Body and Time: Allegory at Bee Honey Honeycomb

Description:

Throughout his practice, Japanese performance and media artist Goji Hamada developed a complex personal mythology in which his own body served as a site for the exploration of time and space, life and death, and allegorical memory. Across his work, the body functions as a double-sided mirror, reflecting both the external world and its inner nature. Hamada’s performances are marked by richly symbolic props, including simple materials such as paper, alcohol, and honey; basic media such as video, Polaroid photography, and radio; and, at times, animals. Body and Time: Allegory at Bee Honey Honeycomb extends this material and conceptual inquiry through the use of video, drawing, and honey, employing animals—specifically the honeybee—as cultural metaphors through which to reflect on human existence.

Western Front organized a Canadian tour for Hamada, with his performance at the Grand Luxe Hall marking the conclusion of the tour. The tour included presentations at OBORO, Montréal; Language Plus, Alma; Le Lieu, Québec City; Eastern Edge, St. John’s; Galerie Sans Nom, Moncton; Niagara Artists’ Centre, St. Catharines; A Space, Toronto; Neutral Ground, Regina; The Alternator, Kelowna; and Open Space, Victoria.

Curated by Hank Bull and Ann McDonell. 

Presented with support from the Canada Council for the Arts under the Japan-Canada fund. 

Video documentation is available upon request.