“Japan’s foremost contemporary theater company” The Japan Times

After Japan’s great earthquake of 2011, a tsunami almost entirely demolished the region around the city of Rikuzentakata and thousands died. The city is now undergoing immense reconstruction to elevate the area as a countermeasure against future tsunami waves. Using local rocks to raise the land, however, has led to severe damage to surrounding mountains. In Eraser Mountain, Japanese director Toshiki Okada and visual artist Teppei Kaneuji question this human-centric approach to the problem and ask us to reimagine the relationships between people, objects, and the world.

chelfitsch was founded in 1997 by Toshiki Okada, who writes and directs all of its productions. The troupe is applauded for its unique use of language and physicality, and is widely considered, both inside and outside Japan, as one of the leaders of contemporary theater. It made its debut abroad with a performance of Five Days in March in 2007 and has since performed works in more than 70 cities around the world.

Teppei Kaneuji employs a collage-like approach in his practice through the use of everyday objects. Across a wide range of media such as sculpture, painting, video, and photography, he searches for sculptural “systems” that manifest the relationship between images and materiality. chelfitsch.net

Performed in Japanese with English supertitles. Recommended for ages 16+.

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This project is supported in part by The Japan Foundation.

Production by chelfitsch. Co-produced by [Eraser Mountain] Kyoto Experiment, Wiener Festwochen, Festival d’Automne à Paris, Künstlerhaus Mousonturm Frankfurt [Eraser Forest] 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. In co-operation with: CONNELING STUDY/YAMABUKI FACTORY, Steep Slope Studio, Kyoto City University of Arts Kyoto Art Center Artists-in-Studios program. This project consists of two versions, Eraser Mountain (premiere: October 2019 / Kyoto Experiment) and Eraser Forest (premiere: February 2020 / 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa). Supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan through the Japan Arts Council, Arts Council Tokyo (Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture).

 

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Spring20 Toshiko Okada Eraser Mountain Poster image
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Go Beyond

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Okada explores transhistorical, transnational anomie brought on by contemporary globalization.

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Get ready for the NYU Skirball Book Club: Friday, February 28 @ 6:30PM.