Rintaro Hara | Works
Whimsical Catch Ball ver.2
- Whimsical Catch Ball ver.2
- Material: pitching machine, ball, net, wood
- Year: 2009
- Place: The University of Tokyo
This piece features two pitching machines playing catch over and over on a performance stage. Two balls are periodically tossed from the arm of the pitching machine and etch out a parabola, landing in the net on the other side. Once every few dozen times, the trajectory is off and the ball lands outside of the net, but the performer waiting in the wings picks the ball up and places it back in the net. The game of catch between the machines here represents communication. Slips in communication can frequently lead to misunderstandings and push relationships to uncharted territory, yet it is also true that these slip-ups expand the possibility of communication. By brazenly incorporating these slip-ups (in this case, errors in the game of catch) into this piece, communication is comprehensively reflected. At the same time, making two machines engage in the game of catch – a game typically played by two humans – and having a human pick up the balls that the machines errored on, this piece shows an ironic situation in which the relationship between human and machine is reversed.(Photo: Asako Suzuki)
