Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81e5PP3pTyY

I recently completed a performance piece in my Sculpture 2 class last semester at the Herron School of Art in Indianapolis.  The piece was a physical  embodiment of the idealistic goals of suizen put into a type of Zhang Huan-ian performance with a bit of Tendai kaihogyo flare (if that makes any sense).  I plan to re edit a better video from the 45 minutes of video footage that was recorded.  I simply had to put together this short photo montage for Sophomore review. The assignment was to create a self portrait derived from a self selected "theme song" utilizing welding and metal in some way, naturally I had to choose a honkyoku. I decided on Alcvin's Yamagoe from Zen Shakuhachi 1 not only for his suprb execution, but also the concept of this honkyoku has conceptual relevance to my condition as a human being, in other words...it spoke to me!

I took two brake rotors off of an old suburban and welded them together stacked up on top of each other and welded two overlapping sets of 8 spokes which were nestled into a wooden hub that I chiseled out of a piece of poplar to create a rather heavy and harsh representation of a Dharmachakra. I then wove a tengai out of basket reed and straw; donned my samue and with a self constructed portable speaker system hidden under the robe blasting "Yamagoe",  took off downtown to the center of Indianapolis (the Circle City). I felt that the Dharmachakra and the circular orientation of the city and my current situation was a perfect fit. 

I hope you can enjoy and am always eager to answer any questions

Benjamin