Welcome to My Restless Night, 2024
Performance with Visual & Sound
collaboration with panna hyun and Natsuko Yonezawa
in Exhibition Lavender Hibernation Neon
curated by Yueh Ning Lee
Photography by Nefeli Kentoni & Vinx Photography
In the corner of the Crypt Gallery, Yui Yamamoto welcomes visitors to immerse themselves in her psychological and physical experience of a restless night. Driven by high pressure, stress, anxiety, and uncertainty about the future, Yamamoto undergoes insomnia as well as its unpleasant effects.
The project on sleep began during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Yamamoto's sleeping patterns deteriorated. This led to the video performance “My Strange Wish to be a Worm,” which delved into the transitional state between wakefulness and sleep known as hypnagogia. Building on this previous work, in this live performance – "Welcome to My Restless Night" – the artist will be affected by physical and sensory interruptions through animated visuals and sounds operated in live. Collaborating among multidisciplinary artist panna hyun for creating stunning interactive visuals, Natsuko Yonezawa for art direction, sound design, and real-time program operation, and Yui Yamamoto as the director of this performance, a team of three artists generate an uneasy intimate bedtime.
Performance with Visual & Sound
collaboration with panna hyun and Natsuko Yonezawa
in Exhibition Lavender Hibernation Neon
curated by Yueh Ning Lee
Photography by Nefeli Kentoni & Vinx Photography
In the corner of the Crypt Gallery, Yui Yamamoto welcomes visitors to immerse themselves in her psychological and physical experience of a restless night. Driven by high pressure, stress, anxiety, and uncertainty about the future, Yamamoto undergoes insomnia as well as its unpleasant effects.
The project on sleep began during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Yamamoto's sleeping patterns deteriorated. This led to the video performance “My Strange Wish to be a Worm,” which delved into the transitional state between wakefulness and sleep known as hypnagogia. Building on this previous work, in this live performance – "Welcome to My Restless Night" – the artist will be affected by physical and sensory interruptions through animated visuals and sounds operated in live. Collaborating among multidisciplinary artist panna hyun for creating stunning interactive visuals, Natsuko Yonezawa for art direction, sound design, and real-time program operation, and Yui Yamamoto as the director of this performance, a team of three artists generate an uneasy intimate bedtime.
Grief in Progress, 2023
Composition of the Sound from videos from YouTube
Upper Unkle in London, the United Kingdom.
Grief in Progress is an audio visual performance reflecting the artist’s personal feelings on current society. Sourcing from YouTube and mixing the images and sound from the live streaming of various war zones, Yamamoto will compose the soundscape.
Composition of the Sound from videos from YouTube
Upper Unkle in London, the United Kingdom.
Grief in Progress is an audio visual performance reflecting the artist’s personal feelings on current society. Sourcing from YouTube and mixing the images and sound from the live streaming of various war zones, Yamamoto will compose the soundscape.
absence, 2023
Cement, Paper, Salt, Transparent wire, Plaster, dried Blueberry plants
Platform in Vaasa, Finland.
Death comes equally to every living being. When one’s soul is departed, the body is just a substance. When the body is gone, what remains?
Using items such as salt and casket, Yamamoto explores her view of facing loss. Inspired by the death of her own family members and the ceremonial activities, the artist transforms Platform to a ceremonial space for those who are no longer with us.
For Night of the Arts the artist invites visitors to participate the installation by pouring the salt to the paper cones.
Cement, Paper, Salt, Transparent wire, Plaster, dried Blueberry plants
Platform in Vaasa, Finland.
Death comes equally to every living being. When one’s soul is departed, the body is just a substance. When the body is gone, what remains?
Using items such as salt and casket, Yamamoto explores her view of facing loss. Inspired by the death of her own family members and the ceremonial activities, the artist transforms Platform to a ceremonial space for those who are no longer with us.
For Night of the Arts the artist invites visitors to participate the installation by pouring the salt to the paper cones.
Thousand Scrapes Thousand Response, 2023
Razor wire, paint, washi tape
Curated by Two Temple Place and Thorp Stavri at Two Temple Place, London.
Barbed wire is a symbol of confinement, exclusion, and segregation. In Thousand Irritation and Thousand Response, Yamamoto’s wall of wire represents processes of migration and her experience as an East Asian woman in the UK and its alien environment.
During the exhibition, Yamamoto will create a durational performative piece, silently cutting the barbs from the wire and replacing them with delicate washi paper. Washi paper is used in Japanese Shinto and Buddhist ritual, tied to a tree or shrine to represent a connection to the gods and the sharing of energy.
In the corner of the room, there is the desk and chair where visitors can write their responses of the artist’s question “what did you do to be accepted?” With the exmaple of her experiences adopting and accepted to the new society, she asks visitors to write their experiences on Washi paper, which will be the part of the installation.
Razor wire, paint, washi tape
Curated by Two Temple Place and Thorp Stavri at Two Temple Place, London.
Barbed wire is a symbol of confinement, exclusion, and segregation. In Thousand Irritation and Thousand Response, Yamamoto’s wall of wire represents processes of migration and her experience as an East Asian woman in the UK and its alien environment.
During the exhibition, Yamamoto will create a durational performative piece, silently cutting the barbs from the wire and replacing them with delicate washi paper. Washi paper is used in Japanese Shinto and Buddhist ritual, tied to a tree or shrine to represent a connection to the gods and the sharing of energy.
In the corner of the room, there is the desk and chair where visitors can write their responses of the artist’s question “what did you do to be accepted?” With the exmaple of her experiences adopting and accepted to the new society, she asks visitors to write their experiences on Washi paper, which will be the part of the installation.
Fluid Life, 2022
Video, Super8 camera
Collaboration with Daria Razo and Adam Razvi
Video, Super8 camera
Collaboration with Daria Razo and Adam Razvi
An experimental short film featuring the performance and collaboration by Daria Lazo, Yui Yamamoto and Adam Razvi. It is a conceptual piece that explores several topics while focusing on the notion that we are primarily formed of liquid, showing how people interact with water in this particular situation in a very amusing way. It can also be interpreted from the perspective of gender fluidity, depending on the viewer. Despite being a female performer, the film never defines her, and the only male hands are those you see at the very end. Although the film was based on the original concept, it was unscripted, therefore all the performance was improvised. The film was shot on Super8 in order to explore these complex themes through a playful gaze.