Intervention: Fresh Perspectives After 50 Years , a group exhibition curated by Rebecca Hall will be a celebration of USC Pacific Asia Museum’s 50th Anniversary (Pasadena CA). New works by Antonius Bui, Audrey Chan, Jennifer Ling Datchuk, Amir Fallah, Akiko Jackson, kate-hers RHEE and Alan Nakagawa.
NOVEMBER 12 2021 through FEBRUARY 6 2022.
Ana Iwataki/ Georgia Press (May 2022) LINK
Alan Nakagawa’s installation “tamashiP galactic” is an inter-disciplinary response to the 2,400 “orphan objects” in the Museum’s collection, which are slated to be de-accessioned.
tamashiP galactic consists of:
1) Spaceship (video: a montage of some of the 2,400 orphan objects and audio: 14 original songs sung by different vocalists) link to soundtrack = link)
2) Triangular Sound Bed
3) Portal sculpture
4) 12 Sarcie Dolls
5) 3 T Shirts
6) 3 Custom Kicks
7) Audio Cassette Mix Tapes: with vocal contributions by Eddika Organista, Mallory Catlett, Joseph Tepperman, Joyce Kwon, Ariana Kauffman, Mallory Rukhsana Nezam, Evelyn Davis, Rafael Cardenas, Lee Martin & Amy Rubalcava.
8) Stickers
9) Sarcie Wallets
10) Movie Poster, Mix Tape Credits and Story Summary Boards
“It was an inspiring tour of the exhibits which reclaimed our true past and identity and to own and show our pain from the past and present for what we lost. Your exhibit's inspiration of the lost pieces was great in reminding us of the value of each piece or person whether they have documented origins or not. I was moved by the inspiration that everything and everyone matters.”
-Cathy Mikuni, Pasadena Buddhist Temple
“tamashiP galactic” is a fictitious sci-fi movie about an attempt to save the “souls” of the “orphan objects” of every museum on our earth. Leading up to the exhibition, a YouTube page entitled; “K-Town Butterfly Sanctuary RECITAL” was created/an on-going diary/ the making of tamashiP galactic. link
The installation simulates the theater lobby display at the premier of the movie, where objects from the movie and schwag are displayed. It includes a spaceship, video, movie schwag, a dozen Sarcie Dolls fabricated by Pasadena-based sewing club, Sumire-Kai (June Chin, Hiroko Inouye, Carol Oyama, Hiroko Masuda, Yuka Kimbell) as well as a dozen original songs sung by Mallory Rukhsana Nezam, Joseph Tepperman, Ariana Joelle Kaufman, Rafael Cardenas, Mallory Catlett, Eddika Organista, Lee Martin, Amy Ruvalcaba, Joyce Kwon and Evelyn Davis.
PROJECT STORY an imaginary movie; “tamashiP galactic”:
THE PARALLEL : On Earth, 2051 A.D., after the Age of Global Warming (1800-2022) which left a depleted natural resource table, a decrease of half the human population (from 7.8 Billion to 3.9 Billion) but an advancement of science, technology and human prerogative none would have predicted at the turn of the century, the miracle of miracles staged itself; the Age of Physical Tolerance (2022-present).
How could anyone have seen this coming, although the stage for the frequency shift had been set and certainly had been alluded to by scientists, writers and social critics as early as the 1960's.
With the sudden disappearance of planets (Pluto & Mars) and the improbable micro-adjustment of the remaining planet axes, there developed a new gravity pull which led to new frequency measurements across the galaxy. In hindsight these frequencies may had always existed in the galaxy, we could have detected them if we were looking for them but they would not have been in the pronounced form they ended up manifesting to; a new dimension of frequency.
There were early theories; that these frequency continuums may have been more pronounced during the times of nomadic humans; the bicameral mind, at first, popular; returning back to some past form of the brain but do we ever go back? Within several years of the shift, most scientists said that given the data, if they existed once at the transformed magnitude, it would have been existed closer to the time of the Big Bang, before humanity.
Space travel was permitted around 2028, less than a decade after the unforeseen planetary frequency shift occurred. Private space travel had already developed into an industry. The frequency shift led to a domino effect of new formulas and theories that in turn resolved many scientific and logistic obstacles pertaining to space travel.
First it was Pluto. It vanished. Literally overnight, depending on what part of the Earth you were in at the time. Some joke that it was the universe being vindictive in response to when the Earth's scientists degraded it from a planet to a dwarf planet (2006). Most speculations were hokes of sorts, just one more unbelievable claim on the internet. Yet, within weeks, the reports started to come in, multiplied, it became world news, and soon, there was no denying to most that it was indeed true, the planet was gone and then a couple weeks after that, Mars, seemingly vanished into mid-air or space.
This was followed by mass hysteria of varying degrees, until the scientists came up with a new formula, calling the events a shift and that the calculations showed that a series of shifts had been occurring for a century but with these fairly mysterious and highly dramatic milestones, all the unresolved events associated to space frequencies and travel, mathematically aligned and then eventually stabilized. You might say that that's actually two miracles.
It didn't take long for the new hums to be detected on Earth. The internet began to lose its social addiction and became similar to the home telephone of the 1950's, yes, there were some who were on it constantly but for the most part we returned to wanting to meet in person. Walking was globally reinvented, so to speak, i.e going to the library or market and getting back to the populated civic space.
Of course, this is about those societies that forgot about walking. For those who were already invested in walking whether cultural or economic-based, the other half of the world seemed comical but the global union was celebrated and that's really the point. For instance, in many cities around the world, there was a renewed support for parks and aesthetically pleasing walkable corridors. Businesses began to adopt street presents and navigation of the urban fabric diversified. Situationist International's derive became the norm.
In the first few months, navigation equipment was slightly off, for instance, which of course was very dangerous for transport such as sea travel, air travel, etc. (there were many large-scale fatalities). Adjustments were made, across the board and within half a year, everyone grew used to the shift. It became normal.
After the first 12 months, scientists reported that space monitoring devices were detecting star-like objects that had black hole characteristics. This is still being studied but it was speculated from the start that they were related to the universe bridges reported earlier in the century. Some believed these were a result of the missing planets mystery. Also, these objects seemed to exist for random durations, as if they were alive. Finally, probes were sent into orbit and in the summer of 2053 it was announced that these stars were not objects, they were portals, doorways into the parallel.
THE AGE OF PHYSICAL TOLERANCE: By 2057, an international committee of world leaders, scientists and those interested in financially supporting multi-parallel space travel was created; International Nomads Parallel Universe Team or INPUT for short.
INPUT announced an international call for projects; to send a ship into the nearest portal to the parallel. The award would go to the most sound and intriguing proposal. The criteria included: one pilot, one crew member, cargo and the willingness to sign a contract with the understanding of most likely no safe return. The ship, training and support would be provided.
120,000 proposals from around the world were received and reviewed. The committee selected a proposal from Pasadena California in the USA, from a group representing museum administrators from around the world; Pasadena Orphan Objects of Museums or POOM for short.
Apparently, it's common for museums to have "orphan objects"; items that were received prior to registration systems being enacted which would include not only titles, year of creation, condition reports, who donated them, monetary value and how was the object was acquired; leaving these potential historic artifacts untraceable, unregister-able and therefore undesirable; no "papers" no "residency", like undocumented aliens. Negotiations were made to then include all orphan objects from every museum around the world who wanted to participate.
COMMONALITY FREQUENCIES: When the frequency shift occurred, scientists began to detect what was named the "commonality frequencies", a new measurable resonance between frequencies and between objects. This new form of energy, a highly malleable property, was in fact part of Dark Matter. That is to say that everything on earth and perhaps the universe, having a frequency, not only generated its own but was in constant resonance with everything else. Everything was contingent to everything else. When we say frequency, we are not only speaking of generated waves but also energy itself.
The frequency shift became the basis of an international theory and acceptance and/or appreciation for the space between objects; the commonality frequency changed everything. Not only did planet axes micro shift but so did we and everything else.
I have a frequency and you have a frequency but it is the intersection, for lack of a better term, the common space, that is the actual frequency of importance, that defines existence and essentially us. This would be the base realization that would feed academic discourse for centuries to come; "The Age of Physical Tolerance".
PILOT DEI AND CREW MEMBER SARCIE: We have already mentioned POOM's cargo. Let's introduce POOM's pilot and crew member.
How did Sarcie get recruited?
The City had begun a restorative justice pilot project with the Pasadena Police Department. Enter Sarcie! A spunky young adult whose family was originally from China but had to immigrate to Vietnam and eventually moved to the US. Sarcie, now on her own in Pasadena was struggling to make ends meet. She had been arrested on charges of "resisting arrest" that stemmed from an incident, an escalation of violence that started as a homeless violation or "trespassing private property" charges.
Sarcie was given an opportunity, by the Judge, to enter a restorative justice pilot program that the city had just begun. If Sarcie was successful, the city would wipe the misdemeanor charge from her record. The three-week intensive with community elders, social workers and program staff concluded with an assignment of twenty-hours of community time.
Sarcie was assigned to the Pasadena Museum of Contemporary Art.
Sarcie had never even been to a museum before. At first it was a contentious pairing but after the second week and the conclusion of community service, Sarcie continued to volunteer at the Museum and within a year was offered a full-time position as the Assistant to the Collections Manager.
A month into this new position and feeling like things were looking up, the POOM committee held their first meeting at the Museum. In short, Sarcie was at the right place at the right time.
How did Dei gett recruited?
Dei, who at the time was a pilot for FedEx was based in Pasadena, CA. Dei, who goes by the pronouns they/them, is an independent and thoughtful person, six feet 4 inches tall, is physically formidable and has a nurturing spirit. When Dei was much younger, many would compare them to the great actor and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte. They had been in the Air Force right out of high school and had high hopes for the space program but after ten rejections over four years and an off the record discussion with high ranking officers, they left the Airforce in moral defeat.
As a commercial pilot, Dei was making a decent living but had just ended their fifth love relationship in three years and was looking for a new adventure and "way out", as they put it. Dei's neighbor's daughter was interning at a Pasadena Museum, where a POOM meeting was scheduled to take place. When she mentioned Dei's background to one of the POOM committee members during a meeting she was asked to take notes at. It was a perfect fit.
