Hair-washer district in the Theater

installation and performance

Novemver, 2007

"Project Perform ", De Brakke Grond

Amsterdam, the Netherland

This project was invited in "Project Perform"-a performance festival by Stichting Perform in De Brakke Grond. I developed an idea of Hair-washer district which I had done in Oude Kerk, January 2007. Washing hair is a private perform as a daily ritual, not only to wash dirtiness out, but also to recover from tiredness and repair ourselves. The installation is considered as a sort of district to create a special time for audiences with a specific condition of a space, to give them a service, to wash his/her hair while they are lying back on a seat with the sound of water and conversation. Specifically, a theater where I have an opportunity to do this project is a place to see a relationship between performers and audiences, to see and to be seen, or the other way around. Audiences watch to whole process to wash hair and one audience as a sort of life portrait. Also the audience who is getting hair wash can watch audiences from the stage who are watching the performance. how; I have trained a technique to wash hair from a professional hairdresser. I build a space to wash viewer's hair. The space consists of furniture like a coat rack, a seat, a table with a sink, a towel rack, a pool with water pomp, an electronic fan hung from a ceiling, several buckets and a pan on a stove. On the table, a washbasin, a comb, towels, a block of shampoo, a block of conditioner and a natural sponge. The space is dark and quiet with several lights enough to see the performance for another audiences. Another audiences can sit on an auditorium which usually places in Brakke Grond Expozaal. There is a screen on a back wall shows two life images. One is an night-shot image from a video camera on the ceiling to give another angle of performance. The other is from another video camera which is shot by a cameraman on the stage. This is also night-shot image and to shoot a surface of water, water of buckets, the electronic fan and audiences on the auditorium. Two images are operated by an operator in a booth placed on the auditorium There is a signboard in front of the space. It says " Hair washer-district, opening time ,etc. An audience who is interested can have wash hair. The audience takes off a coat and puts it on the coat rack. Lie back on the seat with a blanket and cape, leans head back on the sink on the table. I carry a bucket of water from a pool. I mix water and boiled water from the pan on the stove. I pour water on the audience's hair, wash the hair with shampoo and conditioner, give a massage. The water goes down to another bucket on the floor through a pipe, I dry the hair with a towel and a hair-dryer. After the audience leaves, I go to carry the bucket with left over water to a certain spot to keep. Then, I prepare for the next audience. Tools and furniture are made by myself as ritual elements for this service. Every elements is put on a specific spot with functional order in the installation. The view of the installation should be a perfect world for the purpose to wash hair in the theater as meeting point between reality and created reality in the theater. how many people I had is 27 people in 3 days. List of equipment Swimming pool 250 cm wide X 70 cm depth An air pomp Water tube for filling water in swimming pool Water - Furniture - A coat rack A chair A Table with a sink A shelf for towels A towel rack A stove - Tools and objects- A washbasin A comb A block of shampoo A block of conditioner Towels A hair-dryer Extension electricity cables for kettle, hair-dryer, lights, a camera A kettle at least 10 buckets A blanket A rope A sponge 2 cameras A projector A screen cables for connecting cameras with projector An operation table A mixer for operation -Persons- Aki Takeda (camera) Judith Leysner (operation)