// UKIYO [Moveable Worlds] //
a choreographic installation fusing dance, sound, design and digital projections
by DAP LAB
directed by Michèle Danjoux & Johannes Birringer
description:
/ Ukiyo explores the layers of perceptions in an audiovisual world that constantly shifts and fragments.The tactile and auditory dimensions of the world are created by the movement of the audiophonic characters and their actuation of their specially designed garments. The audience is invited to move in and around the space which features five hanamichi (runways) and several projection screens for the virtual world graphics and animated photography. Attention is drawn throughout to the sounding wearables, enacted by the performance characters in this multi-layered encvironmemt which includes a remote/virtual Second Life mirror world The dancers perform simultaneously with digital objects that mutate. Live sound, music and visual choreography for "Ukiyo" are designed for real-time gestural interaction to animate feedback systems and generative processes through with virtual space and physical performer movements are intertwined. The collaborative sound was developed by the composers, the art director/designer Michèle Danjoux and the performers. The choreographic improvisations were developed by the ensemble, with rehearsal direction in Europe by Johannes Birringer, and in Japan by Hironobu Oikawa./
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/ A European-Japanese collaboration directed by Michèle Danjoux and Johannes Birringer, Ukiyo is a choreographic installation featuring audiophonic design concepts and wearables by Danjoux, and choreography by Katsura Isobe, Helenna Ren, Anne-Laure Misme, Yiorgos Bakalos, and Olu Taiwo; choreography on screen by Biyo Kikuchi, Yumi Sagara, Jun Makime, Ruby Rumiko Bessho, Mamen Rivera and Olu Taiwo. This performance by an international ensemble of artists from the DAP-Lab was developed in collaboration with butoh dancers and digital artists in Tokyo, Japan, as part of cross-cultural research into virtual environments directed by Birringer and Danjoux (co-directors of DAP-Lab) and coordinated in Japan by Hironobu Oikawa (Maison d'Artaud, Tokyo) andYukihiko Yoshida (Keio University, Tokyo). The research for the production and the UKIYO collection was carried out over a period of two years and three important workshops in London (2009, 2010) and Tokyo (2009). /.
Credits:
Design Director Michèle Danjoux / Stage Director Johannes Birringer /
Performers:
Yiorgos Bakalos, Katsura Isobe, Biyo Kikuchi, Jun Makime, Anne-Laure Misme, Helenna Ren, Yumi Sagara, Olu Taiwo, Caroline Wilkins
Actors in Silent Film: Mamen Rivera, Olu Taiwo Michael
Music and Real-Time Synthesis: Oded Ben-Tal
Music and Live Sound Processing: Sandy Finlayson
Additional Music: Caroline Wilkins
Fashion design & Art Direction: Michèle Danjoux
Photography: Paul Verity Smith
3D Digital InteractionDesign: Doros Polydorou
Second Life Design: Kabayan
Virtual Performance: Ruby Rumiko Bessho
Avatar Design: Gekitora
Engineering Assistance: Eng Tat Khoo
Video and Visual Programming: Johannes Birringer
Scenography: Johannes Birrringer
Lighting operation & Technical Assistance Jennifer McColl
Public Relations: Hsueh-Pei Wang
Technical Manager (Lilian Baylis Studio): Roman Bezdyk
Technicians: Michael Rodgers
Audio Technician: Graeme Shaw
Collaboration Research Hironobu Oikawa (Maison Artaud), Michael takeo Magruder, Maki Ueda, Kayoko Tokumitsu
This DAP-Lab performance was developed in collaboration with Japanese artists as part of cross-cultural research into mixed reality environments, produced by Johannes Birringer & coordinated in Japan by Yukihiko Yoshida (Keio University).
Performance Rights: dans sans joux / Maison d'Artaud / Inetdance Japan
/ UKIYO was first presented as an installation performance at the Artaud Performance Centre, Brunel University in the context of the international conference (Internatonal Assocaton of Philosophy and Literature) on Double Edges: rhetorics-rhizomes-regions, June 2009. Go here. /
/ The European premiere of UKIYO took place in June 2010 at KIBLA Media Art Center, Maribor, Slovenia./
/ The expanded version of UKIYO [Moveable Worlds) was premiered at Lilian Baylis Studio - Sadler's Wells in November 2010./
Photo credits
Top: Katsura Isobe dancing the 3D creation scene in Ginkgo LeavesDress in UKIYO, Design and concept by Michèle Danjoux. Sadler's Wells 2010 © Danjoux
Second Row: Helenna Ren as HammerWoman with ProstheticArm (left) and as SpeakerWoman (right) wearng pvc trouser suit, shin pads and foam asymmetric hat and carries martial bo with 20W suspended spherical loudspeakers. Design and concept by Michèle Danjoux. KIBLA Media Arts Center 2010. © Danjoux
Third Row: Caroline Wilkins as InstrumentWoman, with neoprene and leather collar feature with square speakers emitting tiny voices, final scene in UKIYO. Design and concept by Michèle Danjoux. Sadler's Wells 2010 © Danjoux
Fourth Row: Anne Laure Misme as WorkerWoman wityh rotating wireless speaker, wearng dysfunctional speaker bra, mini metal cage crinoline with tiny speakers, ostrich leather armlettes, rag wristbands, leggings, transmitter and contact mike. Design and concept by Michèle Danjoux. Sadler's Wells. 2010 © Danjoux
Fifth Row: Jun Makime and Yumi Sagara dancing butoh duet on hanamchi at Sadler's Wells. Styling by Michèle Danjoux.2010 © Danjoux
Last row: Second Life set of the danc installations with avatars performing in virtual environment. Design by Gekitora © 2009 Inetdance
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/ For further descriptions and critical feedback to the UKIYO process, see the blog on dance-tech.net./
/ This research project has been funded by a PM12 Connect/British Council Grant, and a RDF grant (Brunel University), and supported by an award from The Japan Foundation. Special thanks to Christian Kracht, author of "Ich werde hier sein im Sonnenschein und im Schatten", for his inspiring novel, and to Siegfried Zielinski for his media archaeology/
(c) Michèle Danjoux
