Beach, Eyelids, and Curtains: chelfitsch’s Eizo-Theater

Beach, Eyelids, And Curtains: chelfitsch’s EIZO-Theater

Saturday, April 28–Sunday, June 17, 2018

It is with great pleasure that we present Beach, Eyelids, and Curtains: chelfitsch’s Eizo-Theater. This theater performance / exhibition is made up of eizo (video) theater works, which deal with the themes of boundaries and were produced by the playwright Toshiki Okada (director of the chelfitsch theater company).

The term “eizo theater” refers to a new theatrical form developed by Okada and the stage video designer Shimpei Yamada in an attempt to arouse viewers’ senses with video imagery and transform the display area into a performance space. The videos are fictional and do not really exist, but at the same time the people played by the performers do exist as moving images. When they connect with the viewer’s imagination and imbue the space with a sense of reality, eizo theater comes to life in the museum.

The title of this project consists of three words that urge to imagine flexible and ambiguous conditions that differ from the stubborn barriers of borders, lines, and walls.
Eizo theater is an attempt to create an experience filled with new qualities by straddling the mediums of video and theater. Viewers will have an opportunity to simultaneously experience two different domains: the real space of the display area and the fictional space created by the moving images.

Filming and Editing: Yoshitaka Shimada

Exhibited Works

  • A Man on the Door, 2017－18
  • The Fiction Over the Curtains, 2017–18. Photo by Hajime Kato
  • A Woman Reading a Script in the Dressing Room, 2017－18
  • The Fourth Wall, 2017－18, Photo by Hajime Kato
  • Portrait of 3 People Who Seem Like They’re Not Hard Workers, 2017－18
  • Standing on the Stage, 2017－18

* All images are production shots　© chelfitsch, courtesy of precog
All works with English subtitles or translation

chlefitsch

chelfitsch Theater Company was founded in 1997 by Toshiki Okada, who writes and directs all of the company’s productions. Named after a deliberate mispronunciation of the English word “selfish,” chelfitsch Theater Company began to refine its textual aesthetic as that of colloquial language representing contemporary youth cultur. The company’s international debut took place in 2007 when Five Days in March was invited to the Kunsten Festival des Arts in Brussels. In 2011 Hot Pepper, Air Conditioner, and the Farewell Speech received the critics’ award from the Association québécoise des critiques de théâtre for the 2010–11 season. The troupe continues to update its methodology, which revolves around the relationship between speech and body.

Official website: https://chelfitsch.net

Production Credits, etc.

  • Playwright and Direction： Toshiki Okada (Playwright, Novelist, Director of chelfitsch)
  • Video： Shimpei Yamada (Stage video designer, Video artist)
  • Exhibition Design： Jo Nagasaka (Architect, Principal of Schemata Architects)
  • Performers： Izumi Aoyagi, Mari Ando, Shingo Ota, Wataru Ohmura, Mariko Kawasaki, Yo Yoshida, Yuya Tsukahara　(contact Gonzo)
  • Associated Production： precog co., LTD.
  • Production： precog co., LTD., chelfitsch, Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto

Exhibition Information

Dates：

Saturday, April 28–Sunday, June 17, 2018

Closed：

Tuesday *Open on Tuesday, May 1
Opening Hours：10:00 AM–8：00 PM (admission until 7:30 PM)

Venue：

Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto

Admission：

Adult：
1000 (800) yen
Seniors (65 and over)：
800 (600) yen
Students (the high school students and over)：
500 (400) yen
Junior high school students or under：
Free

*The admission given in parentheses are for advance tickets / group (20 or more) / with one-day ticket for tram or buss, etc.

Organized by：

Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto (Kumamoto City and Kumamoto Art and Culture Promotion Foundation), RKK, Kumamoto Nichinichi Press

With the cooperation of：

KUMAMOTO PREFECTURAL THEATER, Civic center Sears home dream hall (Kumamoto civic center)

Under the auspices of：

Kumamoto Prefecture, Kumamoto Prefectural Board of Education, Kumamoto City Board of Education, Kumamoto Ken Bunka Kyokai (Cultural Association of Kumamoto), Kumamoto Ken Bijutsuka Renmei (Artists' Union of Kumamoto), Kumamoto International Convention and Tourism Bureau, NHK Kumamoto, J:COM, FM-Kumamoto, FM791

Funded in part by grants from：

Japan Foundation for Regional Art-Activities, Japan Art Council

Presented with the sponsorship of：

Shiseido Co., Ltd

With material cooperation of：

3M Japan Ltd. Construction markets division

Installation view

Photo by Masaki Miyai

Filming and Editing: Yoshitaka Shimada
　With the Cooperation of Re;li, precog co., LTD.