Uguisu-bari Sound Installation
Kyoto Art Walk, Kiyomizudera Temple, Kyoto
2005
Curated by Shinji Yamamoto
This project was part of Kyoto Art Walk, an event which presented installations by contemporary artists in old
sacred buildings of Kyoto.
The installation is based on experience of the traditional wooden Uguisu-bari, "nightingale floor", in certain
parts of Nijo Castle in Kyoto
during a visit to the city some years ago. The "nightingale floor" is made with a special timber technique
which
makes it impossible to
walk on the floor without it making quite beautiful squeaking sounds. The idea of the floor surrounding the
living and sleeping quarters of the palace was to work as alarm system. No one could enter the space without
being heard.
This installation is a modern, simplified version of this kind of floor made to the tatami space of Joju-In of
Kiyomizu Temple. Pressure active censor mats are placed underneath some tatami in the space.
Each censor mat is connected to a computer trough specially made control box. The computer is connected to
amplifier and speakers. All equipment, speakers and cables are hidden so that there is nothing visible in the
space. When someone walks over a tatami
which has a censor mat underneath it the computer plays a certain sound file with quite low volume.
The sound files are modified from the live recordings made at original "nightingale floor" of Nijo Castle just
some days before the exhibition. In this way the project as a whole connects two historical buildings of
Kyoto.
Admiring the garden from the tatami space or from the balcony in front of it is a very personal, intimate and
sacred situation although it happens in a public space. The idea of this installation is to tell in a subtle
way
the person meditating and looking at the garden if he or she is sharing the experience with someone else
without
having to break his or hers attention.