Massages | Massages
Deck Installation at Walsh Gallery
The Massage Project
Gabriel Bizen Akagawa
I use a portable deck as a liminal space, which is both public and private, for intimate physical and verbal exchanges. Sometimes wearing a hanten, a traditional Japanese housecoat, I perform massages for people who sit in the chair. Free head, neck, hand and arm massages suggest intimate space by providing both a service and a physical form of communication. My family members in Japan are barbers, (Takayuki Tomobe) who give massages to customers after their haircut and to each other after work. By gifting this physical experience, I am hoping to extend the notion of my family into a public audience. I give these massages in art and street spaces on the portable deck to distort the line between me, the passer-by, and an experience with the deck and tree.
Deck Installation at Walsh Gallery
The Massage Project
Gabriel Bizen Akagawa
I use a portable deck as a liminal space, which is both public and private, for intimate physical and verbal exchanges. Sometimes wearing a hanten, a traditional Japanese housecoat, I perform massages for people who sit in the chair. Free head, neck, hand and arm massages suggest intimate space by providing both a service and a physical form of communication. My family members in Japan are barbers, (Takayuki Tomobe) who give massages to customers after their haircut and to each other after work. By gifting this physical experience, I am hoping to extend the notion of my family into a public audience. I give these massages in art and street spaces on the portable deck to distort the line between me, the passer-by, and an experience with the deck and tree.