concrete

Installation
The Voice of Inconstant Savage
Commissioned for the Engawa – Japanese Contemporary Art Season programme organized by Calouste Gulbenkian Museum's Modern Art Center, The Voice of Inconstant Savage is an immersive installation that superimposes a prayer inspired by the story of a 16th-century Portuguese missionary, a chant from a Kakure-Kirishitan (hidden Christians) prayer – a religion rooted in Nagasaki Prefecture –, a chant from the Karawara spirits of the Awá indigenous people – who live in the Amazon rainforest – and a chorus of Western Gregorian chant. Morinaga questions the position of the aesthetics of inconstancy in relation to the discourse of the “savage” that modern society confronts.

Field recordings
Sombat Simla: Master Of Bamboo Mouth Organ
Simla is known in Thailand as one of the greatest living players of the khene, the ancient bamboo mouth organ particularly associated with Laos but found throughout East and Southeast Asia. His virtuosic and endlessly inventive renditions of traditional and popular songs have earned him the title ‘the god of khene’, and he is known for his innovative techniques and ability to mimic other instruments and non-musical sound, including, as a writer for the Bangkok Post describes, ‘the sound of a train journey, complete with traffic crossings and the call of barbecue chicken vendors’.

Performing arts
MARGINAL GONGS
東南アジアの島々全域で長きにわたり、最も重要な楽器とされてきた青銅器ゴング。人々の間で語り継がれてきたゴングにまつわる説話をモチーフに「過去と現在」「民族と国籍」「聖と俗」「肉体と魂」「時間と空間」様々な価値観を最新のメディアテクノロジーとサウンドデザインで越境する新たな物語。パフォーマー・映像・照明・立体音響、現代アジア最高のスタッフを結集し作り上げる舞台作品『MARGINALGONGS』。

Field recordings
Exploring Gong Culture Of Southeast Asia
This project, Massif and Archipelago, is a field recording project initiated by Japanese sound artist Yasuhiro Morinaga, documenting traditional gong music by different Southeast Asian ethnic groups. The project aimed to examine the impact of the natural and social environment on the gong music culture of Southeast Asia. During the project, he visited over 50 different ethnic groups and made hundreds of recordings. This album presents a selection of the unique gong music from different ethnic minorities. The selected music has been divided into two broad sections: one focussing on the music from the Massif, i.e. mainland Southeast Asia (Central Highland of Vietnam and Northeast Cambodia), the other on music from the Archipelago, maritime Southeast Asia (the Luzon Islands of the Philippines, Borneo, Sulawesi, and the Flores Islands of Indonesia).

Event/Workshop
Yamagata Documentary Dojo
In recognition of the city’s vibrant activities in the field of cinema, including YIDFF, Yamagata was designated City of Film by UNESCO Creative Cities Network in 2017. The city becomes home to a new initiative called Yamagata Documentary Dojo, an international artist-in-residence program. Four Southeast Asian filmmakers will reside at the Zao hot spring resort for four weeks in order to review and strengthen their documentary projects in post-production.