KEISUKE SUGAWARA
WORKS OF
Art event ЯeSpiration
Wellenn / Connotation (2023)
exhibited at AQspace Omotesando (Tokyo, Japan)
The theme of this exhibition, <Яespiration>, was born out of the catastrophic situations in recent years where clear motives and social consciousness are required for artistic works. Its concept is based on the question of how artists make choices to survive in society, with the title meaning “breathing (Spiration) again (Яe)”. Participating artists presented to the audience their interpretation of the question from different perspectives. The exhibition consisted of two parts: exhibition of visual artworks and presentation of performances.
Special site for "ЯeSpiration"
Date: 16 - 17.12.2023
Organized by qutori Inc.
Artistic direction: Keisuke Sugawara | Design: Emiri Hayakawa (POPAP chief editor)
Project coordination: Mashiro Takahashi | PR: Konomi Toyama, Konomi Sato (qutori PR division)
Participating artists: Yusuke Iguchi, cagome, DANCE PJ REVO, Max Mashiro Levy,
Ninanomura, Nomomi, Ikumi Otsuka, The Wisely Brothers
©︎Tomoya Imamura
Wellenn (Performance)
It is a performance that uses the physical expressions of four different performers to deepen understanding of anger that lies beneath the surface of our daily lives and to present the multifaceted nature of anger. We usually categorize certain emotions as common knowledge - would they actually look different depending on the person who sees them? How do they coexist with us? This performance explores the answers to these questions.
It was part of a research project "Unsichtbare Präsenz" by Keisuke Sugawara and created with performers selected from an open call.
Duration: 20 minutes
Choreography: Keisuke Sugawara | Performance: Yukiha Shimizu, Nozomi Namigata, Shinon Yamagishi, Yuri Kakajima
Connotation (Installation)
It expresses the extent to which cultural and social norms influence our views and thoughts, as well as the diversity of anger, through interviews with multinational artists projected on CRT televisions. The work creates distortions on the screen to visualize how these emotions affect our way of being.
Material: CRT televisions, multimedia
Year: 2023
Interviewer: Keisuke Sugawara
Interviewees: Christina Dyekjær, Kristoffer Kisling, Nicolás San Martin, Sebastian Rein
Translator: Yui Tamura
Other exhibition: 12.01.2024 at Alternative Space LiLiOn
©︎Tomoya Imamura
(un)gehört (2023)
Premiere at Kauno menininkų namai (Kaunas, Lithuania) / part of the festival "Japonijos dienos Kaune WA"
(un)gehört is a performance focused on our anger. It is part of a series of research on one's inner emotions using elements of dance, theater and soundscape. How do you experience anger in society? Can you capture a phenomenon happening in the body that is difficult to recognize? This is a visualization of the many facets of anger, a very powerful emotion that varies from individual to individual and strongly affects our daily lives.
Date: 06.05.2023
Duration: 45 minutes
Choreography: Keisuke Sugawara
Performance: Akemi Nagao, Soomin Chae, Sebastian Rein | Music: Tatsumi Ryusui
Lighting design: Nicolás San Martin | Translation: Yui Tamura
Supported by Japonistė, MB
part of a research project "Unsichtbare Präsenz"
Other performance: 17 - 18.06.2023 Acker Stadt Palast (Berlin, Germany)
Theater 21 Fes. Vol.126
PV.03-061 / 芒 (2022)
Performance at Session House (Tokyo, Japan)
Silver grass（NOGI）- ”Vigor” / “Understanding”
Six bodies immerse in the variable tasks in the same space. "I" - created from the transformation and diversity of imagination.
Date: 29.01.2022
Duration: 10 minutes
Choreography: Keisuke Sugawara
Performance: Yukiha Yoshida, Ain Tominaga, Satoko Hikasa, Ayami Toba, Kairi Hayashida, Takashi Yoshikawa
Voice：Christina Dyekjær | Translation：Yui Tamura
Organized by Session House
©︎Miho Yajima
Performance Video (Password: pv03061)
Contemporary Theater
空谷の跫音 / KUKOKU NO KYOUON (2021)
Premiere at Session House (Tokyo, Japan)
“Kukoku no Kyouon” is a theater performance written and directed by Keisuke Sugawara. The theme of the work combining contemporary dance, play and soundscape was to explore the possibility of self-expression by the collaborating artists and coexistence of different genres of art. This installation-like work was created with dialogue, body movements, music and the carefully-designed lighting for the audience to be able to feel the space with their senses and interpret it freely using their own imagination. Special site for 『空谷の跫音』Click here
![Tokyo-English [18196] color.png](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7d040a_92c46abf0b8444c49c7c25a373c2597c~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_155,h_41,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/Tokyo-English%20%5B18196%5D%20color.png){kind=small}
Date: 23 - 24.10.2021
Duration: 80 minutes
Script and Performance Direction: Keisuke Sugawara
Performance: Ryota Tsuchiya, Mizuki Taka, Keisuke Sugawara
Music: MAKOTO SAKAMOTO
Production Assistant: MOLS magazine | Artwork: Yohge Matsuda
Organized by mellem to project / Tremble Theater
Supported by EU-Japan Fest Japan Committee / Royal Danish Embassy
Part of subsidized program "ART for the future!" by Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan
©︎Atsushi Yokota
PV.02-031 / Partitur Projekt (2021)
Premiere at Acker Stadt Palast (Berlin, Germany)
Diese Arbeit ist Teil einer Forschungsreihe, die sich mit„individueller Existenz“ und „Beziehungen zu anderen“ beschäftigt.
Künstler*innen verschiedener Bereiche recherchieren in Zusammenarbeit mittels „Visual Score“. Sie arbeiten an individuellen Kreationen, die auf ihrer eigenen Interpretation aus der gemeinsamen visuellen Partitur basiert. Jede*r Künstler*in präsentiert eine Soloarbeit – einen eigenen Ausdruck = Subjektivität – „E = S“, für eine Koexistenz in einem gemeinsamen Raum. Welche Reaktionen werden auftreten? Wie kann eine Lösung aussehen? Ziel der Untersuchung ist es zu zeigen, wie ein*e Künstler*in eine individuelle Ausdrucksform, ein „E = S“ entwickeln und dennoch Teil eines kollektiven Prozesses ist? Wie kann ein „Selbst“ in der Gemeinschaft etabliert werden?
Date: 10 - 11.07.2021
Duration: 30 minutes
Choreography: Keisuke Sugawara
Performance: Adam Goodwin, Sebastian Rein, Johanna Ryynänen
Supported by FONDS DARSTELLENDE KÜNST
part of #Share program
Short Art Film - Raum (2020)
Streaming online
This film is Keisuke Sugawara's first visual content as a director. This 11 minute Art work with Rika Kashima as a cast and music by Makoto Sakamoto, focuses on a woman's monologue and what she sees beyond her eyes. What do you think of a room and "余韻” (Yoin).
Date: 29.05.2020
Duration: 11 minutes
Script and Direction: Keisuke Sugawara
Cast: Rika Kashima, Keisuke Sugawara
Music: MAKOTO SAKAMOTO (Yoin form the album "Reflection)
Assistant of Direction and Edit: Miho Yajima | Cinematograph: Rio Hirano
Hair: Mika Yamakoshi | Makeup: Moe Takemoto | Technical Assistance: Sou Yoshida
Assistance for the subtitle: Yui Tamura
Supported by #KeeoGoingTogether program by EU-Japan Fest Japan Committee
Streicher und Bewegung / Drei (2020)
Performance at Werkhalle Wiesenburg (Berlin, Germany)
“Streicher und Bewegung” is a research-based performance by Three artists residing in Berlin, including American double bass player
Adam Goodwin, Japanese drone musician Tatsumi Ryusui and Japanese dance performer Keisuke Sugawara. With the impact of the pandemic,
our purpose is to explore a new form of performance beyond the existing methods and ideas. The performing artists search for an answer to the following question: how can the performers find a relationship between their Three bodies while physically maintaining distance?
Date: 11.09.2020
Duration: 30 minutes
Performance: Adam Goodwin, Tatsumi Ryusui, Keisuke Sugawara
Other Performance: 04.12.2020 Artventkalender (Berlin,Germany)
©︎MOLS magazine
en mand, der sidder navnløs, en kvinde med en Lanterne / 虚無の人。灯りも持つ人。(2019)
Premiere at Teater Momentum (Odense, Denmark)
What happens when you decide to get enclosed by the darkness and how do you meet yourself there? A performance based in a landscape of quiet and calmness which drives time forward. Two bodies as objects in a space, in a fragmentary story, influencing each other’s subconsciously and consciously decision making. The opportunity to balance the negative and positive in the falling rain towards the light at shore, is a choice of yours.
Date: 15.08.2019
Duration: 45 minutes
Choreography: Keisuke Sugawara | Co-Production: Christina Dyekjær
Performance: Christina Dyekjær, Keisuke Sugawara | Visual Content: Lasse Jakobsen Millek
Organized by mellem to project
Other performances:
21.09.2019 Theaterhaus Berlin Mitte (Berlin, Germany) | 15.12.2019 6th Erbil International Theater Festival (Erbil, Iraq)
©︎Kei Tanaka
VITALS (2019)
Premiere at Acker Stadt Palast (Berlin, Germany)
1)Temperature 2)Pluse 3)Breathing 4) Blood pressure
Vitals are a group of the most important signs that indicate the status of the body's functions. They vary from a human body to another. In a healthy physical environment, a variety of factors keep the balance between vitals and human condition in a functional level. What happens if this balance is disturbed?
Date: 14 - 15.11.2019
Duration: 30 minutes
Concept: Rafailia Bampasidou | Performance Direction: Keisuke Sugawara
Performance: Matina Kaiafa and Keisuke Sugawara
©︎Bermd Kumar
Wind aus dem Norden (2019)
Premiere at HIP Dance Arts Entertainment (Tokyo, Japan)
目に映るものみなうつろい / 日は夕焼けに沈み / 快楽は怖れをもち / そしてすべては死を孕む
苦しみははひそかな侵入者のように / 人生にしのびこんでいる / 私たちは別れねばならない / すべての愛するものと [ Der Umkehrende ] より
Date: 13.01.2019
Duration: 30 minutes
Concept and Direction: Keisuke Sugawara | Co-Production: Chikage
Performance: Chikage, Keisuke Sugawara
Costume: Keiko Yashiro | Support for the text: Takako Yamane
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Photo by Hiroyasu Daido
Afterglow (2018)
Premiere at Tanzzentrale der Region Nürnberg (Fürth, Germany)
[EN] To devote oneself. To depend on something. Some are saved by such a vague wish. Without support, they surface—people’s changing weaknesses and vulnerability. Witnessing those fading away , seeing life and eternity only in the unchangeable “it.”
The swinging light and the afterglow. Breathing there, where the sun doesn’t rise.
[DE] Sich hingeben. Sich auf etwas verlassen. Einige werden durch solch einen vagen Wunsch gerettet. Ohne Unterstützung zeigen sie die wechselnden Schwächen und Verletzlichkeiten der Menschen auf.Zeuge werden, wie diese verblassen, das Leben und die Ewigkeit alleine in dem unveränderlichen „Es“ entdecken. Das schwingende Licht und das Nachleuchten. Dort Atmen, wo die Sonne nicht aufgeht.
[JP]身を捧げること。「縋る」という具現化しないその曖昧な願いによって救われる者。何かに寄りかかっていなければ、顕在化してしまう、人の持つ可変的な弱さ、脆さ。朽ちる者を目にしながら不変的な”それ”にのみに生、永遠を見る。揺れる燈と余映。太陽の出ない、そこで息をする。
Date: 21.10.2018
Duration: 10 minutes
Concept and Performance: Keisuke Sugawara
Music: "Down to Under" by Tatsumi Ryusui
Additonal Thanks: Ferena Kagata, Miho Yajima, Ayaka Watanabe
Other performances:
17.11.2018 Papillon Tanz (Berlin, Germany) | 26.01.2019 Theater X (Tokyo, Japan)
PlainScape (2017)
Premiere at Session House (Tokyo, Japan)
そこに確かに存在するもの。疑いようの無いその生命力に抱く憧れ。
Date: 01.10.2017
Duration: 15 minutes
Performance Direction: Keisuke Sugawara
Performance: Kotone Ogasawara, Yoshihisa Higuchi, Keisuke Sugawara
Study in Blue and Grey (2017)
Premiere at Session House (Tokyo, Japan)
- Morn Came, and went- and came, and brought no day. by Lord Byron