Origins

I discovered the power of the ropes when I moved to Japan in 2017. Invited to what I thought would be a Kinbaku performance, I found myself in a small traditional house, unable to speak Japanese, completely clueless. Someone handed me a bunch of rope. He was Seiichi Kita, the Shibari master who would become my teacher in the years to come. When I touched the ropes for the first time, I knew it was the beginning of a journey I am still trying to understand today. Fascinated by the hidden layers of reality since childhood, I studied philosophy and physics before becoming an AI engineer, yet it was within that foreign house that I felt the most intense call to explore the unknown.

In 2019 I started taking pictures of what I was doing. I opened an Instagram account and connected with many artists, both in Tokyo and internationally. I started performing in the underground art and techno scene, always combining ropes with other elements such as LEDs and new media. With AIAIDA, who ended up becoming my wife, we founded a company and took many gigs doing installations and performances at festivals, galleries, and clubs. We called it “Hidden Layer”. We threw a party to celebrate our launch, and it was a big and unexpected success. We started promoting events and collaborating with more and more artists. We created Unbound with our friend and knowledgeable DJ SuperUser, with the support of the talented and veteran musician Kojiro.

In 2022 our daughter was born. We took the opportunity to do an international tour around Spain, Portugal, Italy, Austria, Vietnam, and India… At the beginning of 2023, we opened a studio in Omotesando, Tokyo, where our work is now based. Life has been exhilarating. Today I am focused on discovering the mythical roots of the ropes in the ancient Japanese tradition of Shinto, understanding this strange power to regulate our nervous system, and participating in Tokyo’s ever-emerging art scene.

Thank you very much for visiting my website, and for allowing me to share this journey with you,

Pablo

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Pablo and Ai, by Toni Marquez