Kamiku­chi ​‘Mouth of God’, 2006

Per­form­ance, digit­al video HD 1920 × 1080 16:9

12:14 min

Filmed in Tokyo, Japan

Cam­era by Kar­en Guthrie and Nina Pope

Live audio mix and music com­posed by Tim Olden

Live video mix­ing by Jam­ie Goodenough

Back­ing vocals by Childhood

Pho­to­graphy by Nath­aniel Mellors

Com­mis­sioned and pro­duced by Grizedale Arts and Ikebukuro Inter­na­tion­al Arts Festival

Cli­ent:
Ikebukuro City Council 

Loc­a­tion:
Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan 

Ques­tion:
How can we con­trol illeg­al cycle parking? 

As part of the Grizedale Arts ​‘Sev­en Samurai’ pro­ject, Coates offered to work on behalf of the loc­al city coun­cil in Tokyo. On an out­door stage, he made an impro­vised ritu­al in response to their ques­tion. Tra­di­tion­ally, sham­ans in Japan and Korea were women, Coates’s Mar­ilyn Mon­roe cos­tume was a sym­bol­ic cul­tur­al asso­ci­ation for the audi­ence. The three male back­ing sing­ers (taught by Coates to be anim­al and bird imper­son­at­ors) were from a band called Child­hood based in Tokyo. The film is an edited ver­sion of the live event.