PRESS RELEASE 2023.6.12

KYOTO EXPERIMENT Office
6F 7th Hase Bldg.
229-2 Shoshoi-cho, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto
604-0862 JAPANTel +81 75 213 5839 Fax +81 75 213 5849

First Artist Names and ‘KEX Supporters‛ System Announced!

Kyoto Experiment invites radical and experimental artists from Japan and overseas to stage works of performing arts thatshould be experienced now. The festival has revealed five artist names from the Kyoto Experiment 2023 lineup.
The full program will be announced on Thursday July 20th.
The festival has also announced it‛s newly established ‘KEX Supporters‛ system through which it is possible to make donations to Kyoto Experiment to support the continutation and development of it‛s activites.

☞ Artists
Toshiki Okada / chelfitsch (Tokyo)
Back to Back Theatre (Geelong, Australia)
Ayaka Nakama (Kobe)
Dana Michel (Montreal, Canada)
Mariano Pensotti (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Dates ☞ September 30th (Sat) - October 22nd (Sun) 2023 [23 days]
Venues ☞ ROHM Theatre Kyoto, Kyoto Art Center, Kyoto Art Theater Shunjuza, THEATRE E9 KYOTO and other locations
Organized by Kyoto International Performing Arts Festival Executive Committee [Kyoto City, ROHM Theatre Kyoto (Kyoto
City Music Art Cultural Promoting Foundation), Kyoto Art Center (Kyoto Arts and Culture Foundation), Kyoto Performing Arts
Center at Kyoto University of the Arts, THEATRE E9 KYOTO (Arts Seed Kyoto)]

Please visit the festival website for the latest information ☞ kyoto-ex.jp
PR Inquiries ☞ Kyoto Experiment Office (Chihiro Ogura, Yoshimi Toyoyama, Ruka Maeda)
6F 7 Hase Bldg. 229-2 Shoshoi-cho, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto 〠 604-0862 Tel: 075-213-5839 Fax: 075-213-5849 Mail: pr@kyoto-ex.jp

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PRESS RELEASE 2023.6.12☞Artists
Toshiki Okada / chelfitsch (Tokyo / Theater) New Work
chelfitsch is a theater company founded in 1997 by Toshiki Okada, who writes anddirects all of its productions. The company made its international debut in 2007 with
Five Days in March at Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Belgium) and has since presented
its works in over ninety cities across Asia, Europe and North America. Many of thecompany‛s works have also been commissioned or co-produced by the world‛ s leading
performing arts festivals and theaters including Festival d'Automne à Paris (France)and Wiener Festwochen (Austria).

What will they present?!

chelfitsch will take on the challenge of creating work in Japanese in collaboration
with performers whose mother tongue is not Japanese. The new work is titled The
Window of Spaceship ‘In-Between‛ and will be presented at ROHM Theater Kyoto
from September 30th to October 3rd.

Back To Back Theatre (Geelong / Theater) Japan Premiere
Active for over thirty years, Back to Back Theatre is an Australian theater company
centered around actors with intellectual disabilities. The company creates new formsof contemporary performance imagined from the minds and experiences of a uniqueensemble of actors with a disability. Their works often shine a sharp light on thedarker corners of society and are highly acclaimed worldwide. In addition to its professional practice, the company collaborates with communities around the world witha focus on artistic excellence and elevated social inclusion for people with disabilities.
What will they present?!
The company will present The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes which has
been performed around the world to high acclaim since its premiere in 2019. This

©Kira Kynd

also marks the first time their work is introduced in the Kansai region.

Ayaka Nakama (Kobe / Dance) New Work
Nakama is a dancer. After training at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance (London) she took part as a scholarship student in a dance study programin Kobe organized by the Agency for Cultural Affairs and NPO Dance Box. Whilecommitted to the way the body is choreographed by someone or something, shepursues a phenomenon that she believes can only be called dance. In recent years
she has been actively focused on the creation of her own works. She is also attracting attention internationally and her work Freeway Dance has been presented at Kunstenfestivaldesarts (2021) and Centre Pompidou (2021). In 2021, a Kyoto version ofFreeway Dance was presented at Kyoto Experiment 2021 Spring. This will mark thesecond time her work is presented at the festival.
©Bea Borgers

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PRESS RELEASE 2023.6.12

Dana Michel (Montreal / Dance) New Work, Japan Premiere
Michel is a choreographer and live artist based in Canada. Her works interact withthe expanded fields of improvisation, hip-hop, dub, comedy, cinematography, sculpture, and social commentary to create a centrifuge of experience. In 2014 Michel
was highlighted among the most notable female choreographers of the year by theNew York Times. In 2017, she was awarded the Silver Lion for Innovation in Dance atthe Venice Biennale. At this year‛s festival Michel will present a new work that wasdeveloped during a residency in Kinosaki and Kyoto in 2022. Michel has been invited
to numerous festivals and theaters around the world and has garnered attention for
her works that disrupt social conventions through her unique physical language. Thisis the choreographer‛ s long-awaited first performance in Japan.
©Richmond Lam

Mariano Pensotti (Buenos Aires / Theater) Japan Premiere
Pensotti is an author and director based in Argentina. He studied visual arts andtheater. He creates theater works specifically intended for the theater as well assite-specific performance works. His works are highly acclaimed for their use oflarge-scale sets and intricately crafted structures of dialogue, channeling theatricalstructures into a kind of wondrous fiction. Pensotti is one of the world‛ s mostrenowned theater directors and has presented his work in over thirty cities aroundthe world. This is the first full-scale introduction in Japan of one of Pensotti‛s works
for the theater.

©Bea Borgers

New ‘KEX Supporters‛ System!
Kyoto Experiment is an annual international performing arts festival held in Kyoto since 2010. Each year the festival presents a unique programthat introduces experimental work from Japan and abroad. Over the last decade it has become known around the world as one of the leadinginternational performing arts festivals in Japan. However in recent years the effects of covid, political and economic changes internationallyand Kyoto City‛s administrative and fiscal reforms have left the festival facing a difficult situation financially and consequently searching for
new methods of survival. As a solution to this the festival has announced the new ‘KEX Supporters‛ system. This aims to establish donations
to the festival as one key pillar of the festival‛s core funding. Those who sign up as a supporter and donate to the festival will receive various
benefits such as festival merchandise and invitations to special member only events. These donations from supporters are essential in sustaining and developing the festival‛s activities.

Details ☞ https://kyoto-ex.jp/donate
The system will open on June 14th and the deadline for becoming a supporter this year is August 21st.
Please note information is currently in Japanese only. The English page will open on July 20th.

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