Tatsumi Orimoto (dt.)

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50 Grandmamas, Kawasaki-City Museum, 25. März 2006, courtesy of the artist

 

Die inzwischen über 60 Aktionen mit seiner Mutter (Art-Mama-Serie) unterbrechen die alltägliche Routine. In einem für Alte meist eintönigen Leben stellen die Aktionen Orimotos pathetische Augenblicke des Innehaltens dar, die mit Festtagen oder auch Geburts- und Jahrestagen vergleichbar sind. Auch Nachbarn und Freunde werden einbezogen, und bei Veranstaltungen in Galerien und Museen beläuft sich die Zahl der Mitwirkenden schon mal auf 50. Solche Aktionen, die Zuwendung und Aufmerksamkeit manifestieren, wirken sich günstigen auf den Verlauf von Depressionen und Alzheimererkrankungen aus, weil sie ihr Fortschreiten verlangsamen, wie Beiträge in Floating Time (Vol.3, Nov. 2002), der Zeitschrift des Sotoasahikawa Hospitals, in dem Orimoto Workshops für Alte und Behinderte anleitete, bestätigen.

Tatsumi Orimoto (engl.)

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Big Sponge on my Mother's Head, photography by Masahiro Suda, courtesy of the artist

Big Sponge on my Mother’s Head, Kawasaki-City Fire Station, Nov. 15, 1998, photography by Masahiro Suda, courtesy of the artist

Since 1996 Tatsumi Orimoto has included his mother in about 40 actions, which he labels „Art-Mama“. These actions interrupt the daily routine and loneliness he and his mother experience.  Art actions mean to bring intensity into a dull life and create memorable moments. Some events resemble festival days and jubilees, in which sometimes up to 50 participants are involved. These events manifest care, attention and love publicly; they help to balance the symptoms of depression and Alzheimer. Therapists acknowledged this in the November-issue of Floating Time, the Journal of the Satoasahikawa Hospital (Vol. 3, 2002), where Orimoto directed workshops for elderly and mentally disabled persons.

For an essay on Tatsumi Orimoto: Communication through the Tire Tube
klick: http://www.fotogalerie-wien.at/content.php?id=34&ausstellung=110&details=1&PHPSESSID=c1d7013397c7b708fd1e9d860a965135
The adventure of communication between old and young in greater Tokyo as photographed by Tatsumi Orimoto and seen by Johannes Lothar Schroeder

Mother of Performance Art

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A man tousles the thin hair of an old woman while you can hear Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. More intensity of the sound exaggerates the massage of the scalp and the expression of the mother’s face changes between relaxation, delight and surprise. In short this is what happens during the Performance “Beethoven-Mama” by the Japanese artist Tatsumi Orimoto and his mother Odai the 20th of October 2012 in Kawasaki-City.

courtesy of the artist

Video-still: Mitsunori Demachi, Courtesy of the artist

Since Orimoto sen. died the artist has been taking care of his depressive and hearing-impaired mother, who he continuously has included in his artwork since 1996. This highlighted the absurd and grotesque aspects of the dementia; his mother – born in 1920 – suffers from. Orimoto communicates the resulting artwork, consisting of photographs, videos, posters and drawings worldwide. Also he uses performances and events in galleries, museums and art-fairs.
His new work combines the cliché of Ludwig van Beethoven as a crazy composer with therapeutic effects of a scalp massage. However performances like this are no artistic extravagances but develop from everyday experiences and the needs of both. Orimoto calls his global activities “Communication Art” and now has to cope with a reduction of his activities abroad, as he feels responsible for the daily care of his mother. For her, a person with Alzheimer, who is unable to hear and who is losing memory, he looks for ways to create communicative situation. His drastic actions help to build bridges of communication to break down the growing walls of solitude of dementia.
Johannes Lothar Schröder