Dumb Type - S/N (1995)

Dumb Type's work is as formally complex as it is socially involved. Their most well-known works fall somewhere within the bounds of performance, often accompanied by installations. In many ways, such work fulfills their original declared intent to "develop an art/performance form to fill the gap between static visualart and performance dependent on dialogue." The 'dumb' in Dumb Type thus does not denote a level of intelligence, but rather describes a desire to create without words. "When we first came together," explained Furuhashi in High Performance (Summer 1990), "we just had too many things we wanted to say. We decided not to shout. We try to keep it simple." Although Dumb Type's work spans a much greater range than performance, they are generally perceived as a performance group because touring outside Kyoto forces them to modify works to fit more conventional settings and traditional schemes of venue scheduling. When they work in Kyoto, they are known for spending weeks or, given the opportunity, months just preparing a space for one of their events, often completely restructuring an interior to meet their demands.

The performance S/N (1992-96) is about the body as love, and involves performers fighting against even more sophisticated technological stage devices. With AIDS as the thematic center, the work brings out issues such a gender, homosexuality, nationality, identity, and life and death. S/N is critical not only of the reality of discrimination in contemporary society, but also attempts to use this criticism as an opportunity to advocate the message that love can equal communication, provided that humans and technology can be permitted to intersect freely and equally.

1-Counter-Invention
based on the soundtrack for "S/N" 1993
2-Silence Fiction
based on the soundtrack for "Pleasure Life" 1988
3-Water
based on the soundtrack for "036-Pleasure Life" 1987
4-Vacant
based on the soundtrack for "The Enigma of the Late Afternoon" 1992
5-Trans-Limit
based on the soundtrack for "S/N" 1993
6-Love/Sex
based on the soundtrack for "Plan for Sleep" 1986
7-White Out
written for "S/N" 1992
8-Pier 21
based on the soundtrack for "036-Pleasure Life" 1987
9-Picnic
based on the soundtrack for "Pleasure Life" 1988
10-Passport Control
based on the soundtrack for "pH" 1990

Released by Disques Du Soleil Et De L'Acier in 1995.
Composed & performed by Tiru Yamanaka & Teji Yamanaka
Produced by Ryoji Ikeda.

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