I was invited to be part of “Japonijos Dienos Kaune WA” celebrating the culture of Japan as part of the Kaunas 2022 programme – Kaunas is one of the chosen cities of European Capital of Culture for 2022. I will be presenting two performances, teaching a workshop and giving a talk throughout the festival, starting from April 25 – May 1, 2022.
04.28 | THURSDAY 17:30-
AOI YAMAGUCHI x SENSELESS DRAWING BOT
PARALLEL PERFORMANCES OF JAPANESE CALLIGRAPHY BY A CALLIGRAPHER AND ABSTRACT ART BY DRAWING BOT
For the first time, a calligrapher and a drawing bot perform large-scale live art together on their own canvases under the united theme.
Senseless Drawing Bot, created by So Kanno in collaboration with Takahiro Yamaguchi, is a self-generated drawing machine utilizing the chaotic movement of a double pendulum and drawing abstract lines. Japanese calligrapher Aoi Yamaguchi, utilizing her skills she mastered in classical training from the age of 6, will be expressing her artistic interpretation of the concept of the “void” – questioning the contrast between robots and humans when being in the state of emptiness and entirely being in the moment.
While Kanno and Yamaguchi’s Senseless Drawing Bot approximates graffiti by eliminating the human body and expressing itself only through an autonomous algorithm, Aoi Yamaguchi expresses her artistic interpretation of characters, words and poetry through calligraphy brushes, drawn through her organic physical movements. This unique collaborative performance invites viewers to witness the possibilities of human vs. robot, and challenges you to ask yourself what is ‘self’.
04.29 | FRIDAY 17:00-
間 (MA) – and everything in between –
COLLABORATIVE PERFORMANCE OF CALLIGRAPHY, DANCE AND SOUND
Japanese calligrapher Aoi Yamaguchi performs conceptual, large-scale live calligraphy in collaboration with Lithuanian dance theater “Aura”, Susanna Maggio and Francesca Pizzuti, accompanied by a sound composition by Tokyo-based musician and multimedia artist Corey Fuller. In an unconventional setting, this conceptual performance explores the concept of 間 (MA) – “space” in our lives, that has challenged us in recent years. When the world shut down, we had to distance ourselves from others, we were left in our own enclosed space, and faced our inner-selves. When the world collided and our freedom had been taken away, we had to adapt to the new normal and seek ways to and find a space where we feel safe. And we are still on that journey looking for a place where our minds and hearts are at peace ; 間 (MA) for space, 間 (MA) for time, 間 (MA) for the distance, 間 (MA) for silence — and everything in between.
Duration: 20 minutes
04.30 | SATURDAY
11:00-13:00 JAPANESE CALLIGRAPHY “SHODO” WORKSHOP
VMU, V.Putvinskio st. 23
Registration at: kaunas2022/eu/en/wa
15:00-16:00 TALK “The Brush and I”
VMU, V.Putvinskio st. 23
Checkout the beautiful programme: https://kaunas2022/eu/wa
More about Kaunas 2022: https://kaunas2022.eu/