naked

Entering the Baryshnikov Arts Center with no idea what to expect other than knowing the title of the exhibit. Naked: A Living Installation. You see, I like to research after the fact. Experience first, understand later.

The chatter from the ride up to the six floor ends as we exit the elevator. Low lighting, a stillness, only a few whispers here and there. We’re directed to a small studio where coats are hung and cell phones are silenced. A video plays (silent of course) and several black boxes are displayed where one could peer into and see films of past performances. An occasional dripping of water can be heard.

Through another doorway we’re directed through a hallway made of a textured canvas of some sort with holes, as if burned by cigarettes, for peaking into the next room. Feathers and other things (which I later learned was sea salt and some sort of rice paste) adorned the “wall.” As we rounded the corner there are spectators (some seated, some standing in the background) and what appears to be a mound of decaying earth in the middle of the room. As my eyes adjust to the dimmed light, I can make out small dried bouquets of leaves or flowers hanging from the ceiling, casting shadows throughout the room. Every once in a while more drips of water can be heard. The mound of earth made of feathers, sticks and perhaps dried leaves gives it the feeling of a cave.

There they are….two bodies…naked.

Thin, fragile bodies coated with a white powder with streaks of dirt, both appearing almost ghost-like. Their chests and stomachs slowly moving up and down and then…a small shift. A hand moves every so slightly as if one reaches for the other.

Initial thoughts? Japan. My mind immediately goes to the destruction and death in that country. But then only minutes later a sense of beauty emerges. An awareness. A connection between these two bodies. It’s as if they are far from each other, yet so close. Every so often their eyes open, yet there’s a feeling there’s no focus. Almost a feeling of decay…yet sensual.

Eiko & Koma are a Japanese performance duo who create a unique theater of movement out of stillness, shape, light, sound, and time. Incredible!