Great White Light organized by Seiji Onishi, Kazuo Kawasumi, Mitsuyoshi Shioya, Goji Hamada performed at the Kishi Memorial Hall in Shibuya, Tokyo, on February 13, 1971. Ten years after the performance, Onishi released a recording of it in LP format as an appendix to his collection “The Works of Seiji Onishi 1966 → 1981” (Leonardo No Hikouki Sha, 1981, hereinafter referred to as “Works”). Given that “Works” was published in a small edition, and Onishi moved to Belgium soon after, it was difficult to get our hands around this documentation of the use of sound in the Japanese art of the 1970s. A reissue of this recording is Japanese Art Sound Archive’s first LP release.
Great White Light was full of noises created by the wind from the air blowers hitting the microphones. The artists stood in the center of the venue surrounded by the devices: four loudspeakers and air blowers, all facing outward, with a fixed microphone in front of the air outlet of each blower. Seats for the audience surrounded the circle, and a beam projector was set next to the wall. During the performance, Onishi operated the transformers of the blowers, and Shioya the lighting. Hamada performed his “action voice” with four microphones. No record was found concerning the role of Kawasumi, but he might have been in charge of manipulating the PA systems.
Text｜Tomotaro Kaneko
Design｜Tadao Kawamura
English Translation｜Manabu Matsushita
English Proofreading｜Aquiles Hadjis
Photo｜Eizaburo Hara
Thanks to Kyoko Onishi, Ayako Shioya, Riri Shimada, Eizaburo Hara Museum – Keiko Hara
© Great white Light
© Edition OMEGA POINT / Japanese Art Sound Archive
2018 OPS-001
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