From T to T is a collaborative performance between myself and Natasha Bailey. The performance is streamed live from Osaka and Tokyo Japan & Toronto Canada. The performance plays on the breakdown of a conversation. Via skype, I write to me in Phonetic Japanese while Bailey writes to her in phonetic French. With each exchange of text, Bailey and I attempt to read each others message aloud. The audiences laugh at our mispronunciations. Only half of the dialogue is ever understood by each country. We become aware of the incompatibility of the two languages as a viable tool for communication. The script is an excerpt from chapter 7: A Mad Tea Party from Alice in Wonderland. Chosen for its universal appeal and playful dialogue.  Near the end of the performance the audience is encouraged to join in. A sudo Karaoke session takes place between the audience in Japan and the audience in Canada. (30min.)

Natasha Bailey : http://natashabailey.wordpress.com

To view the recorded video for the performances please follow the links bellow.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/from-t-to-t-canada
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/from-t-to-t-japan

Thanks to Susy George Hart for event photos

VENUES

SIDE JAPAN : Where Is Our Language?' - The relationship between Art and Language
Where is our language?' is an event consisting of two artists' talks by Junko Otake and Hana Sakuma who have been actively practicing in the UK and have explored the relationship between art and language through their practices.

The title 'Where is our language?' is derived from our daily annoyance of using language(s); the incompatibility with language(s) or an uneasy feeling that one cannot find how to put things into language. By looking at some particular roles and functions of language(s), especially uneasy but challenging ones, Junko and Hana will present their own artistic approaches towards language(s). Their artwork will also be shown in the space.

SIDE CANADA : Point of Conversiation
Curated by Natasha Bailey in Collaboration with 918 Bathurst in Toronto and Junko Otake with 3331 Gallery in Tokyo Japan.  Friday January 14th from 9.30pm to midnight.  A night of Performance and Video by artists in Toronto Canada, London UK, and Tokyo Japan.

The manner in which we use language determines the success of a conversation.  In Points of Conversation the art of communication becomes synonymous with the relationship of Art and language.  The performances and videos explore our daily frustration and love of using language(s); the incompatibility and compatibility of language(s) and the anxiety that we sometimes experience when we cannot properly connect words into a comprehensive flow.

Technology has allowed for fast and easy access to communication.  Dialogue travels across oceans and continents connecting people and places through digital media. The traveling of pixels and sound waves can results in the straining and fragmentation of information and language.  The communication of digital code along its journey can become miss-sequenced and abstracted resulting in a message from a broken telephone.  At its destination the message is reassembled into a digital conversation of human speech.  Artwork that is being streamed online allows the artist access to a global audience directly from their studio.

Artists include: Natasha Bailey & Junko Otake, Sam Belinfante, Francisco-Fernando Granados, Holly slingsby, Amanda Wasielewski and Danielle Williams.

http://918bathurst.com/special-programming/point-of-conversation-intl-art-performance-event-at-918-bathurst/