Installation

The Voice of Inconstant Savage
Commissioned for the Engawa – Japanese Contemporary Art Season programme organized by Calouste Gulbenkian Museum's Modern Art Center, The Voice of Inconstant Savage is an immersive installation that superimposes a prayer inspired by the story of a 16th-century Portuguese missionary, a chant from a Kakure-Kirishitan (hidden Christians) prayer – a religion rooted in Nagasaki Prefecture –, a chant from the Karawara spirits of the Awá indigenous people – who live in the Amazon rainforest – and a chorus of Western Gregorian chant. Morinaga questions the position of the aesthetics of inconstancy in relation to the discourse of the “savage” that modern society confronts.

Field recordings

Sombat Simla: Master Of Bamboo Mouth Organ
Simla is known in Thailand as one of the greatest living players of the khene, the ancient bamboo mouth organ particularly associated with Laos but found throughout East and Southeast Asia. His virtuosic and endlessly inventive renditions of traditional and popular songs have earned him the title ‘the god of khene’, and he is known for his innovative techniques and ability to mimic other instruments and non-musical sound, including, as a writer for the Bangkok Post describes, ‘the sound of a train journey, complete with traffic crossings and the call of barbecue chicken vendors’.

Performing arts

⼩㞍健太+森永泰弘: 「ころり」
記憶を呼び起こすパフォーマティブ・インスタレーション これまでの創作のベースにある「記憶」を「記録」するというテーマをもとに、ある場所をおとずれた際に現れる「風情」という感覚へアプローチする試み。それぞれのアーティストが観察・収集した「場」を劇場にもちより、空間からもたらされる感覚と想像を手がかりに、共存することがなかった場所たちの再構築を図ります。クリエイションの場に観客を招き入れることで、さらなる融合と解体をはかりながら、人間と環境が行き来する「パフォーマティブ・インスタレーション」の在りようを導きだします。

Performing arts

MEDIUM
Medium is a deeply personal portrait of Rianto the dancer. Featuring himself and Javanese musician Cahwati on a bare stage, the piece goes to the roots of Indonesian traditional dance and music, exploring nature, spirituality and ritual with a stark minimalism. Rianto, who dances barefoot with trance-like concentration, moves from controlled, hypnotic movements to frenzied shaking. In his body, we see a fluid amalgamation which has stored movements from contemporary dance, classical Javanese dance and lengger, a traditional cross-gender dance from Central Java, in which he has trained since young. Accompanying him, alternating between roles as partner, lover, friend and mother, is Cahwati, who plays a variety of instruments and contributes live vocals.