Steven Kazuo Takasugi: Sideshow

Sideshow for eight amplified performers and electronics is Takasugi’s largest and most spectacular work to date.

Sideshow (2009–2015) is a meditation on virtuosity, freak shows, entertainment, spectacle, business, and the sacrifices that human beings make in order to survive in the world. The central idea of the work is based on a series of six aphorisms by the Viennese satirist Karl Kraus (1874–1936):

“Ein Gourmet sagte mir: was die Crême der Gesellschaft anlange, so sei ihm der Abschaum der Menschheit lieber.”
(A gourmet once told me that, as far as the crème of society is concerned, he prefers the dregs of humanity.)

“Wenn Tiere gähnen, haben sie ein menschliches Gesicht.”
(When animals yawn, they have a human face.)

“Der Fortschritt macht Portemonnaies aus Menschenhaut.”
(Progress makes wallets out of human skin.)

“In einen hohlen Kopf geht viel Wissen.”
(A hollow head can hold a great deal of knowledge.)

“Die Technik ist ein Dienstbote, der nebenan so geräuschvoll Ordnung macht, daß die Herrschaft nicht Musik machen kann.”
(Technology is a servant who noisily tidies up next door, preventing the masters from making music.)

“Wien hat eine schöne Umgebung, in die Beethoven öfter geflüchtet ist.”
(Vienna has beautiful surroundings – to which Beethoven often fled.