artist who stayed at the Creators Inn by Elvine lab while in Gothenburg to do an analog VJ set at club Cheesy Not Cheesy. The video clip is only about 20 seconds long because our camera containing the rest of the footage got stolen. We’re sorry about that.

Mako, you are an artist. How do you define creativity?
Sparkling ideas. Otherwise, ”is a mental and social process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the creative mind between existing ideas or concepts. An alternative conception of creativeness is that it is simply the act of making something new.”

You told me Gothenburg reminded you about Amsterdam. How come?
It is due to two aspects: people and cityscape. When I was moving from Amsterdam to Sweden, I was told that I should not speak to strangers as I used to do in Amsterdam – it is common there but if you do it in Sweden, people would look at you as you are weird. I told this to a friend and he told me that I can do it in Göteborg. So I tried it during the weekend I was there, talking to strangers. It worked. I talked to a middle-aged couple, an older lady spoke to me, and I had a long discussion with a taxi driver even after we arrived at my destination. I liked Amsterdam being so generous and open to everybody – and I felt that kind of comfort in Göteborg. Another thing is cityscape. A gallerist I spoke to told me that the city is made by Dutch people so it resembles Dutch cities, with canals and buildings. I saw an old building partially lifted probably because the ground had moved, like many tilted houses around canals in Amsterdam, and it became my favourite building in Gothenburg. Also with its soundscape – with the alarming sound from trams (ding-ding) made me feel as if I was walking on a street in A’dam.

Tell us about your analogue VJ set at club Cheesy Not Cheesy.
I work as a contemporary artist but have never worked as a VJ before. I tried to translate my personality into this practice – with the use of household things and food, which are reflecting my love towards small things in everyday life. I used alphabet biscuits, bubbled water, juice, olive oil, food colouring, dish soap, salad bowl, cup, pie form, straw, etc. to make it organic, playful and colourful. With the use of OHP, you see this micro cosmos magnified and distorted in a way it appears almost surreal – it suited the mood of fun-loving people at the club with a bit of intoxication, I guess. It also had interesting (positive) contrast with the music played. I had so much fun that I want to do it again.

Any other fun projects lined up or any other closing thoughts?
In my art practice, I am working on a project to make a collection of postcards, aiming to recover the romantic idea of travelling, involving other artists, writers, etc., and also a museum in Paris. As my solo project, I have been working with a series of footage made on the street, concerning deciphering accumulated history/story – but it is so cold outside now that I am taking a pause. I will come back to Gothenburg in the end of January to present my practice at Pecha Kucha. I hope I can do projects in Gothenburg some time, and I wanna come back to VJ again!