pH

Dumb Type was founded in 1987 in Kyoto, Japan. Artists from a number of disciplines work together as a collective. The group developed in the exciting climate of Kyoto's cultural scene where the members of Dumb Type soon moved into a central position. They founded Art Space, an institution which, for instance, provides accommodation for travellers passing through, offers space for regular meetings of diverse working groups and the development of local initiatives. "036 - Pleasure Life" brought them their first international success in 1988. Their international breakthrough came with the project "pH" which catapulted them into the top league of multimedia performers.
　　[...] Working under the auspices of the Wacoal Arts Center in Tokyo, they began experimentation with the effects of sound upon the human body. The Spiral Building (home to Wacoal Arts) became the collective's testing ground as they built installations and sound pieces within the structure of the building. This lead to their performance piece pH in 1990?92 at Spiral Hall, Tokyo. pH, which stands for post?history, imagines the possible future effects of technology on human life.
　　Similar to Pleasure Life, the audience for pH was seated above the performance space, but this time in a modified tennis court arrangement. The space consisted of a sixteen?meter white linoleum floor, over which a pair of large computer?controlled trusses moved back and forth. The trusses flooded the floor with light and projections, while the performers danced, sang, and moved in relation to these large moving structures, seeming like creatures caught in a giant flat?bed scanner.