May 18, 2020
ARIGATO MASK
齋藤はぢめ
社会に蔓延する先入観やステレオタイプに介入するパフォーマンスを行う齋藤は、新宿の横断歩道で、マスクが加速させる匿名性とそれが覆い隠す個人の思いや主張の関係性を描き出す。映像では、マスクをつけた作者本人が横断歩道の向こう側で何かを叫んでおり、その声がかすかに聞こえる。映像の後半では、齋藤が付けたピンマイクを通して、その主張の内容が明らかになる。ここで述べられる皮肉ともとれる形式的な感謝の意は、マスクの匿名性によって可能となった主張でもあるが、その分声は届きにくくなっている。
ARIGATO MASK
Hajime Saito
Known for giving performances about intervening preconceptions and stereotyping in society, Saito has pictured the relationship between the anonymity accelerated by the use of masks and the hidden personal thoughts and assertions, at a pedestrian crossing in Shinjuku. In the video, you can faintly hear the masked artist shouting something from across the pedestrian crossing. In the latter half of the video, you can hear what she was asserting through a pin microphone on her. The solemn gratitude expressed here, which can also be taken as sarcasm, is an assertion made possible due to the anonymity provided by her mask. But concurrently, her voice is harder to be heard.