A Shibari Year

Matthias Gore is a German-born American contemporary artist. He specializes in rope installations and Shibari performances. During the past year, Matthias set himself the goal of doing one Shibari scene per month in order to fulfill a Shibari year. We interviewed Matthis, and this is what he said:

How did you come up with the idea for a Shibari year?

I had done some scenes combining Shibari with the theme of the seasons before. So, it came naturally to my mind to make a Shibari year, and see how I felt about it.

Was it difficult to commit to a full year of Shibari?

Not really, because I did other projects during the year. Besides, to avoid procrastination, I committed to always doing the scene in the first five days of the month. That turned out to be an easy way to keep the discipline.

How about the other people involved?

At first, I was going to do the twelve scenes with the same model. However, when we discussed the project, we both realized that it might turn into a routine. So, we decided I would be working with four different models, one for every season, roughly speaking.

As for the setup of the scenes, I have a team of assistants with whom I’ve worked for the past ten years. These are people I can trust, and whom I feel bring interesting things to the scenes. I wouldn’t have done it without them.

Finally, I made a special arrangement with the studio. I had worked with them before, but I had never rented a space for a whole year. (Laughs). For me, it was important to do all the scenes in the same place, as this would allow for comparisons between them.

And you used an outdoor location, right?

That’s right. I mean, what would be the point of making a series of scenes about the changes that you would see in a year, if all you would see were the walls of the studio? Fortunately, we found a great spot just outside the studio, and it worked beautifully in the photographs.

Matthias Gore’s “Shibari Year” will be open to the public soon.