Interviews
The Ritual of Silence and of Forgetfullness (Spanish)
(Spanish) I don’t have music, I have put something aside which I loved, I have completely put it aside. There is no noise, I need absolute silence, it so very much important [to have silence], wouldn’t you agree? And probably, I am forgetting the words. To go to directly to the clay, and what is more, I miss it. The last projects have involved video, audio-visual materials, literature, narration, to sit in front of a computer with an assistant to frame, to publish moments of the work. I would say that there is an important moment where the hands ought to be direct. It was what I wanted to do when I withdraw from philosophy studies. I wanted my hands to talk; they said things simply through this [act] imposed on the material. I need absolute silence; it is very important. I am unable to work and create without a completely peaceful space, of total tranquility. And I believe that there is another important moment in the process, that is, rhythm. Habits, rhythms, techniques, daily routines, to get up early, to mix the clay that becomes like a folded piece of paper, the folding of the origami. For this I only make the crab [as origami] because in reality I don’t want the skills of the origamist; I only need to fold a crab to forget that one is able to make something so complex. What’s more, as much as I fold it, I forget the various steps, it is almost direct; if it doesn’t [come out the first time], and I have to think how to make the fold, it just doesn’t interest me. Therefore, the same thing I try to do with my work, I try to forget the rules of the game, the formulas of my workshop, it should have [the] rules of the ceramist and to know the proportions of ceramics and of [the] clay to mix. It’s like cooking. On the contrary, I would say. I tell my assistants that if we do not know how to produce a clay that resists fire, then those thirty years of work means that we did not learn much. And there is very good proof that it is indeed the fire. I would say that fire gets rid of my ego and [my paternal attachment] [as well as] total control of what happens there. These pieces are produced by hands, by a body, by an idea, by the head, by a person who needs to make something, but the fire completely removes this kind of control, which is so important. Yes, I have always wanted to make something…my ceramics submit to the fire, it is like removing the possibility of completely controlling something.
Date: December 7, 2007
Location: Lima, Peru
Interviewer: Harumi Nako
Contributed by: Asociación Peruano Japonesa (APJ)