51吃瓜网

Kyoto – The core concept of this year’s Kyoto Experiment (KEX) is “maze maze,” a Japanese mimetic term that evokes the idea of mixing. The performing arts festival’s co-directors — Yoko Kawasaki, Yuya Tsukahara and Juliet Reiko Knapp — invite participants to “consider language, identity, and culture as changeable, fluid, and plural” through a lineup of 11 performance works.

In addition to “The Window of Spaceship ‘In-Between’” by the Chelfitsch theater company, a mixed-roots project that questions what the Japanese language is today from a plurality of perspectives, the festival includes three dance pieces. Brazilian choreographer Alice Ripoll brings to Kyoto her latest work, “Lavagem,” a staging of interpersonal relationships through everyday cleaning products (lavagem means “to clean” in Portuguese). Japanese choreographer Ayaka Nakama will present “The Odoriba Legend,” a piece that investigates past dance forms from the Kansai region that now only exist as spoken lore. Meanwhile, Ruth Childs, niece of the celebrated American choreographer Lucinda Childs, brings reworkings of three of her aunt’s 1970s works to Kyoto.

Returning to KEX for his second visit is Thai director Wichaya Artamat with a new work titled “Juggle & Hide (Seven Whatchamacallits in Search of a Director).” The characters in the piece are a range of props from Artamat’s past works. The director finds innovative means of telling their stories and disentangling them from the meanings that he once forced on them.

Australia’s Back to Back Theatre, a company whose actors have a range of disabilities, makes its debut in Kansai with a work that looks at the dangers of artificial intelligence for people with disabilities. In Higashi Kujo, an area of ongoing redevelopment, KEX brings the third part of its “Moshimoshi City” audio drama project to life. Directed by Korean singer-songwriter Lang Lee, the piece offers an extraterrestrial’s view of everyday earthling life.

Hong Kong-based sound artist Samson Young will present “The World Falls Apart Into Facts,” a research-based piece on the genealogy of the Chinese folk song “Molihua” and its movement from East to West and back again during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912). Argentine author and director Mariano Pensotti and his company stage a real-time split narrative play following a character called “Manuel” across two timelines in 2020 and 2050.

Finally, emerging Japanese digital artist Shota Yamauchi and olfactory artist Maki Ueda will present “Sweaty-oily Sour-cheesy Juice,” an attempt at distilling body odors from members of the audience into a perfume.