|
Fado Performance Inc. international visiting artists
| |||
|
+ |
+ |
|||
| HAPPY JAPAN! -- Shin-Ichi Arai WIND DOESN'T BLOW BRANCHES -- Mimi Nakajima November 1, 2002, 8 pm Art System, 327 Spadina Ave., 2nd Floor
TORONTO, Canada ... Fado is pleased to present the Toronto premiere of Japanese performance artists Shin-Ichi Arai and Mimi Nakajima. Their performances will take place at Art System at 8 pm on Friday, November 1, 2002 in conjunction with the 4th 7a*11d International Festival of Performance Art. Shin-Ichi Arai and Mimi Nakajima are part of a recent trend in Japanese performance art toward a rawer, more direct style that eschews the formalism and romanticism of an earlier generation. While traces of the poetic influence remain, these artists' works reveal their interest in casting an unblinking eye on our bodies as a site of social tension. |
||||
|
In Happy Japan!, Shin-Ichi Arai calls attention to some of the contradictions of his native country. Critical of the political system and alarmed by conservative and xenophobic cultural tendencies, Arai makes his own patriotic statement through a bold art action. "Here in Japan, which is said to be rich, to be mature democracy, to have freedom of expression, all I can do is cry; 'Happy Japan! Happy Japan!'" Shin-Ichi Arai has been doing performance actions for 20 years. He has performed extensively in Asia as well as appearing at the Exit Festival in Helsinki, Finland. Ten years ago he spent two years teaching at Nyumba ya Sanaa Art school, Zanzibar, Tanzania. In relation to her work Wind doesn't blow branches, Mimi Nakajima writes: My performances develop from problems in my daily life, which I try to observe in an optimistic way. As I start to find the truth of a question, my thinking moves toward philosophic conclusion, the territory of 'reason'. If I bring my conclusions back to reality, it creates a funny gap. That is what I want to express in performance. There is always some 'vagueness' in trying to clarify truth. It is quite difficult to express the vagueness itself, but I find performance a useful means of accepting it. In performance art, people experience discovery through sharing time and place. Mimi Nakajima is based in Tokyo. A graduate of the Tokyo National University of Fine Art, she has presented her work in Europe and Asia. This is her first performance in North America. |
| |||
|
Fado is pleased to acknowledge the Canada Council, the Ontario Arts Council, the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council, and the Department of Canadian Heritage for their support of our ongoing activities. This project received additional support from the Japan-Canada fund through the Canada Council. |
||||
|
+ |
+ |
|||
|
Fado Performance Inc. + current projects + archive + about fado + contact fado + site map + home + copyright © 2001-06 Fado Performance Inc. |
||||
