Phase Transition

The "Hyakunin Isshu," crystallized by the differentiated repetition of "5 – 7 – 5 – 7 – 7," was firstly solidified as a representation of the passed Heian Period, by using the poems as decoration for the sliding doors of a residence near Mount Ogura. Since each of the poems was cut into two parts, the 5 – 7 – 5 called "kami-no-ku" (upper phrase) and the 7 – 7 called "shimo-no-ku" (lower phrase), in a uniform manner by the ingression of the "karuta," the poems have been liquefied. Today, in the overflow of "0"s and "1"s, these have been further cut into pieces, gasified, about to be consumed globally. According to this "phase transition," the subject of enjoyment seems to have shifted and expanded from aristocrats to warriors, from men to women, and from Japanese to others.

Composed in 2012 with an engineeristic elaboration of the "Hyakunin Isshu," not as a "set" of 100 poems, but as one undividable “entity,” the "Comments for 100 poems by 100 poets" might encounter the risk of inclusion into such a context even more than it did when it was composed. The "Karuta Installation Performance" at the beginning of the program might be even more exposed to such contextualization. In this overwhelming, inclusive contextuality, I feel grateful for the opportunity to offer this de/re-contextualizing work towards an auditory experience: an event yet to come.