ONLINE - Discussion Seminar: Takahiro Yamamoto

Join Portland-based artist Takahiro Yamamoto in a discussion of his two works Direct Path to Detour, which would have been presented at On the Boards on June 4-7, and Property of Opaqueness which was co-presented by the Henry Art Gallery and Velocity on October 6th, 2019.

Central to Direct Path to Detour and Property of Opaqueness is the idea of NOISE, which guides Takahiro Yamamoto’s artistic approach to both subject matters while it always complicates his presumed answers.

While Direct Path to Detour explores abstraction and its value—abstraction of identity, narrative, representation, and expectation/beliefs—Yamamoto’s current practice, which includes Property of Opaqueness, centers social and physical visibility. Yamamoto investigates the shifting dynamics between viewer and performer as they play out over time, through movement, reaction, and reflection. The project engages the slippery relationship between visibility and agency, and how new viewer-performer relations can invite, entangle, and nourish simultaneous and multiple subjectivities.

We will begin by screening and discussing clips of the two works, then share and discuss his writings Noise and his book Direct Path To Detour. Then we will break out into small groups, where audiences will be able to share with each other their thoughts on the material. We will end with Taka sharing questions and suggestions for further research. We invite participants to join program organizers from On the Boards, Velocity Dance Center, and the Henry Art Gallery the following Friday, June 5th at 4 pm to continue discussion together.

This program is a collaboration between On the Boards, Henry Art Gallery, and Velocity Dance Center.

Click here to view Property of Opaqueness at Velocity Dance Center in its entirety.