A RED CARPET
THROUGH HIKETA ⟫
Video Performance, Installation
Red Carpet Through Hiketa
Video performance, installation
Hiketa, is a remote town in Shikoku Japan. Hundreds of years ago it was known as a bustling trade centre and port city. These days it is a quiet, country town with few visitors making it from the outside on a typical day. Many of its wooden houses remain however lining the narrow streets, and every year the residents in the historical areas decorate their house interior window displays for the annual dolls festival in March. During this time, the streets become livelier and more elaborate. A typical display consists of a plush red-carpet underlay or step display on which many traditional dolls in historical layered kimono are arranged.
For this performance, I roll a red-carpet from one side of the city to the other. I noticed that there were many striking features such as a bridge, or historical soy sauce brewery, and lighthouse that were painted vermillion. This, in addition to the carpeted interiors during the doll festival, seemed to connect and highlight the many spaces in the townscape.
I felt that the simple ritualistic action of rolling a carpet through the street brought a sense of attention. It also has a surrealistic quality on film, as if I am stepping through the picture plain, and pulling a paint-like red line across the landscape. In a way I felt like I had become a living doll myself, that had escaped temporarily from one of the displays. I made the video in mid-summer so I could mostly film only in the early morning due to the intense heat. The rolling, and unrolling, although it looks simple, is actually an excruciatingly difficult act of athletic labor especially when continued under such prolonged repetition in the hot weather.