Nam June Paik Art Center presents a winter screening of re-edited footage from Adelic Penguin, Wongga Dance Song, The Dreaming, and Rain Song featuring Ryuichi Sakamoto. Adelic Penguin, Wongga Dance Song, The Dreaming, and Rain Song are from Ryuichi Sakamoto's 1985 album Esperanto. Esperanto is an album of music composed for a performance by New York-based choreographer Molissa Fenley. Ryuichi Sakamoto made several of the songs into music videos with Kit Fitzgerald and Paul Guerin, and Nam June Paik was involved in the production as a consultant.
Adelic Penguin is a video that seamlessly blends the graceful movements of a penguin with Ryuichi Sakamoto's performance. The penguin graphics, which look like 8-bit pixelated game images, overlap with the real penguins to create a cute scene. Wongga Dance Song begins with an explanation that it was inspired by the drawings of victims on the 40th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, and is intercut with footage of Charlotte Moorman and Nam June Paik's performance of Guadalcanal Requiem from the Wake Up, It’s 2024! exhibition. The Dreaming is a dreamlike video that constantly transforms his face and performance from Adelic Penguin into abstract graphic effects, while Rain Song begins with a colorful graphic of Mount Fuji filling the screen, but the second half of the song is edited out, making it difficult to appreciate. Instead of Ryuichi Sakamoto's familiar piano melodies, his sophisticated mix of techno and electronic music is accompanied by a whimsical performance.
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Dancing with the Penguins
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Dancing with the Penguins
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Dancing with the Penguins
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Dancing with the Penguins
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Dancing with the Penguins
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Dancing with the Penguins
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Dancing with the Penguins
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Dancing with the Penguins
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Dancing with the Penguins
Dancing with the Penguins