For curators, programmers and commissioners. Collins & Goto Studio, Glasgow.
What it is
HAKOTO is a body instrument: a wooden backpack of sensors, computers and speakers, worn by the artist, that translates the real-time photosynthesis and transpiration of a living plant into sound. Built in 2022 to listen to tree leaves, in 2023–24 it was rebuilt to listen to sphagnum moss, the living surface of a peat bog.
HAKOTO means leaf words, leaf sayings, leaf things, leaf incidents and leaf songs. It also refers to leaf memories or leaf stories.
Conceived in 2022 with composer Chris Malcolm, and built with electronics engineer Blair Thompson and artist and systems builder Jim Watt.
Formats
- Field performance. Reiko Goto Collins wears the instrument among trees or on a bog; the sound is generated live from the plants’ photosynthesis and transpiration.
- Installation. As at Leitrim Sculpture Centre (2024): a large-format projection of the field performances, a silent four-screen animation, and the HAKOTO backpack and staff with a live sphagnum chamber on a disc of peat.
- Garden and gallery. As at Glasgow Women’s Library for Glasgow International (2024): a performance among trees, with a video presentation indoors.
Shown
- HAKOTO / portach / bog, Leitrim Sculpture Centre, Ireland, 12 July – 10 August 2024 (LEER residency outcome; curated by Seán O’Reilly)
- HAKOTO at Glasgow Women’s Library, Glasgow International 2024 (curated by Caroline Gausden)
- HAKOTO | Speaking Leaf, Cckpt • Sound Art • Data Sonification, Düsseldorf and Köln, May 2024
- Artists in residence, MuseumsQuartier Wien, May – June 2024
Technical requirements
A technical rider is available from the studio on request.
Downloads
- One-page sheet (PDF)
- Image pack (ZIP, high resolution, with credits)
- The full project page: the bog work, the instrument, the research and the exhibition
Contact
Tim Collins: tim@collinsandgoto.com
Reiko Goto Collins: reiko@collinsandgoto.com