Transition from departure to arrival – A performative art event based on the traditional Japanese tea ceremony and developed for a contemporary context.

May 24^th 2013 at 7 p.m.

 

 

WELTKUNSTZIMMER – Hans Peter Zimmer Foundation

Ronsdorfer Str. 77a, D-40233 Düsseldorf; http://www.weltkunstzimmer.de
introduction: Ingeborg Erhart, curator and director at Tiroler Künstlerschaft, Innsbruck (A)

 

 

 invitation card

 

 

 

More than 100 visitors came to see the performance transition from arrival to departure at Weltkunstzimmer in Düsseldorf on May 24th 2015.

 

 

Kiyomi Yamashita

 

Akane Nakamori with visitors in the dressing room

 

When Japan opened itself to international trade in 1854 to become a modern industrial and military power in its own right, the Japanese government sent intellectuals to Europe and the United States to study what was needed for modernization, which included the study of Western Society and Western thought. Most Japanese philosophers turned towards Germany for their inspiration. How to negotiate the differences between traditional Asian and modern Western values became a major concern among Japanese philosophers in the first half of the Twentieth Century. Today the hyper-connectivity of the Internet and global access on all levels offers new possibilities for cultural studies and collaborative projects.

 

With the event at Weltkunstzimmer – HPZ Foundation, the project initiators Japanese artist/curator Akane Naka-Mori and Austrian/Dutch artist Margret Wibmer examine an old Japanese tradition, which represents many aspects of Japanese culture. Based on a rhizomatic research method driven by desire and chance encounters rather than objectivity, they are carefully negotiating new perspectives. Their collaborators are artists and experts from different fields.

 

After a successful start of the project in February 2013 at Ishikawa Nishida Kitaro Museum of Philosophy, a building designed by Tadao Ando, this first European event will mark the beginning of an ongoing Asian-European collaboration.

 

We are delighted to announce that tea ceremony master Fuyuko Kobori from Tokyo will join us for our first set of events in Europe. She is a member of the famous Kobori Enshu family, one of the original founders of that old tradition (1579 – 1647).

 

 

 

Butoh d

Fujuko Kobori at Myogi Fuyurasto Art Museum in Gunma [JP] photograph: Kjell Hahn

 

Contemporary dancer Kiyomi Yamashita who studied Indian dance before devoting herself to the study of Butoh, will guide participants and public into a world far from the ordinary. The raw industrial space of Weltkunstzimmer and the soundscape of Minowa Norihito, a Kanazawa based composer and owner of music studio Di-Fairy Co., Ltd., will add to an unforgettable experience. 8 visitors will randomly be chosen as participants and ‘actors’ of the tea ceremony. Visitors who like to be chosen for possible participation, please dress in black!

 

This project was made possible with the generous support of:

Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, the Arts and Culture (AT);

Land Tirol (AT); Mondriaan Foundation (NL); Komatsu Seiren Co. Ltd. (JP) hopefully we can add japan foundation to the list here!!! I hope good news will wait for you upon arrival!!

 

 

Concept: Akane Naka-Mori (www.suisei-art.com) and Margret Wibmer

Tea ceremony master: Fuyuko Kobori (Tokyo, JP)

Dancer: Kiyomi Yamashita (Kanazawa, JP)

Styling and make up: Akane Nakamori

Soundscape: Minowa Norihito (Kanazawa, JP)

Costumes and photography: Margret Wibmer (Amsterdam, NL/AT)

Video: Akane Nakamori

8 visitors as participants

Tea bowls from the colelction of Fuyuko Kobori

 

 

 

All photographs © Margret Wibmer unless mentinoed otherwise.