Esinem
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Joined: 5/9/2006
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After recently emailing the Arts Editors at Time Out to see if they would cover any attempts to move Shibari and associated forms of bondage into the arena of performance art, I received the most incredibly bigoted and ill-informed reply. I would have expected better from Time Out. The irony of the fact that they featured the Araki Exhibition, which, to use TO's words, contained pictures of "bare-naked ladies in bondage" and they are not beyond using articles on porn/SM etc. to sell their rag has not escaped me. Judge for yourselves from our exchange:
Hi
We are hoping to put on unique live 'showcase' performance art events featuring Shibari/Kinbaku. Shibari/Kinbaku is Japanese rope art and features beautiful bindings and balletic suspensions. It has its roots in the ancient and secretive martial art of the Hojojutsu, which dates from the Edo period of the 1600's. Rope has a special place in Japanese culture as a primary tool, whilst binding and the control of nature are also very fundamental to their culture (Bonsai, Kimono bindings etc.).
In recent decades, it has been performed for select audiences, in Japan, on a scene that is only just beginning to emerge from the underground into contemporary performance art. Go Arisue, one of the world's top nawashi (rope artists), is one of the leading figures in this mission to forge a place for his art is this area. We also hope to put on perfomances by Go, who has never publically performed outside Japan. I was priveleged to host his only private performance abroad.
Quite recently, Sam Taylor-Wood exhibited a series of photographs (http://www.matthewmarks.com/index.php?n=2&c=8&e=...) models suspended using Shibari techniques, but with the ropes Photoshopped out. Kate Moss has also featured in Vogue, I think it was, bound Shibari-style. In July, I and another rope artist, will involved in a performance with James O'Shea (the amputee dancer with CanDoCo) and another model to music from Uniform at the Notting Hill Arts Club.
The picture below [img]http://www.esinem.com/Elly%20Jean/pages/Elly29.htm[/img] shows the sort of performance we would like to put on. Do you think this is something that you might like to run a piece on? Would you be able to, at least, put in a listing for us for the Notting Hill Arts gig or our proposed showcase performance?
I look forward to your response. Please call me if you have any questions.
Bruce Argue
<deleted>
MY REPLY:
I find your reaction extraordinary and misinformed. No, not it's always women and...erh, she's wearing a kimono, not naked. For example, this picture is one of a series Ulli Richter shot with a male dancer. [img]http://www.esinem.com/Ulli%20Richter/pages/Torsten%2009Oct2005%20(60).htm[/img] I think you misunderstand as it has nothing to do with enslavement. On the contrary, it is very much a two-way exchange. I would be happy to provide you with information upon which to make an informed judgement. Furthermore, it doesn't relate to the repulsive practice of foot-binding in any way, as this was a Chinese practice (qv http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_binding).
It beggars belief! This is what we are up against. Feel free to respond to TO or any other media source. See thread on IC: http://www.informedconsent.co.uk/boards/activism/92059/
[Mod Note: email address and pasted email deleted]
< Message edited by ModeratorEleven -- 6/30/2006 5:50:21 AM >
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Sarah Kent, Time Out Arts Editor: Bondage is "repu... - 
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