Retail on Broadway

2018 -

Typed document, performance, sound installation

Dimension variable

I travel the length of Broadway from south bottom (Battery Pl) to north top of Manhattan (Inwood) and carefully record all the ground floor businesses along the street on both East and West sides of the street, including vacant stores which typically have For Rent banners. The names of each business are recorded on a linear textual map designed by me and will be updated every year in order to record the changes taking place in the city.

As well as a textual map I conceive this data as a poetry of the street. I activate this data in different forms such as collective poetry reading or audio installation. For a performance two readers simultaneously read aloud the data, one person representing the East side of the street, the other the West. As audiences hear their orderly readings of store names, they experience walking on the Broadway audibly and become aware of the repetitions of various banks, pharmacies, food chains and empty storefronts

See the recordings of 2018 - 2020 and the audio of 2020 reading at https://nobutakaaozaki.cargo.site/retail-on-broadway

Retail on Broadway

2018年から

Typed document, performance, sound installation

Dimension variable

マンハッタン島を南端から北端まで貫くブロードウェイを、足を使って歩きながら、通りの東側と西側に建ち並ぶ店舗（空き店舗等を含む）を丁寧に調査し記録してゆくプロジェクト。 それぞれの店舗名は、順を追って羅列した一種の地図として記録され、都市の変化を追うために、一年ごとにアップデートされる。 

収集した店舗名の羅列は、朗読やオーディオインスタレーションにも形を変える。道の東側と西側に分かれた二人の朗読者が向き合い、それぞれの側の店舗名を南から北に向かってを同時に読み上げていくパフォーマンスなど。 

Retail on Broadway (Sound Work)

2019

Duration 01:28:04

I invited multiple people to each read a few blocks of the street from the data and recorded their readings. I staggered them to make one continuous sound file of this collective marathon reading that covers the whole length of Broadway in Manhattan from the Battery Pl to 222 Street.

Participating readers include Allyson Paty, Alejandro Varela, Amina Henry, Zavé Martohardjono, George Fkiaras, Zavé Martohardjono, Mike Clemow, Phoebe Berglund, Lasse Juuti, Milla Norman, Matt Jay, Eric Lindley, Leticia Gutiérrez, Wojciech Gilewicz, Kenneth Tam, Charlotte Lagro, Bora Kim, Danielle King, Sophie Lam, Anna Harsanyi, Elise Rasmussen, Abelardo Cruz-Santiago, Raoni Saleh, Shemuel Phillip-Peters, Aisha Tandiwe Bell, Magdalen Wong, Sue Jeong Ka, Claudia Cortinez, Irgin Sena, Kevin Kelly, Zeny May D. Recidoro, Ikezaki Takuya, Charlie Perez-Tlatenchi, Patrick Mohundro, Jude Broughan, Catalina Tuca

Retail on Omotesando, Tokyo

2019
Typed document, sound installation
Dimension variable

I travel the length of Omotesando, Tokyo and carefully record all the ground floor businesses along the street on both sides of the street, including vacant stores. Omotesando was originally created as the frontal entrance way to Meiji Shrine and now is one of the most commercial street in Tokyo featuring many international boutiques. The names of each business are recorded on a linear textual map designed by me.

I invited 6 people who are familiar to the area for either work or shopping and each read a few blocks of the street from the data and recorded their readings. I staggered them to make a continuous sound file of whole length of Omotesando and created a sound installation. The duration of the piece and the tempo of readings correspond with the actual time that took for me to walk the street.

Participating readers include Akira Kuroki, Eri Kishi, Natsuko Tanaka, Norifumi Yoshida, Mana Yamamoto , Futoshi Miyagi, Toshi Shibata.

Retail on Egawasen, Nagoya

2019

Typed document, installation at the storefront along the street