Art Translators Collective: Kanoko Tamura×Mayunkiki “We Still Could”

Art Translators Collective: Kanoko Tamura×Mayunkiki

“We Still Could”

Performative dialogue

Photo by Akihito Hirano

Whose words do we take on, and how?
A dialogue on language practice in our present moment.

Kanoko Tamura and Mayunkiki have been working together for four years. As an Ainu artist whose first language is Japanese, Mayunkiki has decided to not speak English during public events. As Mayunkiki’s bilingual, ethnically Japanese interpreter and collaborator, Tamura accompanies her for exhibitions and performances abroad. Together, they develop a lecture performance centered on the various linguistic practices that emerge from dominant and marginalized positions, exploring the decolonization and indigenization of language as they trade memories of experiences, insights, and hardships encountered over the course of their collaboration. Interpretation, they suggest, must not confine itself to mere transmission of words: it must be a sharing of the speaker’s burdens, a joint confrontation of the past and present, a bridge to social change. By reimagining the ethos of interpretation, Tamura and Mayunkiki embark on the realization of a collective manifestation for the future.

Profile

Kanoko Tamura
Art Translator. Director of Art Translators Collective. Specializing in contemporary art and performing arts, Kanoko conducts translation, interpreting, editing, and PR. Seeing herself as a mediator between people, cultures and languages, she aims to expand the possibilities of translation and propose the creative way to hold a dialogue in a given occasion. Kanoko has been teaching English and communication for young artists at Global Art Practice MFA program, Tokyo University of the Arts. She also works as Director of Communication Design for Sapporo International Art Festival 2020 to mediate between the festival and the audience. She graduated with a BS from the Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture at Tufts University in 2008, and received a BA from the Department of Intermedia Art at Tokyo University of the Arts in 2013. She is a member of Arts Commons Tokyo.

Mayunkiki
Born 1982 in Cikap-un-i kotan, Yaun mosir/Chikabumi kotan, Hokkaido, Japan. Based in Yaun mosir/Hokkaido, Japan. A member of Marewrew and Apetunpe, groups that practice traditional Ainu song, Mayunkiki commenced solo performances in 2021. In 2018, motivated by an interest in aesthetics associated with her Ainu roots, she began to research “sinuye,” a traditional form of tattooing for Ainu women. From a strictly personal perspective, she explores the Ainu existence and presence in our contemporary society, incorporating her discoveries into her art.

Photo by Akihito Hirano

Dates

March 6th [Fri] 19:00
March 7th [Sat] 13:30 *1-Day Ticket
March 8th [Sun] 13:30 *1-Day Ticket

Performance times

Approx. 90 min.

Venue

1F SHIBAURA HOUSE
3-15-4 Shibaura, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-0023

Ticket

Single Ticket
Adults | 3,000 yen
Students | 2,000 yen
*Booking essential, non-reserved seat

Buy Ticket

“The Death of Translation” 1-Day Ticket
Adults | 5,000 yen
Students | 3,000 yen
*Booking essential, non-reserved seat
*This ticket is valid for all “The Death of Translation” performance programs on a single day:
3/7 [Sat] Tomoko Momiyama×Sasa-Marie 11:00 / Kanoko Tamura×Mayunkiki 13:30 / Lillian Canright 17:00
3/8 [Sun] Lillian Canright 11:00 / Kanoko Tamura×Mayunkiki 13:30 / Tomoko Momiyama×Sasa-Marie 15:30 or 19:00
*Ticket holders for the paid programs of Theater Commons Tokyo ’26 (excluding the Commons Forum) are eligible to attend the “ATC Station” for free.

Buy Ticket [3/7 (Sat)]

Buy Ticket [3/8 (Sun)]

Language

Japanese, Ainu, English
*The performance will be held principally in Japanese, with some use of Ainu and English. There will be no subtitles or interpretation. For those who need support in understanding Japanese, please bring somebody you can trust, who can act as an interpreter for you. You will be provided adjacent seats, so that interpretation can be performed on the spot (for example, using sign language, or quietly whispering into the listener’s ear). Accompanying interpreters may attend free of charge. We will also send materials for the interpreter prior to the performance, so that they may better prepare for their role (warning: spoilers included).

Accessibility

Subtitles | None
Audio guide | None
Additional accessibility |
Free admission for accompanying interpreters (Materials provided in advance)
Written communication support available at reception
Wheelchair-accessible seating available

Credits

Created by Kanoko Tamura, Mayunkiki
Performed by Kanoko Tamura, Mayunkiki
Dramaturg | Akihito Hirano
With support from Mio Yachida