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Man says nothing for 15 minutes, Sault audience enthralled

Nobuo Kubota enthralled an audience of about 30 people last night by saying absolutely nothing for more than 15 minutes. The inter-media artist gave an improvised live performance at the Art Gallery of Algoma as part of Algoma Fall Festival 2004.
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Nobuo Kubota enthralled an audience of about 30 people last night by saying absolutely nothing for more than 15 minutes.

The inter-media artist gave an improvised live performance at the Art Gallery of Algoma as part of Algoma Fall Festival 2004.

His performance is not based on language but on the relationship vocal sounds have to physical bodies.

Kubota uses phonetic speech to express emotion and effectively drew many responses from his audience.

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A long-time resident of Toronto, the 72-year-old artist is highly prolific in calligraphy and video as well as performance.

Kubota professes a fascination with self-expression and with phonetic sounds, both written and spoken.

"My greatest source of influence is the form and space of Japanese art and architecture. My work reflects the inter-cultural alliance of Japanese heritage and Western culture," he said.

"This alliance is often tenuous and precarious when I attempt to integrate the disparate points of view."

All of Kubota's work uses or refers to sound in some way.

His calligraphic works are as enthralling as his performances and he uses many different means of presentation.

He also offers a display, 'Video Lab: Loop Holes' that consists of nine monitors playing looping recordings of one of his performances.

Kubota told SooToday.com he decided to find a student to teach him how to use video editing software on his computer so he could do the project himself.

The display runs at the Art Gallery of Algoma from September 30 to October 24.

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