Source: Peatix

The Behavior Project focuses on the "behavior" of people living in cities, and involves six people, two from each of Japan, China and Korea, all of whom are experts in physical expression, who comparatively observe, collect data and conduct experiments on the behavior of people in their countries.

As part of their fieldwork in three cities, Tokyo, Seoul, and Beijing, Japanese dancers Shimada Tadashi and Kitagawa Yui will visit Seoul from June 5th to 11th, 2024, and Beijing from June 13th to 19th, 2024, to observe people's "behavior." In this talk session, Shimada Tadashi and Kitagawa Yui, who have completed their research in the two cities, will share what kind of "behavior" they were interested in in Seoul and Beijing during their fieldwork, and together with the participants will consider the question of why people behave in the way they do, while thinking about their own daily lives and culture behind the behavior.

Our guest speaker will be Takashi Sawa. After working as a film festival director, Sawa is now a freelance curator, involved in projects such as the Japan Cultural Institute in Paris, the Aichi Triennale 2013, the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, the Aomori Museum of Art, and the Nagano Prefectural Museum of Art. While touching on the behavior of Chinese and Korean people that a Japanese dancer has collected during fieldwork, we will consider the relationship between the body and expression from the perspectives of visual arts and curation, including how to "arrange" and "connect" these materials to create expression.

【Event Summary】
Date and time: June 25, 2024 (Tuesday) 19:00-21:00 (reception opens at 18:30)
Target audience: Working adults, students, artists, and anyone interested in behavior are all welcome regardless of age.
Capacity｜20 people
Participation fee | Free
Venue | SHIBUYA SCRAMBLE SQUARE 15th floor SHIBUYA QWS Cross Park [map]
Organized by: architecting stories LLC Behavior Project

【program】
19:00-19:10 Introduction / Project Introduction (10 mins)
19:10-19:40 Report on field research on behavior in Seoul and Beijing conducted with Japanese dancers [Tadashi Shimada/Yui Kitagawa] (30 mins)
19:40-20:00 Guest [Takashi Sawa]'s activities introduction and Q&A (20 mins)
20:00-20:45 Group discussion on the behavior of people in Tokyo, looking back at the behavior of people in Seoul and Beijing (45 mins)
20:45-21:00 Summary (15 mins)

【guest】
Tadashi Shimada
Dancer and Surveyor

Born in Yokohama in 1986. At the age of 19, he studied method acting at UPS Academy, led by Yoko Narahashi, where he encountered physical expression and began his dance career. He studied under Tomohisa Suzuki. Based on the personal physicality and emotional memories of daily life, he pursues the reality of simply existing in this moment, and works with improvisation as the core of his activities. He won the Encouragement Award in the Works category at the Yokohama Dance Collection EX 2013. Since 2013, he has performed in three cities, Seoul, Hachinohe, and Yokohama, as part of a Japan-Korea dance exchange project. He is also active both in Japan and abroad. Currently, he refers to his own existence and expression, which he perceives as a phenomenon in a corner of the city, as Edge of the City, and explores the daily changes centered on the body.

Kitagawa Yui
Dancer/Choreographer/Illustrator

She started modern ballet at the age of six. She studied contemporary dance under Kisanuki Kuniko at J. F. Oberlin University. Since 2008, she has participated as a member of Momonga Complex, led by Shirakami Momoko. As a dancer, she has performed in works by various choreographers and directors, including Kisanuki Kuniko, Ito Chieko, Onodera Shuji, and Iwabuchi Teita. She has also performed in theater productions directed by Keralino Sandorovich, Nagatsuka Keishi, and Tateyama Hiromi. In 2017, she won an Encouragement Award at the Yokohama Dance Collection 2017 Competition I. She is also active as an illustrator under the name "Kitagawa Yu."

Takashi Sawa
Advisor

He served as director of the Image Forum Festival from 2000 to 2010. He is currently a freelance curator. He has collaborated with the Japan Cultural Institute in Paris, Aichi Triennale 2013, Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, Aomori Museum of Art, Nagano Prefectural Museum of Art, and others on numerous curatorial projects. He has planned and produced "Encounter JAXA" (2017-), "Photography + Train = Film" (2018), "The Age of Succession" (2021-), and "Tamaki" (2023).

Daisuke Nakazawa
Behavior Project Director
Artist, designer and storyteller

He creates and designs artworks that create new stories by listening to the small stories hidden behind our daily lives, such as people, places, society, and customs, and reconstructing the collected stories. Using his background in theater, architecture, and cultural anthropology, he creates experiential works that allow people to participate and experience, and discover alternative ways of looking at things. The Behavior Project was inspired by his time studying abroad in London, where a diverse range of people from around the world gather, and he began preparations in 2018 after returning to Japan. After overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic, he will resume his activities this year.

[About the shoot]
We will be taking videos and photographs of the event. The videos and photographs will be used to disseminate information from the QWS website and the Behavior Project, as well as to display on our homepage when holding future events, on social media, in press releases, and in event announcements. If you would like us to refrain from using your photos, please be sure to let us know before or on the day of the event.

[What is the Behavior Project?]
This practical art project focuses on the "behavior" of people living in the cities of Tokyo, Beijing, and Seoul, and creates performance pieces with a total of six dancers, two from each of Japan, China, and Korea. During the research process, the dancers from the three countries visit the three cities and observe the behavior of people living in the cities in various places such as office districts and shopping centers. They then reexamine the difficulties of living in the society they belong to by comparing it with the societies of neighboring countries, and each dancer expresses a new "behavior" that they would like to be. The pieces will be presented in the form of a documentary program, performance, and exhibition.
[Website / Facebook / Instagram]

【Contact Us】
architecting stories LLC
bh@architectingstories.com (Daisuke Nakazawa, Kanako Iwanaka, Mami Motoyuki)

Venue