AKIYA

In Akiya a reel-to-reel tape recorder plays a song that tells the story of the increasing number of abandoned houses and buildings in Japan. This contemporary story is told in the ancient style of Noh, a traditional Japanese theatrical form. The work does not show images of uninhabited buildings, instead they serve as a conceptual starting point. The lyrics of the poem are recited in archaic Muromachi period (1333–1573) Japanese. They are based on current newspaper articles and poetic fragments, metaphysics and peculiar humor, giving character and personality to the voice we hear. The song is associated with the machine rather than the human. The performer becomes a machine and the machine becomes a performer. The work creates a future mythology or a dialogue between past and present by juxtaposing the traditional storytelling form with a contemporary interpretation of the current phenomenon of desolate houses.