Akira Takayama/Port B
“Tokyo School Excursion Project: Fukushima Tour”

<Satellite Event>Tour Performance

©Takeshi YAMAGISHI
Join Port B in traveling as students on a school excursion for this tour-style play/learning opportunity. What kind of future will appear when Tokyo is seen from the perspective of Fukushima?

With a consistent focus on conceptualizing the city of Tokyo since the group’s formation in 2002, Akira Takayama-led Port B has continued to expand the possibilities of theater in both theoretical and practical terms. In this new work, Tokyo School Excursion Project, participants will take on the perspectives of outsiders, conducting research on Tokyo and creating a travel plan. They will then embark on a group trip, pretending to be students on a school excursion. This tour, which will include those living in Tokyo as foreigners, refugees, and political exiles, will figure as a theatrical work of art that defamiliarizes the city, as well as a learning opportunity shaped by the participants themselves.
The newly organized New Tokyo School Excursion Project: Fukushima Version will be the final chapter in the Tokyo Historical Tragedies Trilogy, following the Kurdish Version and the Japanese Orphans in China Version held successively across the last half year. 8 years have passed since the earthquake. Invited from Fukushima, high school students will join this 3 day 2 night “school excursion” that will summon a number of times and voices to Tokyo as it awaits the Olympics. What kind of future will we perceive as we travel through this city—seen from the perspective of Fukushima—at the point where past tragedies meet the present day?

Profile

Akira Takayama
Akira Takayama formed the creative collective Port B in 2002. He produces a wide range of artworks and projects that include tour-style performances, video installations, social experiments, discussions, and sightseeing tours. In 2013, he founded Port Urban Research Center, which applies theatrical methods to tourism, urban planning, social practices, and media development, among other activities.

©Yasuyuki Emori

Date

March 9th [Sat] – March 11th [Mon]

Venue

Several locations in Tokyo and its suburbs

How to Participate

General admission pass not required
Please make reservations through Port B’s website

Language

Japanese

Credit

Organized by Port B
Supported by Kawamura Arts and Cultural Foundation Socially Engaged Art Support Grant