Commons Forum #3
"Arts and Virtuality"

Panel Discussion

Aichi Triennale 2019 Performing Arts Meiro Koizumi "Prometheus Bound" Photo: Shun Sato
At the beginning of VR theater history, what can virtual reality bring to theatrical experiences?

Around 90 years ago, French poet and playwright Antonin Artaud coined the term “virtual reality.” He argued that theater, like alchemy, is “la réalité virtuelle” that physically casts the more dangerous reality hidden beneath everyday life. Today, through the development of VR technology, this “virtual reality” that Artaud foresaw has begun to expand our human perception and, as an extension, our bodily reality.
Based on the performance of Meiro Koizumi’s VR theater piece Prometheus Bound, in this forum, we will discuss the continued relationship generated between humans and virtual technology as well as the potentialies of using VR in theatrical settings, and also offer presentations by experts and curators from around the world.

Panelists|
Maaike Bleeker (Professor of Theatre, and research leader Media & Performance at Utrecht University)
Charles Carcopino (Curator)
Jinyao Lin (Director of C-Lab Taiwan Sound Lab)
MeiroKoizumi (Artist)

Moderator|Kyoko Iwaki (Theatre and Performance Lecturer at University of Antwerp)

Commons Forum

Since Aichi Triennale 2019, discussions around freedom of expression and the public role of the arts have erupted. What are the next steps for this society exposed to its divisions and discords? As a response to this urgency, TCT’20 hosts a four-session Commons Forum intensive. Under the themes of “Arts and Society,” “Arts and Public,” “Arts and Virtuality,” and “Arts and Politics,” we welcome over 20 panelists from home and abroad for discussions totaling more than 10 hours. Weaving together history and future as well as theory and practice, we hope to emerge with some common ground where we can stop and consider the potential of the arts in overcoming social divisions.

Profile

Maaike Bleeker
Maaike Bleeker is a Professor of Theatre, and research leader Media & Performance at Utrecht University. She is an experienced dramaturge, having worked with both theatre directors and choreographers. She served as President of Performance Studies international (PSi, 2011-16). In her research, she combines approaches from the arts and performance with insights from philosophy, media theory and cognitive science. Her monograph Visuality in the Theatre was published by Palgrave (2008). She (co) edited several volumes including Anatomy Live. Performance and the Operating Theatre (2008) Performance & Phenomenology (Routledge 2015), Transmission in Motion. The Technologizing of Dance (Routledge, 2016) and Thinking Through Theatre and Performance (Bloomsbury 2019). She is currently leading the project Acting Like a Robot: Theatre as Testbed for the Robot Revolution.

Thoughts for the Commons Forum # 3 “Arts and Virtuality” by Maaike Bleeker

Jinyao Lin
Jinyao Lin, a composer and digital artist of Taiwan. He received Ph.D degree of computer science and information engineering in 2014 from National Taiwan University, and Master of Fine Art degree and Bachelor of Music degree from Taipei National University of the Art. Now he is an assistant professor of National Tainan University of the Arts and as well as an active artist in contemporary art, theatre and music. He has won several important awards from Taiwan and Hong Kong. Now he is teaching at National Tainan University of the Arts and is the director of CLAB Taiwan Sound Lab.

Charles Carcopino
Lives in Paris,France. Specialist in digital cultures, Charles Carcopino oscillates between curating exhibitions and visual creations for the stage of live shows. Charles Carcopino was the curator for the international Exit Festival held at the Maison des Arts de Créteil and the VIA festival, and works as an independent curator for festivals and institutions in France and in Asia…Anchored in today’s world, his exhibitions explore the effects of society’s post-Internet acceleration in the fields of contemporary creation.He creates visuals and interactive scenography installations for events in ballet, opera and electronic music festivals (Deutsche Oper Berlin, Theatre National de Chaillot…).

© Paul_Belêtre

Meiro Koizumi
Koizumi studied at the International Christian University, Tokyo (1996-1999), Chelsea College of Art and Design, London (1999-2002), and Rijksakademie vanbeeldend kunsten, Amsterdam (2005-2006).His previous solo exhibitions include “Trapped Voice Would Dream of Silence” at Arts Maebashi (2015), “Project Series 99: Meiro Koizumi” at Museum of Modern Art, New York (2013), “Stories of a Beautiful Country” Centro de Arte Caja de Burgos (CAB), Spain (2012), “Defect in Vision” at Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam (2012), MAM Project 009 at Mori Museum, Tokyo (2009). He participated in numerous group shows such as, “Future Generation Art Prize” at Pinchuk Art Center, Kiev (2012), “Invisible Memories” at Hara Museum, Tokyo (2011), Liverpool Biennial (2010), Media City Seoul (2010), and Aichi Triennale, Japan (2010).

©Meiro Koizumi

Kyoko Iwaki
Kyoko Iwaki obtained a PhD in Theatre from Goldsmiths, University of London in 2017. After her completion of PhD, with the grant of Asian Cultural Council, she became a Visiting Scholar at The Segal Center, The City University of New York. She is a specialist in Japanese contemporary theatre, who conducts research at the intersection of sociology, performance philosophy, critical theory and post-colonial studies. From 2018, she is a JSPS Post-Doctoral researcher affiliated with Waseda University. Her publications include, Japanese Theatre Today: Theatrical Imaginations of Eight Contemporary Practitioners (Tokyo: Film Art Publishing, 2018 in Japanese). Around June 2020, she is a Lecturer at Theatre Studies, University of Antwerp.

Photo: Naoki Yamamoto

Date

March 7th [Sat] / 17:00-20:00

Venue

Goethe-Institut Tokyo
7-5-56 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0052

How to Participate

Booking essential. Show general admission pass on entry.
Buy Pass

Language

Japanese (with English interpretation)

Credit

Support|Goethe-Institut Tokyo
Supported by Taiwan Cultural Center, Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Embassy of France in Japan / Institut français du Japon
*This forum is a related to “Digital Choc, 9th edition”
www.institutfrancais.jp/digitalchoc/