concrete

Installation
The Voice of Inconstant Savage
Commissioned for the Engawa – Japanese Contemporary Art Season programme organized by Calouste Gulbenkian Museum's Modern Art Center, The Voice of Inconstant Savage is an immersive installation that superimposes a prayer inspired by the story of a 16th-century Portuguese missionary, a chant from a Kakure-Kirishitan (hidden Christians) prayer – a religion rooted in Nagasaki Prefecture –, a chant from the Karawara spirits of the Awá indigenous people – who live in the Amazon rainforest – and a chorus of Western Gregorian chant. Morinaga questions the position of the aesthetics of inconstancy in relation to the discourse of the “savage” that modern society confronts.

Field recordings
Sombat Simla: Master Of Bamboo Mouth Organ
Simla is known in Thailand as one of the greatest living players of the khene, the ancient bamboo mouth organ particularly associated with Laos but found throughout East and Southeast Asia. His virtuosic and endlessly inventive renditions of traditional and popular songs have earned him the title ‘the god of khene’, and he is known for his innovative techniques and ability to mimic other instruments and non-musical sound, including, as a writer for the Bangkok Post describes, ‘the sound of a train journey, complete with traffic crossings and the call of barbecue chicken vendors’.

Cinema
THE SCIENCE OF FICTIONS
In 1962, Siman, a solitary farmer, came to Gumuk, sandy bare land. Siman was witnessing a shooting of a fiction film about man landing on the moon. It was an unlucky day for him, Siman was caught by the army and got his tongue chopped off.Soekarno, the first president of Republic Indonesia, came to Gumuk, brought with him a Bolex 8mm camera. From the distance, he made a “the making of” man-landing-on-the-moon film. And the politics went so wrong. Under the new regime, A New Order of Soeharto, Siman was then being named as an insane person because he often moves stupidly, acting as if he is walking on the moon. In the village, Siman built a strange cubical building looking like a robotic machine that he saw in the sands. Siman designed an astronaut costume, and always uses a white helmet every time he goes out of his house. All the villagers agree that Siman is insane, but what he did is actually words and the only way he knows to show the truth. He is the only one who knew about the worlds biggest lie.

Event/Workshop
耳の野外学習
コクヨ野外学習センターと黒鳥社による「働くことの人類学」のポッドキャストシリーズと連動したプロジェクト。森永がこれまで実践してきたフィールドレコーディングを素材に、「たたく」「ふく」「はじく」という、最も原始的な人間本来の生きていくための営み＝技術をテーマにDJミックスを行っている。このDJミックスは、ここ数年アジアを中心にレコーディングしてきた民族の音楽や環境音をセレクト（アジアの音ではないものもいくつか含まれているが）し、ポストプロダクションでミキシングや電子的な加工を施しながら、リニアな音の時間を創造した。 人類学者たちは、調査地で現地語を学び、長期間地域に密着し、そこの情報をくまなく記述・記録した上で、ラボで検証・実験しながら論文や民族誌としてまとめあげていく。僕の場合は、現地の言葉もわからないし地域に密着しながら文字で記述をしていくような形も採用していない。むしろ楽器や音を軸に、その文脈や周縁を追い続けながらレコーディングしているに過ぎない。自身の目と耳を頼りに作品のゴールをゆるやかに想像しながら記録をし、素材を持ち帰ってスタジオで実験・検証しながら作品を制作していく過程は、どことなく人類学者の研究手法と似ている部分があることを以前から意識していた。

Installation
CDOSA
the critical dictionary of southeast asia (cdosea), begins with a question: what constitutes the unity of southeast asia — a region never unified by language, religion or political power? cdosea proceeds by proposing 26 terms — one for each letter of the english / latin alphabet. each term is a concept, a motif, or a biography, and together they are threads weaving together a torn and tattered tapestry of southeast asia. cdosea is a platform facilitating ongoing research, a matrix for generating future projects and an oracular montage machine.