Charrada & Headphones
Charrada & Headphones

Charrada & Headphones

Multimedia installetion
Spain 2004
Video for flat TV, Mini DV, PAL, 5:4, Colour, No sound, 2'56''
Cordless headphones, human hair, gilden charro buttons, wooden showcase, red velvet and glass (120 x 40 x 40 cm.)

In the video Charrada*1, Kaoru Katayama, dressed in traditional Salamancan costume, invades the dance floor of a disco, armed with a pair of cordless earphones, and performs a traditional dance. The earphones which transmit the traditional Salamancan songs to the artist, and isolate her from the techno sound of the space. The video, projected without sound, allows the viewer to imagine what type of music would be appropriate for such an unusual combination of the artist-dancer's traditional movements and the contemporary space of the disco. Headphones is an object used by Kaoru Katayama in the performance Charrada (in which she dances to traditional music dressed in Salamancan regional dress, on a disco dance floor). It consists of a pair of cordless headphones – padded with natural hair and decorated with traditional gold plated adornments (botones charros), mounted within a museum display case.

*1 "Charrada" is the name habitually used to describe the traditional Salamancan folk dances and songs.