TIM DÉRIVE 7

by Peter Kastner (TINAUT), Yuko Machida (TIPI) and Yukinobu Mogaki (TISPY)

The performances of TIM DÉRIVE took place at five different locations in New York City, Brooklyn and Queens. We like to thank our guests Sasaki, TOOWA II, Christus, Elisabeth Read, Brian Knauer, Nobyhiro, Taka, Joshihiro Jamauchi, Takayuki Honna, Tony Caruso, Hiromi, Junko, Sonny, Wurie and Yoshio. And special thanks go to Masaki, who took part in every of the five performances and without his help the whole happening wouldn´t be such a funny experiment as it was.

The structure

The performances of TIM DÉRIVE 7 run during April 2003 at different places in New York, planned and realized as a collaboration work by Yuko Machida, Yukinobu Mogaki and Peter Kastner and their guests. This manifestation differed from the other DÉRIVE happenings, because it was not only about moving through a landscape but more concentrated on three aspects of derivation and transformation:

At first, the locations were chosen and the guests were invited by Yuko Machida (TIPI) by her own methods and ideas. Yukinobu Mogaki (TISPY) and Peter Kastner (TINAUT) got the informations about the places just a day before the permance should happen, so that they had not much possibilities to prepare themselves by checking the conditions of the places. They had to adapt their prepared strategies (the transforming performances and the way of observation) to the locatations and guests more or less spontaneously.

The second aspect was the transforming activity at the chosen places, made by the guests and the TI NAUT. These activities were the obvious and (and for public the first) visible appearance of TIM DÉRIVE 7.

And the third aspect was the secret observation by the TISPY. The TINAUT of course knew that he is observed, but he never saw TISPY during the performances. And the guests didn´t got the information before and during the performance that there is an observation. It was like real fake life, and it was at the same time a pure art game.
Most important was, that every participant (and every location with its own energy) had, as an autonomous platform (but connected to the others with secret strings of energy), the possibility to break off this structure. TIM DÉRIVE 7 was not planned as a fixed concept which we had to follow strictly, but as a flexibel happening.
Therefore TIPI didn´t choose all five locations before the happenings started but only the first two. Out of the results of these two first performances she changed her concept from a kind of official art project into a kind of personal artwork: The locations became more familiar, and also her interventions into the planned transformations of TINAUT drew the whole happening out of the abstract art world into a more comfortable personal art world.
Before starting the happening TIPI was called the engine of TIM DÉRIVE 7, and that was right: She gave the direction on which TINAUT and TISPY had to follow (and try to find their own way), and she made a personal statement or map of New York. And following the moon phases we transformed this center of capitalism to our own city, the Trans Industrial New York (TINY), one of the TI-PROD Cities. For some moments the Money and its New York Police Department had no power any longer, NO, we created a world without any playground for these forces.

The locations and the performances

1. The triangular island in front of Flatiron Building / NYC

The first transformation took place on one of the very touristic and money*machine locations of Manhattan, in front of the famous Flatiron Building on April 16 Wednesday 2003, 6:30pm to 7:00pm, the evening before Full Moon. TINAUT started the transformation by mounting the TIM DÉRIVE 7*flag onto a typitcal streetfurniture and by writing down the transformation text (Trans Industrial Manifestion Dérive 7, 1rst location). Then Sasaki, the first guest arrived. Together with him and the next guests Masaki, TOWAA II and Christus they pointed up to 7:00pm at the most ugly building of the place. Everybody had the own choice to find the most ugly building.

2. Metropolitan Av. in front of Old Dutch Mustard Co. Inc. / Brooklyn

The second transformation took place on the very dirty place on the Metropolitan Avenue in Brooklyn in front of the empty building of the Old Dutch Mustard Co. Inc. on April 20 Sunday 2003, the afternoon before Gibbous Moon, between 4:30pm and 5:00pm. Because of this trash in front of the building, TINAUT organized the transformation by cleaning the place. And with the help of the guests Masaki, Elisabeth Read, Brian Knauer, Nobyhiro, Taka, Joshihiro Jamauchi, Takayuki Honna this performance was a successfull transformation: Within this half an hour we got some bags of trash and put them into a big trash can. Art as part of the Green Movement? Anyway, again the location was marked with the sign of transformation: the TIM DÉRIVE 7*flag and the transformation text.

3. Thomson Av. in front of the E Building / Queens

After finishing the 2nd transformation, the idea of the TINAUT was, the 3rd transformation should be a anti-social and autonomous statement: stamping with the TI-PROD stamp in front of the E Building (on Thomson Avenue in Queens, between 11:00am and 11:30am on April 23 Wednesday 2003, the day before Half Moon), imitating the rythm of the pedestrians, without any discussion. But while preparing the location with the TIM DÉRIVE 7*flag, TINAUT was guided by the guests Masaki, Hiromi, Junko, Sonny, who got this order by TIPI, into the entrance hall of E Building, a school. After some nice discussions with the School*Security*Service (at the end they accepted TIPI´s invitation as an official invitation, but we had to move from one table to the other), TINAUT and the guests (later joined by another guest, Tony Caruso) began with the stamping performance. But we have to accept, that this was not really a transformation: stamping didn´t transform this bureaucratic atmosphere of the entrance hall but it confirmed it and made it even stronger.

4. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden / Brooklyn

The next transformation was organized as a kind of family trip: within the festival of Cherry Blossoms and the 1000´s of guests it was realized in The Brooklyn Botanic Garden on sunny April 27 Sunday 2003, just the day before the rise of the Crescent Moon over TINY. Again the TINAUT mounted the TIM DÉRIVE 7*flag, and the guests Masaki, Junko and Wurie began to transform the garden by planting their own TIM DÉRIVE 7*flag and by expressing the growth of the flag. This performance lasted half an hour, and while the guests expressed on their own way the growth, TIPI tried to invite more guests, but without any success. May be the performance was to abstract (how can a flag grow?) and may be that it is too strange to perform in public something peculiar, even for these people who were interested in TIM DÉRIVE 7 and the idea of transforming.

5. The Sunshine Cinema, 143 E Houston St. / NYC

The transformations of TIM DÉRIVE 7 ended inside of the Landmark´s Sunshine Cinema on April 30 Wednesday 2003, the night before New Moon. It was planned by TIPI as a selfish transformation during the movie (Talk to Her), starting at 9:15pm. Before that, TINAUT marked the entrance before the cinema and the entrance hall of the cinema with some TIM DÉRIVE 7*flags and cards. So the final match could start. The private transformation of TINAUT, TIPI, TISPY and the guests Masaki and Yoshio could not be seen by the other public, and may be that not every participant felt transformation. TINAUT´s personal statement about this performance: Through this kind of special arrangement, sitting seperately more or less close to the others, as a kind of individual platform, and watching the same movie, i felt the secret fields of transforming energy, loaded with discussions of life / love / death. And at the end, art should be fun, but it should also discuss this last and most important themes of human beings.

So, Mr. And Mrs., what is TIM DÉRIVE 7 about?

With this five performances and the fexibility of organizing the meetings, we succeeded to realize a transforming process: starting in the beginning of TIM DÉRIVE 7 with the beautiful living sculptures, getting onto the wrong track because of some failures during the stamping*happening and the growing*happening, and ending with the secret and selfish discussion about the essential conditions of our life on earth.
TIM DÉRIVE 7 is an example of the daily transforming life, guided by our own activity.