Aki Sasamoto: Yield Point

April 6–May 13, 2017 
Organized by Tim Griffin and Matthew Lyons

After an encounter with a tensile testing machine—which measures the state of matter as it turns plastic, with elements traveling back and forth to produce resonance—Aki Sasamoto started to construct Yield Point, an installation exploring the need for sufficient elasticity in life. How close can one approach one’s breaking point, and what happens between one’s limit and one’s end?

As Sasamoto writes, “When I am stretched, my body fails me, and only then do I realize I had already started to collapse some time before the shut down. Backtracking to uncover an exact tipping point, I collect multiple hypothetical scenarios, repeating the moment of collapse. This is how a single collapse generates many wounds. I have an empathetic bond with the droopy elastic band of worn underwear. Sometimes I feel just like it. I wish to learn from this and elongate the healthy life of the material next time. I swear this to each object I greet (a new pair of underwear, a new notebook, a new partner, etc). But the chicken race leads me to approach a threshold again, multiplying my wounds anyhow. I am now an expert in stretching.”

For this Brooklyn-based, Japanese artist, an object is never understood merely as its humble self, but instead exists within a web of associations and relationships—connections that may take shape through intricate networks of cords and cables, but only at the same time as suggesting invisible links between the personal and universal.

In Yield Point, such objects will be quietly performing within a lighting design by Madeline Best, and Sasamoto will insert weekly performances to unpack the notion of elasticity, sometimes solo, and other times with saxophonist Matt Bauder or singer-songwriter Alsarah.

Performance schedule:

Thursday April 13, 6pm: Aki Sasamoto solo

Saturday April 15, 6pm: Aki Sasamoto solo

Thursday April 20, 6pm: Aki Sasamoto with Matt Bauder

Saturday April 22, 4pm: Aki Sasamoto with Matt Bauder

Thursday April 27, 6pm: Aki Sasamoto solo

Saturday April 29, 6pm: Aki Sasamoto solo

Thursday May 4, 6pm: Aki Sasamoto with Alsarah

Saturday May 6, 6pm: Aki Sasamoto with Alsarah

April 6–May 13

Installation image of Aki Sasamoto’s Yield Point at The Kitchen, 2017. Photo: Jason Mandella.