Photo: Damian Griffiths. Courtesy Camden Arts Centre, 2018

Oni-bi (fen fire)

2013–

“MOT Satellite 2017 Spring: by the deep rivers,” video: Yoi Suzuki

The title refers to the mysterious fires in Japan and other parts of Asia that are regarded as earthly manifestations of human and animal spirits.
The installation is composed of a self-made glockenspiel that was inspired by a similar instrument created by American pipe organist Victor Clark Searle, who immigrated to Japan after the end of World War II. A faint electric current is passed through a screen, and when a curtain blows in the wind and touches the screen, the electric current passes through the curtain, producing small sparks. Depending on where the curtain touches the screen, different notes from the glockenspiel’s keyboard are played, creating gamelan-like reverberations that combine to produce a kind of otherworldly music.
Exhibition history: Inter-Resonance: Inter-Organics Japanese Performance and Sound Art; Voluta; Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2016: Forming in the Pupil of an Eye

Photo: Damian Griffiths. Courtesy Camden Arts Centre

“Media Art/Kitchen Aomori,” photo: Kuniya Oyamada, 2014

“Media Art/Kitchen Aomori,” photo: Kuniya Oyamada, 2014

“Media Art/Kitchen Aomori,” photo: Kuniya Oyamada, 2014

“MOT Satellite Spring 2017,” photo: Haruyuki Shirai

Oni-bi (fen fire)
2013–
Materials: Glockenspiel, Solenoid, Drumstick, Net window, Conductive strings, etc.
Size: Dimensions variable

Oni-bi (fen fire)