MICHI tells a manifold story of life. This is a story of ignorance & suppression, of force & resistance, but also the potential of freedom & redemption. It’s our personal stories and also our collective narrative. Perhaps in this commons, we might meet.
MICHI (道) means “path” in Japanese. The performance explores how individually, socially, culturally, and as a species, we navigate all the divergent and collective possibilities of coexisting together. How do we deal with our differences? Can we forge a path beyond our patterns? How do we find and walk our own path within the limitations of the body and the environment?
In MICHI, sound initiates movement, movement initiates visuals, visuals initiate sound, and vice versa through an improvisatory setting. MICHI is a duet between dancer Kiori Kawai and musician Aaron Sherwood. A depth camera tracks Kawai’s movements from above and projects visuals on the ground where she is dancing. Sherwood improvises along with Kawai on different instruments on stage. After the performance, the audience is invited on stage to experience the interactive system.
What is on my path, what is on your path, what is on our path? Whatever it is, this is a way of processing.
Scenes:
1. 日常 - Nichijō (daily life)
2. 無知 - Muchi (ignorance)
3. 鬼 - Oni (agony)
4. 行 - Gyō (practice)
5. 森羅万象 - Shinrabanshō (all nature)
Live music, interactive visuals, code: Aaron Sherwood
Choreography/dance: Kiori Kawai
Crew:
Lighting: Jonathan Pettigrew
Video: Claire Carroll
Vision mixer and photos: Harshini Karunaratne
Stage and Rigging: Gareth Roberts
Sound Engineer: Subin Thompson
Developed in part with support from:
New York University Abu Dhabi Arts Center, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Catwalk Institute, Catskill, NY, USA
ELEMENTS - Sea is a permanent public art installation with 105 interactive spheres embedded into a wall, commissioned by the City of Ocala, FL. Each sphere generates a unique sound and lights up when touched. The design for ELEMENTS - Sea is based on the chemical compound of sea water, representing the natural environment of Florida, and facilitating our social activity based on what is surrounding us. The spheres are acrylic globes covered with silicone, each containing an LED and a speaker. The music emerging from the spheres was composed to unfold non-linearly, allowing people to touch and play the composition in any order, from various points on the wall with unplanned for combinations of sounds.
The installation layout is based on a simplified version of the chemical compound of sea water, each sphere being an electron in this chemical compound: Water (H2O) element with 10 electrons, 11 Sodium (Na) element with 11 electrons, Sulfer element (S) with 16 electrons, Potassium (K) element with 19 electrons, Magnesium (Mg) element with 12 electrons, Chlorine (Cl) element with 17 electrons, Calcium (Ca) element with 20 electrons. The spheres are laid out in 1 to 4 concentric circles per element. Each element is a different color.
Concept/Sphere Design/Creative Direction: Kiori Kawai
Concept/Music/ Electrical Design: Aaron Sherwood
Wall design: Mike Zeak
Production assistant: Tegan Ritz McDuffie, Tara Castellano
Commissioned by the City of Ocala, FL, USA
Supported by New York University Abu Dhabi
Na, a spinoff of Purring Tiger’s MICRO, consists of spheres hanging down that people can walk through and touch. The name, Na, comes from the periodic table, it’s the abbreviation for sodium. Just as sodium has 11 electrons, Na has 11 spheres. The layout of the spheres mirrors the electron arrangement of sodium. When seen from above, the spheres are laid out in 3 concentric circles. Each sphere is touch interactive, generating sound and light when activated. The sounds from each
sphere are all different, but create harmony between each other. Na brings us into relation with the smallest elements of our world, showing us we’re all parts of a vast universe.
Na appeared on world premiere at The Art Gallery of New York University Abu Dhabi in 2017. Also Performance workshops are provided to students of NYU-AD.
MICRO -double helix- explores the small universe that is our body and mind.
There are more than 200 translucent spheres hanging from the top of the bridge, following the curve of two waves. When a sphere is bumped into it generates a unique sound, and lights up with one of 5 different colors. As people play with th e balls and move along with the structure, the flow of the human bodies in conjunction with the spheres becomes an ever changing double helix pattern.
MICRO -double helix- delves into a world we cannot see, but is the very fabric of reality, the world of atoms, sub-atomic particles, and quantum fluctuation. Its a world of incomprehensible mystery, but one we experience every moment of our lives, even if we don’t realize it. To journey within is to experience this reality. MICRO -double helix- enables people to take that journey. Together, the participants recreate this world where particles, waves, and vibrating energy are all interchangeable states. This is realized with strands of hanging balls that light up and make sound from within when bumped. As people touch the balls, each ball replies with a different sound and light.
MICRO -double helix- was commissioned by Scottsdale Public Art(AZ) for Canal Convergence 2016.
MICRO explores the small universe that is our body and mind. It consists of an 10ft x 14 ft x 10ft structure that has 200 translucent balls hanging from the top of the structure, each ball containing a speaker. When a ball is bumped into it generates a unique sound, and lights up with one of 5 different colors. As people play with the balls they are engulfed by a symphony of lights and sounds surrounding them on all sides.
MICRO was an honorarium installation at Burning Man 2014. Throughout the week, there were a number of dance performances with the piece. The video highlights a few excerpts from those performances.
MICRO has also appeared at
2023 Lowell City Hall - JFK Plaza, MA
2017 Wave Festival, Breckenridge, CO
2016 MICRO in Kingston NY
2015 Cameron Art Museum, NC
2015 Pause Festival in Melbourne, Australia, commissioned by Federation Square
Credits(original build in Burning Man 2014):
Concept/Design/Creative Direction
Kiori Kawai
Concept/Music/Electrical Design
Aaron Sherwood
Performance
Betta Lambertini, Logan Scharadin, Julia Montepagani,
Matthew Hardy, Joshua batson, Kris Seto, Elise Knudson, Kiori Kawai
Building
Andy Sigler, Lisa Park, Rosalie Yu, Laura Chen,
Wyna Liu, Scott Horton, Mark Hebert, Elise Knudson, Chris Hallvik, Angela Orofino,
Momo Nakayama, Logan Scharadin, Julia Montepagani, Chelsea Southard, Ni Cai
Cinematography
Roy Rochlin, Talya Stein, Momo Nakayama
Guardian Angel
Eric Rosenthal
Special thanks
The Generator Inc., Camp Contact, River School Farm
Photography
Momo Nakayama, Kiori Kawai
MIZARU is about life and death, and how the border between life and death exists everywhere. This border is happening every moment, we just don't realize it because it's hidden by so many things. The title, MIZARU, is the name of one of the three wise monkeys in Japanese culture, Mizaru Kikazaru Iwazaru, better known in English as See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil. The literal translation of MIZARU is "not to see." In our piece we aim to remove the curtains, look directly at our own mortality, and hopefully become more alive in the process.
The installation is comprised of a large transparent structure/box, allowing all to see inside, nothing is hidden. When one enters the structure one is presented with a white wall. Upon touching it, the wall comes to life, creating 5 different worlds of visuals and sound, surrounding the user. This wall is the barrier between life and death.
The 5 worlds represent conceptually:
1. illusions (desires), 2. chains (being bounded), 3. fire/burning (destruction), 4. water (birth), 5. universe (truth).
The white wall is actually a piece of spandex stretched tight across a large frame. The spandex acts as a membrane sensitive to touch that people can push into and manipulate visuals and expressively play music. Once people go into the room and touch the spandex sheet this membrane suddenly springs to life with fiery visual patterns and music that shifts according to the depth and pressure of a person's touch. The projection can be seen on both sides of the spandex sheet, and seen from all directions outside the structure.
MIZARU has been appeared at:
2013 Tribeca Performing Arts Center, NY
2013 Burning Man, NV
2014 Brooklyn Museum, NY
2015 Telfair Museum, GA
2015 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
2015 Macy Art Gallery/Columbia University, NY
2016 Mesa Art Center, AZ
2017 Megaron - The Athens Concert Hall, Greece
2018 Tronto Film Festival, Canada
2019 Art Festival nuitnumérique#16, SAFRA'NUMÉRIQUES 2019, expocollective, France
2019 Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary, AZ, USA
Info about the videos
First Video - Touch interactive installation/MIZARU
Sample of each mode
Second Video - Performance at Brooklyn Museum of Art
A performance/installation for the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Jan. 4th, 2014. Dancers and the audience create/manipulate sounds and visuals by pressing into a spandex screen.
Concept: Kiori Kawai, Aaron Sherwood
Design/Direction: Kiori Kawai
Performance: Kiori Kawai, Masanori Asahara
Visuals, Programming: Michael Allison, Aaron Sherwood
Music: Aaron Sherwood
Video shot by Edwin Adkins
Thumbnail Photo: BKLYN1834
Third Video - Burning Man 2013
Installation/performance at Burning Man 2013
Concept, Design & Performance: Kiori Kawai
Concept, Music, Visuals & Programming: Aaron Sherwood
Visuals & Programming: Mike Allison
Architect: Xuedi Chen
Lead Build: John Capogna
Video: Tomochika Yano, Kaetsu Motomitsu
Photo: Momo Nakayama
Special thanks building team: Jack Kalish, Alexandra Diracles, Andy Sigler, Jun Kawai, Yusuke Danbara, Sarah Rothberg, Yotam Mann, Anne-Marie Lavigne, Adam Quinn, Aaron Vazquez, Noah Zerkin
MIZARU was originally developed as a stage performance with 20 dancers, several interactive installations and multiple projections. It was created in residence at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center in NYC from 2012 - 2013.
Choreographer: Kiori Kawai
Composer: Aaron Sherwood
New media artists: Aaron Sherwood, Mike Allison, Johann Diedrick
Performers: Kiori Kawai, Masanori Asahara, Marjolayne Auger, Kanako Yokota, Emi Ueda, Hsiao-Wei, Hsiao-Ting, Prema Kelley, Laurence Martin, Tia Huston, Sammy Donahue, Kashimi Asai, Pavel Y. Machuca-Zavarzin, Ayaka Habata, Suzanne Beahrs, Lauren Kelly, Shandoah Goldman, Arisa Kusumi, Peter Musante
Video shot by E. Adkins & C. Lopez
Photographer: Momo Nakayama
*This piece made possible in part with funding from the Tribeca Performing Arts Center, the Puffin Foundation and Huawei.
“Water in the Desert” is a multimedia/dance/music performance developed in residence at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center from 2011 - 2012.
The story line follows a fragmented and disillusioned people as they decide to search within themselves for answers they can't find without. They eventually realize that we're all a part of nature, even in the urban life. In the performance, dancers' movements make visuals in real time, as well as creating and controlling sound. Musicians improvise along with the sounds that the dancers are creating.
2012 Tribeca Performing Arts Center, Artist in Residency Program
Concept, dance/visual director: Kiori Kawai
Music composer/director, new media programming: Aaron Sherwood
Performer
Dance: Ching-I Chang, Kevin Ho, Masanori Asahara, Marjolayne Auger, Kiori Kawai
Voice: Amy Carrigan
Violine: Jason Kao Hwang
piano: Jesse Lynch
Photograph: Momo Nakayama
During the summer of 2011 we did a series of pop up street installations around NYC. We would set up a webcam, a projector and one or two laptops with power coming from the car. When pedestrians walked by they triggered sounds with their movements and saw themselves projected on a wall with some image manipulations.
Some of our earliest performances were given, with great support, at Greenfield Community College's Sloan Theater. These are our first experiments with tracking Kiori's movements and making sounds and visuals from them. Aaron improvises along with Kiori's movement generated music using found sound percussion, homemade shakuhachi flute, acoustic guitar, toy glockenspiel, Moog, and voice - all going through Pauline Oliveros' Expanded Instrument System. The images from the webcam are projected, manipulated, and mixed with other footage.
