Kassou

The Japanese word for gliding is kassou. The word consists of two separate characters that denote sliding/falling and running. In the ambivalence of running and falling the word defines a state that can slip from controlled pleasure to disaster. Here the Japanese kassou serves as a theme for a semi-documentary video installation. The finished work will consist of three video images projected next to each other. Interviews, sounds, scenes, and images will be edited in such a way, that they will interpret and comment on each other. The aim of the interviews was to find out what gives the life of the individual a tension that leads and accelerates it, so that the produced state becomes comparable to gliding. The interviews were recorded on Tokashiki Island, in Naha City, and in Tokyo. The three places contrast in speed and density and at the same time refer to each other within this contrast. The interviewes are comprized of coincidental encounters and personal acquaintances. The interviews bring up the backgrounds of the tension and result in a very personal summary of statements on society and its individuals.