PRESS RELEASE

Arts Council Tokyo

28 June 2021

(Tokyo Metropolitan Foundationfor History and Culture)
NPO Dance Archive Network

Tokyo Tokyo FESTIVAL Special 13
TOKYO REAL UNDERGROUND Press Release #3Exhibition with new work
by Ryudai Takano starting 3 August!

Passing Butoh’s legacy on to the next generation

TOKYO REAL UNDERGROUND (TRU), part of Tokyo Tokyo FESTIVAL
Special 13 organised by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Arts
Council Tokyo (Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture)
is a new, Covid-era online dance festival that has been approaching
recent challenges from multiple directions. The online TOKYO REALUNDERGROUND program includes over 20 videos of performances
and talks by artists who are connected to Butoh in various ways, as well as a Butoh Incidents timeline that
presents the history of Butoh in an easy to understand manner. Registration is required, however the entire
program is available to view for free. As of 25 June, there are 2533 registered viewers, and 9584 video views.
All online content is available until 15 August. To mark the end of the festival, the Butoh: New Archive Exhibition
will be held from 3 August.
The Butoh: New Archive Exhibition is an in-person event that will require advance reservation as part of
the COVID-19 prevention measures that have been put in place for the festival. The exhibition will feature RED& GREEN, a video work by photographer Ryudai Takano created in collaboration with Butoh dancers, and apseudo-hologram of modern-day dancers recreating legendary performances by Butoh founders Tatsumi
Hijikata, Kazuo Ohno and Yoshito Ohno. Artists of numerous disciplines, from Butoh dancers and contemporary
dancers to photographers, filmmakers and painters, approach Butoh through different perspectives.
Experimenting with new ways to archive Butoh, this exhibition presents the legacy of Butoh to the nextgeneration.

Exhibition Highlights• RED & GREEN, a video installation by photographer Ryudai Takano in collaboration
with 10 Butoh dancers explores the theme of “shadows”.
•

Three masterworks by the founders of Butoh—Tatsumi Hijikata, Kazuo Ohno andYoshito Ohno—are copied by modern-day dancers and presented as a pseudohologram.

•49 original illustrations that have been published as part of an online timeline ButohIncidents, are presented together in an installation.
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Butoh: New Archive Exhibition
DatesTimes

3–15 August 2021
Mon–Fri: 14:00-20:00, Sat: 13:00-21:00, Sun: 11:00-18:00
BUoY Basement Space (49-11, Senju-Nakacho, Adachi-ku, Tokyo | 10 min from Kita-Senju Station)
Venue
Admission Free
Details
Reservation required (at least 1 hour in advance, max. 20 people at any time)
Reservation Online from 1 July via the official website

Exhibition Displays:• Ryudai Takano—RED & GREEN New video installation• naoto iina—THREE Pseudo-hologram and film exhibition• Yo Ishihara—Butoh Incidents: Illustrated Ceiling 49 original illustrations
Ryudai Takano—RED & GREEN
Archiving the transient body
New video installation by contemporary Japanese photographer
Ryudai Takano.
RED & GREEN began with a question: how would a photographer
approach a video work, and how would they make use of the bodyin their work? This piece has been created in collaboration with thefinest Butoh dancers alive today: Norihito Ishii, Kae Ishimoto, Teita
Iwabuchi, Mitsuyo Uesugi, Saga Kobayashi, Yukio Suzuki, Semimaru,Yasuhiko Takeuchi, Kumotaro Mukai, and Daisuke Yoshimoto.
In this work, a scarlet light is cast upon a wall covered inphosphorescent paint, in front of which Butoh dancers stand anddance, repeating quiet, individual movements. With the flash of astrobe light, the outline of the Butoh dancers are fixed upon the green
phosphorescent wall, leaving their black shadows lingering for several
minutes after the dancers depart.
A quiet video installation in which illusory bodies appear in the blinkof red and green lights, creating an experience that feels like themoment in which a photograph is made, and asking the fundamental
question of all dance archives: how do we archive the transient body?
Concept, Filming & Direction: Ryudai Takano
Curation: naoto iina
Performers: Norihito Ishii, Kae Ishimoto, Teita Iwabuchi, Mitsuyo Uesugi, Saga Kobayashi, Yukio Suzuki, Semimaru, YasuhikoTakeuchi, Kumotaro Mukai, Daisuke Yoshimoto
Equipment provided by: Sony Marketing Inc.
Ryudai Takano
Photographer. Born in 1963. In 2006 he won the Kimura Ihei Award for photography with IN MY ROOM, a collection that visualises theindistinct divisions between men and women, and homo and heterosexuals. With works such as How to Contact a Man, which explores
the same themes in a pornographic format, and Kasubaba, which explores urban spaces particular to Japan, he continues to explore
unorthodox themes through his photographs. His solo exhibition Daily Photographs 1999-2021 will be held at the National Museum ofArt in Osaka this year, from 29 June to 23 September.

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naoto iina—THREE
Three-sided pseudo hologram archive
Three modern-day dancers copy three masterworks by the founders of Butoh:
Tatsumi Hijikata, Kazuo Ohno and Yoshito Ohno. The performers Mikiko
Kawamura, Takao Kawaguchi and Dai Matsuoka have responded to the spiritof Butoh with modern methods. Kawamura reproduces Tatsumi Hijikata’s
Hosotan (Story of Smallpox) (1972), Takao Kawaguchi reconstructs Kazuo
Ohno’s Admiring La Argentina (1977), and Dai Matsuoka recreates Yoshito
Ohno’s Hijikata Sansho (1985). These three performances were filmed fromthree directions simultaneously in order to create a three-sided pseudo hologram
installation. This installation is featured in the performance of the same
name, currently available on TRU Online, which was filmed in the Former
Hakubutsukan Dobutsen Station.
This pseudo-hologram has been created by compiling the footage from the threevideos, taken from the front, right and left. By putting together images that show
the dancer’s centre of gravity and placement of the feet from three different angles,
this “hologram” enables a more detailed archive of movement.
Direction: naoto iina
Performers: Takao Kawaguchi, Mikiko Kawamura, Dai Matsuoka
Film Production: Naohiro Yoshida, Eri Kawamura, naoto iina
naoto iina
Videographer, director, dramaturg, visual scenographer and producer. iina is the founder of Dance and Media Japan and International Dance Film
Festival. He is also an Associate Professor at Tokyo Zokei University and lecturer at Za Koenji Theatre Academy. Recently he has been working
on cross-genre works with video, dance and text. He is in charge of direction, composition, filming and editing of the online Butoh program "ReButoooh" (NPO Dance Archive Network).

Yo Ishihara—Butoh Incidents: Illustrated Ceiling
Archiving Butoh as a series of incidents
The Butoh Incidents exhibition, currently available as part of TRU Exhibition online, is a timelinethat depicts Butoh as a series of “incidents”. The illustrations by Ishihara that decorate this timeline
are based on “impressions” from archived photographs and film footage. For this exhibition, her 49
original illustrations conveying peoples’ “memories” and “impressions” are displayed together as anillustrated ceiling.
Illustrations: Yo Ishihara
Curation: naoto iina
Yo Ishihara
Artist. Born in 1988. Completed a PhD in Art and Design at the Tohoku University of Art and Design in 2020. Her paintings explore the invisible
boundaries and unconscious filters between “them” and “us”, and “you” and “me”. Among numerous exhibitions, her recent activities include
a solo exhibition Who, which was held online in May, and in person in August 2020 at the Seizan Gallery. She also creates works as part of acollective.
*COVID-19 prevention measures will be implemented for the duration of this exhibition. Visitors attending the exhibition are asked to read and comply with themeasures outlined on the official website. Thank you for your cooperation. http://www.tokyorealunderground.net/english/news/0006.html

Related Event Butoh: New Archive Talk

A talk and Butoh Exhibition Dance* streamed on TRU Online
Release date: 3 July 19:30 [UTC +9] (60min, available until 15 August)
Venue: Online Access: Free (registration to TRU Online required)
Speakers: Ryudai Takano, naoto iina , Toshio Mizohata
Butoh Exhibition Dance: Saga Kobayashi
Directed by: naoto iina Film Production: NPO LAND FESRegistration: http://www.tokyorealunderground.net/english/ticket.html*Butoh Exhibition Dances are talks in which Butoh dancers have been invited to perform a slow, sculptural “Butoh Exhibition Dance” as the discussionhappens around them. This is a new style of event where talks are conducted in a Butoh-inspired atmosphere.

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Festival Outline
Tokyo Tokyo FESTIVAL Special 13

TOKYO REAL UNDERGROUND
Dates
1 April–15 August 2021
VenuesOnline, various locations in Tokyo
Admission Free (registration required for the online program)
Online Program Registration: http://www.tokyorealunderground.net/english/ticket.html

naoto iina, Yasunori Ikunishi, Norihito Ishii, Kae Ishimoto, Kim Itoh,			 Tenko Ima, Teita Iwabuchi, Mitsuyo Uesugi, Tadashi Endo, Oguri, Eiko Otake, 					 Yuko K aseki, Takao K awaguchi, Mikiko K awamura, William K lein,			Saga Kobayashi, Yuki Kobayashi, Naoyuki Sakai, Pechika Sato, Yukio Suzuki,			Semimaru, Ryudai Takano, Yasuhiko Takeuchi, Atsushi Takenouchi,			 Toshi Tanaka, Tomomi Tanabe, HAUS, Bishop Yamada, Dai Matsuoka,			 Kumotaro Mukai, Yumi Umiumare, Daisuke Yoshimoto, River Lin and more.
Artistic Director: Takao K awaguchi (Performer)
Curatorial Team			
Curators:
naoto iina (Film Maker, Director - Dance and Media Japan)				
Dai Matsuoka (Butoh Dancer, Director - LAND FES)			
Producer:
Toshio Mizohata (Director - NPO Dance Archive Network)
Featured Artists

Organisers Tokyo Metropolitan Government
Arts Council Tokyo (Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture)
Planning and Production NPO Dance Archive Network
Sponsored by: BNP Paribas GroupIn cooperation with:
Kazuo Ohno Dance Studio; Butoh Laboratory, Japan; Keio University Art Center; FILMS PARIS NEW YORK;
Dance and Media Japan; NPO LAND FES; Yusuke Suzuki Design Office Inc.; HAUS Co. Ltd.; Sasaki Architecture;
Canta Co. Ltd; Keisei Electric Railway; Shuto Metropolitan Expressway Company Limited; Arts and Snack Executive Committee;
Ikenohata Fujii; Tokyo Cultural Heritage Alliance; SAISON Foundation; Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab; Sony MarketingInc.; Sega Sammy Arts Foundation
Public Relations Cooperation: dance press tokyo
Official Website: http://www.tokyorealunderground.net/english/
Facebook: @DanceArchiveNetwork
Twitter: @dance_archive
Instagram: @dancearchivenetwork
What is Butoh?
An avant-garde performance-based art originating in post-war Japan. Although it
has roots in 1920s German modern dance, it was a groundbreaking form thatshook Western dance concepts. Kinjiki (Forbidden Colours) by Tatsumi Hijikata in
1959 is often cited as the first Butoh performance, and since the 1970s it has
become increasingly well known internationally. There are now Butoh festivals allover the world, and it has even become featured in school classes and textbooks.
About Dance Archive Network
Dance Archive Network (DAN) is a non-profit organisation that conserves theartistic assets and knowledge of Kazuo O hno and Yoshito O hno, and promotes thesignificance of dance archives and international networks. The aim is to contributeto the legacy and promotion of dance culture by collecting and saving
documentation, and organising current works inspired by them. DAN is alsocurrently working towards the development of a new, 3D technology-basedarchive.
Official website: http://www.dance-archive.net/en/

About Tokyo Tokyo FESTIVAL
Tokyo Tokyo FESTIVAL is an initiative that unfolds a variety of cultural programs in
the run-up to the Olympic and Paralympic Games held in Tokyo, promoting its
appeal as a city of arts and culture.
Official Website: https://tokyotokyofestival.jp/en/
About Tokyo Tokyo FESTIVAL Special 13
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Arts Council Tokyo sought a wide rangeof creative and innovative ideas from the public for projects that would become
the core of the cultural programs for the Tokyo Tokyo FESTIVAL. From a total of
2,436 project proposals submitted from within Japan and overseas, 13 wereselected for implementation. The 13 projects are collectively named “Tokyo Tokyo
FESTIVAL Special 13”, and are being implemented in sequence.
Official Website: https://ttf-koubo.jp/en/

Contact Details
Mai Honda, Yuko Nishiyama (NPO Dance Archive Network)
E-mail: press@tokyorealunderground.net / TEL: 03-3582-9273 / FAX: 03-3582-9275

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