In silence
On a deserted field
Where you can only see stars in the endless sky
Trembling in a whisper of breeze
In silence
Where you can only hear the breath of the Earth
Awakens the radiant full moon
Illuminating our ephemeral lives and everlasting soul
Project Details
I was invited to perform an original large-scale live calligraphy performance contemplating the theme “breath” at FULL, a series of varied performances at Berkeley Art Museum Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) celebrating every full moon cycle. Curated by Shinichi lova-Koga. The performance consists of two parts: 息 -Breath- on sheer fabric, and 醒月 -Awakening Moon- on 18ft x 14ft Japanese gasen paper. It begins with silence, imagining four dancers asleep on a desolate field. Inspired by the etymology of 息 -Breath-, defined as putting 心 -Heart- inside of 自 -Self- is the act of breathing, which signifies our life itself --- I have written each component separately on sheer fabric pieces and have them overlap in the center. As the piece come together, you will see a large, radiant full moon awoken, rising quietly in the night sky.
This 23-minutes performance was designed site-specific to the newly renovated, stunning structure of the atrium in the museum, featuring sublime sound composed by a Tokyo-based sound artist Corey Fuller (ILLUHA/ 12K), beautiful tree branch arrangement for Sumi ink vase by Sayaka Wada and Hogan Yung of Studio Sen, transforming sheer writing surfaces interacted with young contemporary dancers: Yang Yang, Yawen Zou, Ziyu Zhou and Chelsea Ortiz. Assistants “Awakening Moon”: Aprille Tang, Yukina Yamamoto, Zon Chu, Andrej Hronco, Sunjin Kim, Jorge Bachmann, Brandon Chin. Hair & make by Aki Masuoka. Wooden Kanzashi hairpin by Yui Yamaguchi.
Photography by Vivian Sachs. Poem by Aoi Yamaguchi.
