Overview
A.S.M. Kobayashi’s work mines accidental recordings, discarded messages, and found objects. What first appears as banal material, with detailed attention offers great insight into everyday characters, lived experience, interpersonal conflict and social history. Drawn to materials that have an unremarkable everydayness, yet are honest documents with intrinsic humor she studiously performs a multitude of characters inspired by these found narratives. Her practice is led by a ferocious curiosity and commitment to her chosen source material, understanding that with time and patience she can unpack the revelations that they contain. Join Alison S. M. Kobayashi, an award-winning interdisciplinary artist, in an artist talk full of curiosity, humor and sonic exploration. Follow the evolution of her practice from early video art, to her performance Say Something Bunny! received critical acclaim heralded as “The best new theater experience in town” by Vogue, was a NYTimes critics’ pick, was listed in Time Out’s 2017 top ten productions, nominated for a 2018 Drama Desk award and United Solo Special Award. She’ll invite you into her work in progress, Electric Neon Clock, where Kobayashi transforms her family’s WWII internment file into a documentary installation interweaving archival material, video, sound and immersive performance.
Objective
This talk aims to illuminate how A.S.M. Kobayashi transforms found audio, archival documents, and everyday ephemera into immersive documentary-performance works.
Target Audience
Conceptual Thinkers, Artists, Art Students, and Storytellers
Things Audience Members Will Learn
- Deep Listening
- Conceptual Art Practices
- Banal Objects Contain Compelling Histories
- How to engage with the world with curiosity
- Canadian History of Japanese Internment