Tatsumi Orimoto: Live in Translation

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This exhibition brings into focus the artistic metamorphosis of works made by Japanese artist Tatsumi Orimoto. The exhibition features video, performance and photographic works from his archive such as, 'Pull to Ear', 'Bread Man' and 'Walking in a Street while Wearing a Carton Box on my Feet' and spans from 1972 to the present. In Liverpool, Orimoto will stage performances of Bread Man and 50 Grandmama's. Live In Translation celebrates the unique relationship Orimoto has developed to the medium of translation which allow audiences to become participants in his artworks. An early pioneer of what was to become known as relational aesthetics, he used the camera as a way of taking art into the public realm and inviting the public to become essential actors in new art works. In the era of flashmob and instant imaging his strategy of taking art to the people seems like a prophectic paradigm. Also ssignificant is that they show the importance of images in the construction of the memory of events. In order to hold on to our experiences we have to become producers of our own mythology. Through his legendary Bread Man persona Orimoto has travelled the world and featured in numerous biennials from Sydney to Venice. This relationship between performance, memory and image is most moving in his later series of works that feature his mother. The Art Mama series has captured the imagination as it provides an insight into ways in which the artist has taken a universal issue that affects society and turned it into inspiration for an ongoing portrait of our relationship to self-image and aging. The performance 50 Grandmama's will take place on Saturday 3 July, 6-9pm.