"The exoticizing gaze thinks itself to be a magnifying glass, but in actuality it is a view through a half-silvered mirror: the viewer means to describe new lands, new peoples, new cultures, but in reality he sees images of his own culture superimposed over a vague and exotic background." (Thiel, par. 8)

Tamiko Thiel's 2006 virtual reality installation entitled The Travels of Mariko Horo follows a young Japanese traveler into the "Mythic West" in a reversal of the traditional objectifying occidental gaze. According to Mariko and her "centre", the Other lies to the West. Africa both Sub-Saharan and Arab, Europe, America, and China are one vast Otherness. Surely in the first discourses that she encounters she will only be able to see these cultures through the perception granted her by her own "centre". And yet, she will become able to perceive these discourses in this manner as she travels further and further beyond her own self, placing her own centre beside the countless Others in the world. I think that what the Marco Polo Syndrome describes is the inability to recognize this duality of discourse.

Surely, on an international stage some degree of ethnocentrism is necessary to define one's own centre and limitations when understanding Otherness. The problem arises when, as was previously cited from Ernie Diaz's "China Expat" site, one begins shouting in one's own native language with the belief that a higher decibel alone might facilitate understanding. (“Marco Polo Syndrome”, par. 5) It's a problem of too much attachment to the centre and too little engagement with the Other. Were Mariko to consider herself too much as the magnifying glass, disregarding the necessary modesty when engaging Otherness and ignoring her own relative handicap in understanding the Other (Oguibe, 8), she would fall into the same trap as her Western namesake and find herself accomplishing little more than a reflection of her own culture superimposed upon what she may find to be exciting or exotic locales.

The so-called "modern", largely European centre constantly demands that the Rest prove itself, more often than not through a kind of self-exploitation by Otherness juxtaposed with Europeness.* To some extent, the same can be said for every human culture. Mariko's own cultural history abounds with the kind of lump-sum Otherness that Oguibe describes when discussing "Sub-Saharan Africa"("In the 'Heart of Darkness'", Section IV): for example, classical Japanese artists' depictions of Holland in the same likeness as China. Fantasies such as these were exacerbated in Mariko's cultural past by closed borders, whereby only very little information from the Rest passed in or out. (Thiel, par.6)

The problem continues today in all corners of the globe. The same fantastic representation of the Other as seen through the half-silvered mirror can be found in Western art such as that of American artist iona rozeal brown, who seems to mistake the ganguro culture as being a derivative of African-American hip hop culture, ignoring the movement's own native origins in manba/yamanba**. She focuses instead on her own culture, beliveing to have "experienced" the movement and it's surrounding culture through puppet theatre performances in Washington DC and a two-month visit to Tokyo. It seems to me that brown is the definition of misappropriation and the self-believing magnifying glass that sees merely a reflection of it's own culture on an indistinct background. Surely, to be successful in their ventures both brown and Mariko alike must open their borders and continue to push beyond themselves to eventually break free of their own isolating traditions^.



Thiel, Tamiko. "The Travels of Mariko Horo". 02/23/2010 <http://www.mission-base.com/tamiko/mariko-horo/>.

Oguibe, Olu. "In the 'Heart of Darkness'". Theory in Contemporary Art. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2005.

Diaz, Ernie. "China Expat". China Expat. 02/23/2010 <http://www.chinaexpat.com/blog/ernie /2007/12/14/marco-polo-syndrome.html>.

*For instance, see Gerardo Mosquera, "The Marco Polo Syndrome: Some Problems around Art and Eurocentrism". Theory in Contemporary Art. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2005.


**I regret being unable to find a more credible source than Wikipedia (which focuses on the derivative gyaru style) in English or in translation. For the Wikipedia definition of ganguro gyaru fashion: here. For information on the yamaube and the disenfranchised Other: here. For a cheeky BBC documentary/interview that attributes ganguro to California "Baywatch" culture: here. (Where do you think ganguro comes from? ^^ I think it's very difficult to quantify in one paragraph, much less something as ethnic- and geo-specific as "African-American hip hop"!)

^Mosquera, Gerardo. "The Marco Polo Syndrome: Some Problems around Art and Eurocentrism". Theory in Contemporary Art. p. 120. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2005.