The IEA hosted choreographer, dancer and time-based-media artist, Eiko Otake for the two weeks of June 17 through 28. Eiko split her time between concurrent Visual Arts and Electronic Media and Film residencies. Projects for visual arts were printed by Aodi Liang and Joseph Scheer. Print series produced during the residency included digital prints on Huiji Cloud Dragon plus Xuan paper and Photo Gravure prints on Wangji 2ply Xuan Paper. The series printed were Hong Kong 2015, Moths, Mother, Moth Night, Hong Kong, and 200 Inch Scrolls. Eiko used one of scroll prints in performance. This performance was photographed, which then became images in the Mother and Moth Night series.
For the time-based part of her residency, Eiko finished editing “Fukushima” which is a nearly three hour, four-segment film from the series of photos of Eiko in Fukushima after the disaster taken by photographer John W. John. She also edited a three-channel video A Body with Landscapes (14:34) featuring her performances with the spring waters and deserts of California. The California footage was shot by Alexis Moh. Eiko did a number of performances while at the IEA with video documents shot by Rebekkah Palov. Eiko performed two dance for camera pieces with the three-channel video, A Body with Landscape installed in the the Expanded Media Immersive Gallery. Lastly a memorable event during Eiko’s time at the IEA was an evening into late night series of location performances in the nearby Kanakadea State Forest. Eiko performed with a 200 x 39.25 inch print which featured a photo portraits of Eiko’s mother and a performance with forest moths lit by mercury vapor lamp.
Born and raised in Japan and a resident of New York since 1976, Eiko Otake is a movement– based, interdisciplinary artist. She worked first for over forty years with her partner Koma, creating 46 interdisciplinary performance works, two career exhibitions and numerous media works. Always performing their own choreography, Eiko & Koma usually designed and handcrafted all aspects of their works including sets, costumes and sound. They presented their works in theaters, universities, museums, galleries, outdoor sites and festivals worldwide but since 2014 has been performing her own solo project A Body in Places. These activities brought her a special Bessie citation, an Art Matters grant and the Anonymous was a Woman Award. . Eiko & Koma were the first collaborative pair to share a MacArthur Fellowship (1996) and the first Asian choreographers to receive the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award (2004) and the Dance Magazine Award (2006). Eiko teaches Delicious Movement in communities, colleges and art schools. Using movement study as a means of inquiry along with readings and media studies, she also teaches interdisciplinary college courses about the atomic bombings and other environmental issues such as mountain top removal coal mining and nuclear power plants. Eiko is a think tank fellow in Wesleyan’s College of the Environment on the theme of “From Disruptions to Disasters: A Lens on the Human Environment Relationship.”
Eiko Otake and 200 Inch Scroll print
Eiko Otake with Professor of Dance Chase Angier and 200 Inch Scroll print
Eiko Otake Photo Gravure print, printed by IEA co-director Joseph Scheer
Eiko Otake Video Still from Kanakadea State Forest performance
Eiko Otake Video Still from Kanakadea State Forest, performance.
Eiko Otake and IEA co-director Joseph Scheer
