SASG Residency Week 7
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Seoul International Choreography Workshop (SICW) took place from August 11 to 17 at Seoul Dance Center, which is under the umbrella of Seoul Foundation of Art and Culture. There are more than 10 art centers including Seoul Art Space Geumcheon, which we are staying at. SICW was a special opportunity for me because two choreographers and one DJ who I know well were offering workshops: Akiko Kitamura from Japan; and Doris Uhlich and Boris Kopeinig from Austria. This time, I participated in Doris and Boris’s 4-day workshop. I have already joined their workshops in Montreal at Studio 303 and a research workshop in Vienna as well as the performance at Secession, and the reason why I participated again is because I always had great time with them and the other participants. Last time, after their workshop in Montreal, I invited Doris and Boris to our Pecha Kucha at Topological Media Lab, where we discussed not only body and movements but also the relationship of body and technology.
Like their other workshops, we discovered what Doris calls “energetic icons” through improvisation listening to Boris’s live DJ set and we further developed them by choreography with other workshop participants. Sometimes we went to the outside of the building to dance with nature, or we brought some props to change the dance studio space as seen in the photo. Since one workshop lasted for 6 hours including lunch break, besides dancing, we had enough time to share our experiences and also to watch past works by Doris to discuss concepts behind her works. Most of the participants are Korean and they have different background such as dance, acting and therapy. Being Japanese, I often think about complicated relationship between Japan and Korea, but through an intimate dance experience we had, I could totally forget about the tension and I see potential to overcome diplomatic issues.
Although the workshop finished on Wednesday, I visited the Seoul Dance Center on the following day to watch Akiko’s workshop. The workshop started with copying Akiko’s choreography and then each participant changed the choreography through improvisation, which is quite the opposite of Doris’s workshop. However, it is interesting to think about the similarity between the two workshops; both workshops focus on energy of the body and how to articulate it through movements. After the workshop, Akiko, her translator and I went to Korean medicine market to have herbal tea. They diagnosed and told me that my body is yin of yinyang so they prescribed tea that make the body warmer. They also run a pharmacy next door so that they can provide tea for each customer.
On Friday, I organized the second edition of Mapping Party. Last time I invited mostly artists from SASG, but this time, residency artists from MMCA Goyang and SEMA Nanji also joined the party. I started to prepare for the performance for open studio in September, so I hosted this party not only to have fun but also to test some new ideas, combining Max D’s freeliner and some other motion graphic programs that I am making lately with Processing and openFrameworks.
Since it was the last day of Verena from Nanji, on Saturday, we went to a samgyeopsal restaurant in Itaewon. During the residency, we have been meeting so many Korean artists and international residency artists. I am grateful to Seoul for being a hub for us and I am inspired by being with other artists.
