“In the seventies, Japanese conceptual artist and writer Akasegawa Genpei and his buddies discovered “hyperart,” unintentional art created by the city itself. Everywhere they saw urban objects and structures that had had a use in the past, but were now useless … yet someone was still maintaining them, not removing them. Akasegawa named these objects “Thomassons” after American baseball hitter Gary Thomasson, who was recruited to a Japanese team and paid a mint to look pretty, but whose bat almost never connected with the ball.” (– Kaya / HyperArt / SF Thomasson’s)

Examples of thomassons: a telephone pole that no longer carries a line, a door set high in a brick wall, a walkway that ends abruptly in midair, etc.

On Saturday, Gabe and I went on a performance bus tour around San Francisco that took us to the sites of 5 thomassons around San Francisco where artists paid homage to specific thomassons. We watched newspaper boxes perform a symphony for a bridge, we launched balloon boy into the air, we confessed our sins, we swayed to steampunk / gold rush infused movement and music, and we held our breath while an aerialist defied gravity.  We were even punk’d by our hosts!

It was awesome.

Along the way we enjoyed sake + snacks and sang Korean children’s songs:

It would be a dream-come-true to see some of the thomassons start appearing on Scenic Route so folks can walk between them! People are spotting them all over the country!

More photos from Saturday: