The “Mimi Soji (ear cleaning) Series” is a series of experimental musical works by miking using a self-made ear-shaped microphone device called a “gijiji (mock ear).”

OSHIMA Takuro is interested in miking, a technique that takes into account the distance between the sound source and the microphone, the angle of the microphone, and its placement in the recording. He also believes that such a recording process is also an ear-cleaning process to objectively re-capture the sound that we subjectively perceive.

“Ear-Shaped Homecoming,” released during the COVID-19 pandemic, is a performance in which an ear pick is used to play a large ear-shaped microphone that resembles OSHIMA’s own ear. Through this, OSHIMA discovered the possibilities of “microphones as an instrument.” In his following work, “Two Stories Rondo for Kamoe Art Center Hamamatsu,” two performers, each wearing a microphone hat in the shape of a left and right ear, move around the building, attempting to use the streets and building space as a musical score (and performance object). The new work, “Record RAM Can / Record ROM Can,” consists of two types of devices: RAM cans that can record repeatedly but can only play back the last recorded sound source, and ROM cans that cannot be rewritten once recorded. Through these, the work explores the liveness of miking.

Cooperation: Higashiyama Artists Placement Service (HAPS), Kamoe Art Center Hamamatsu