On The Table, video documentation
Seiji Shimoda
November 1, 1990
Creative Access Description
Colour analogue video of a work of performance art. The video opens with a shot of a middle aged Japanese man with short dark hair, wearing black sweat pants, and a dark green long sleeve t shirt standing behind a small rectangular table. He sets up a portable cassette player connected to two small desktop speakers and plays an old fashion crooning love song with a vocal duet over swelling strings. He stands motionless as the song plays, holding the cassette player with both hands. The song ends, and a similar song plays for a few minutes before he fades it out with the volume control.He then picks up a folded black garbage bag and tosses it in the air repeatedly, catching and throwing it with his right hand while holding his left hand behind his back. The bag gradually opens and he grabs the opening with both hands, swinging the bag around and filling it with air before cinching the opening tightly and tying it off. He rubs and prods at the inflated bag with both hands while holding it against his body making stretching and squeaking noises with the plastic. He continues for some time, intensifying the noises before biting several small holes in the bag, blowing air in and forcing air out to produce a high pitched whistle noises. After completely deflating and crumpling the bag, the man clears the cassette player and speakers from the table.
The camera pans out, showing the floor is covered in a sheet of plastic. The man strips naked and wipes his muscular body and the tabletop with his shirt. He then sits on the edge of the table fully bent over at the waist with his head on his knees and his arms and legs hanging off the sides of the table. He remains in this position for some time before slowly raising his lower legs and then extending his arms outward in front of him, then to his sides. He then lays back on the table, raising his legs over himself until his toes touch the table behind his head. His breathing is audible, showing the difficulty of his movements and poses. He raises his legs toward the ceiling, rotating on his neck and shoulder across the table before lowering his legs and scooting backward and bringing his knees to his face, which shows a look of intense concentration. A siren is heard in the background as he he kicks over and plants his toes on the table, raising his body upward then lowering his head as if to somersault off the table. He continues to make a series of slow movements and poses while balancing on the table, his breaths becoming increasingly laboured. In an intense display of strength he crawls under the table from end to end without touching the floor.
After a final sequence of movement laying face down on top of the table, he lowers his feet to the floor and slowly climbs off the table. He crouches and restarts the crooning music from the cassette player, returning it and the connected speakers to the tabletop. He stands at the table's edge, breathing slowly as a few droplets of sweat fall from his head. The song builds to its finale and he speaks a few words in thanks before the audience applauds and the shot fades to black.
Description
Video documentation of Seiji Shimoda's On The Table performance. Shot by Mike MacDonald.Identifier
1990.1101 ONT V001Extent
1 Hi-8 tape, 00:42:26Tape Number
90-022Language
Videographer
Mike MacDonaldArtist
Seiji ShimodaRelated program
On the Table (Related)In copyright. For uses outside of Fair Dealing please contact grunt gallery.