Readers Chorus
Krystal Krunch
Cristóbal and Cosme: Two young lads born in Japan
The Soroban and the Present
Experimentations with the group reading voice
The educational psychic duo of Asher Hartman and Haruko Tanaka
A 16mm film love letter to Los Angeles
Readers Chorus, Krystal Krunch, Cristóbal and Cosme: Two
young lads born in Japan, and a 16mm love letter to L.A.
Experimentations with the group reading voice, art in public spaces and the Invisible Kitchen
Synchronized group walking, intangible inheritances and
art for a fire station
The beginnings of collaborative social practice and thinking
about underrepresented culinary sensibilities
Self-portraiture and June Jordan
A film about the story of the
the first two Japanese people to set foot in England in 1588
Readers Chorus
2014-present
The Readers’ Chorus is a group of people who love to read aloud. We come from varied backgrounds: musicians, filmmakers, poets, visual artists, teachers, etc. The Reader’s Chorus is a group in flux, members come and go and there is an open invitation to join. We meet every week to experiment with the possibilities of the speaking voice; combining the timbres of differing voices, trying strange speech rhythms and common ones, figuring out ways to have the text move from voice to voice across the room, playing with word textures and other sculptural aspects of sound. Members of the chorus bring in a text, something they’ve written or found, and we use our voices to find an interplay between the sound of the words and the meaning of the text. Ideas come from all of us - someone brings in the text - but the group, through experimentation, will orchestrate it. There are aspects of experimental music practice, poetry, chant, and theater in what we do. Our focus, though, is on performing the sound of reading. www.readerschorus.com
Video still: Emily Lacey
Photo: Haruko Tanaka
Photo still: Emily Lacey
Video still: Emily Lacey
Krystal Krunch
2007-present
Krystal Krunch is a educational psychic duo of artists (Asher Hartman and Haruko Tanaka) who see and respond to energy in the body, the psyche, architectural spaces, and artworks. They are dedicated to using intuitive reading to help people come in contact with their highest and best potential, discovering who they really are so that they might approach their lives and others with compassion, love and wonder. Since 2007 they have been giving intuitive workshops in universities and colleges across the U.S. and in art spaces and institutions around the globe. Krystal Krunch firmly believes that if we are to sustain radical change, we must invest in radical and fun ways of seeing each other and ourselves. www.krystalkrunch.com
Photo: Krystal Krunch
Photo: Krystal Krunch
Photo: Krystal Krunch
Photo: Krystal Krunch
Cristóbal and Cosme: Two young lands born in Japan
(in pre-production)
This film explores the circumstances surrounding the first two Japanese people to have stepped foot in England and what their short life story of religious conversion, emigration, and global sea trade, can tell us today, about how a cultural and spiritual identity makes itself known within a body that has long ago left its land.
In 1587 two young Japanese men appear in history in the journal pages of a British navigator named Francis Pretty. They are standing on shore in Baja California, having been forced off the Manila Galleon they had been crewmen on, by the British explorer Thomas Cavendish, who has sacked, pillaged and set fire to their ship The Santa Ana. Known only by their Christian names, Cristóbal and Cosme, just 16 and 20 years old, are then made crewmen of Cavendish's ship The Desire which makes its way back to the Port of Plymouth, England, on September 9, 1588- making them possibly the first two Japanese people to have stepped foot in England, almost 300 years before the first wave of Japanese settlement in the 1800's.
Storyboarding of the film was made possible by a residency at The MacDowell Colony in 2018
The Soroban and The Present
(in post-production)
"The Soroban and The Present" was shot and edited during a residency at The Echo Park Film Center in Los Angeles. The 20 minute, 16mm experimental film is part abacus (soroban) tutorial, part historical account, part guided freeway meditation, and part field recording of the guerrilla ringing of 2 giant bells in downtown and East Los Angeles. In its totality, the film is a love letter to a city, which according to the Pythagorean system of numerology is a “1” - the primal force and number of creation and the most difficult of all lovers. The film is currently in post-production where funds are being raised in ensure a film finish. #shootfilmdontkillit : )
