Current
The Voice of Inconstant Savage
[Commissioned Work]
This multifaceted, polyphonic and immersive sound installation by Yasuhiro Morinaga establishes a historical encounter between Portuguese culture and Japan, memories and myths that remain and coexist with other cultures of the Amazon.
Commissioned for the Engawa – Japanese Contemporary Art Season programme , The Voice of Inconstant (2023) 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
Peer Gynts
The project looks at Ibsen’s Peer Gynt as a courageous tactical manual of exploring and intentionally getting lost in the world. Looking at the world from some corner of Asia, Peer Gynt encourages us to travel, to restlessly seek and question, to uncover and un-map the seemingly mapped global world and politics. Peer Gynt calls for a different world map and this project seeks to delve into the call.
Performing arts
The Seen and Unseen
One day, Tantri comes to realise she will not have much more time with her bedridden twin brother Tantra, who is losing his senses one by one. Grappling with this reality, Tantri finds solace in the deepness and the darkness of night. Under a full moon, she dances, finding herself between reality and imagination, loss and hope. Tantri experiences a magical and emotional journey into womanhood that eclipses Tantra’s fading life.
The Seen and Unseen (Sekala Niskala) is a new performance work, a cross-cultural collaboration between artists from Indonesia, Japan and Australia. Inspired by Indonesian filmmaker Kamila Andini’s film The Seen and Unseen, which has been described as “a truly singular film” (Cinema Scope) and “a haunting and hypnotic interpretation…rooted in Balinese arts and culture” (Variety).
This dance-theatre production is a visual feast incorporating dance, live music and song, and features an electronic score, creating a blend of traditional Balinese dance movement with a contemporary approach to theatre. Driving this production is the Balinese philosophy of Sekala Niskala (“the seen and unseen”), a fundamentally dualist spiritual structure that describes what we cannot see as having equal value to what is seen in the world.
Concert
SETAN JAWA
『サタンジャワ』とは、ガリン・ヌグロホ監督による「エクスパンデッド・シネマ(拡張映画)」のコンセプトの元、生演奏付きで上映するために作られたサイレント映画です。2017年2月のオーストラリア・メルボルンでの海外初公演を皮切りに、シンガポール、アムステルダム、ベルリンといった世界各都市で、その地の楽団とのコラボレーションによる公演を成功させてきました。いよいよこの夏、この日本公演のために全編新しく制作された音楽・音響と融合させ、サウンドデザイナー・森永泰弘と、「水曜日のカンパネラ」として個性的かつ実験的な音楽活動を展開するコムアイとの共演により、立体音響コンサート版を初披露します。