Kinetic Kauchii / Dekosofa — Light City

The DekoTora truck craze began in Japan during the 1970s, around the time Americans were having a similar craze decorating their vans. The Japanese created wildly decorated trucks outfitted with gratuitous chrome, lights, murals and decadent chandelier lit interiors. Films pushed the craze into the mainstream and within a generation the trucks had evolved to the robotic, hypnotic light shows they are today. Their visual appeal has crossed the ocean, with dekotora trucks woven into the background of feature films by Ridley Scott and Gaspar Noe. The visual aesthetic of DekoTora and these films is the inspiration for Formstone Castle’s Light City 2017 entry, the Kinetic Kauchii DekoSofa—an evolution and transformation of our already proven 2016 Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race entry, the Kinetic Kouch.

A second Japanese inspiration for the Kinetic Kauchii DekoSofa is the works of Studio Ghibli. The celestial mystical creatures embodying nature in Miyazaki’s underlying critiques of the relationship between humans and their environment are the source for our vision of the pilot of the DekoSofa. This mysterious swamp creature has emerged from the Chesapeake Bay into the Baltimore Harbor as a cryptid: a manifestation of a cautionary tale of bay and harbor sustainability. It has found our Kauchii and is delighted in its own exploration of LIGHT CITY, taking along those who wish to explore by couch. Who or what it truly is remains a mystery. Perhaps a captain lost in the bay, trying to find the way home? Over time, the line between human and nature has been lost with natural flora and fauna from the harbor entangled with trash… merged together embodying the inseparable relationship of humans and The Bay.

Collaborating Artists:

Mural: Katlyn Wyllie

Costumes: Charlotte Hager

Music:  Adam Rush

Media coverage: For a video and art education materials related to the Kinetic Kauchii/DekoSofa, check out this PBS lesson.