Theater
Kansai Studies
dot architects & Nagara Wada
Countercurrent Journeys

When fragmentary thoughts on water begin to stir
Water, which connects all activities of daily life, has been key in dot architects &Nagara Wada’s search for the roots of the Kansai region’s climate and culture. In 2020, the first year of their collaboration, they looked at water and Lake Biwa. In 2021, they focused on food, which is nourished by water, researching okonomiyaki, a well-known dish in Kansai. This year, they expand their research to the circulation of water, from the mountains to the rivers, and to the rice paddies that nurture our food as well as around lakes and fish and back to the sea. This brings to an end three years of fieldwork, which culminates in an omnibus theater piece consisting of multiple short skits. There are two sides to the project: a vast amount of research records and facts (the “A-sides” of the project), and free-flowing creations spurred by imaginative explorations (“B-sides”). The stories that emerge as the two flow together and collide may just evolve into never-before-seen expressions on stage.
10.14 (Fri) 19:00
10.15 (Sat) 13:00 / 16:00 ★
10.16 (Sun) 16:00 ★♡
★ Post-show Talk
♡ Childcare Service
Duration: 90 min (TBC)
Doors open 30 min prior to the performance.
Language: Performed in Japanese (English text summary available)
Advance ticket:
Adult ¥2,500
Youth (25 and under), Students ¥2,000
High School Students & Younger ¥1,000
Pair ¥4,500
Day tickets:
Advance ticket price +¥500.
High school students & younger are the same price as advance tickets.
Seating: Unreserved
dot architects
Osaka

dot architects is an architecture firm based in the Kitakagaya district of Osaka at Coop Kitakagaya, a self-styled “collaborative studio for practicing another society,” which brings together people and organizations from across different fields and disciplines, including art, alternative media, archiving, architecture, area studies, clubs, and nonprofits. It works collaboratively with both specialists and nonspecialists during the design and construction process. Not only design, dot architects is also involved with on-site construction, research projects and art projects. At the 15th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale in 2016, it was one of the exhibitors in the Japan Pavilion, which was awarded a special mention. In the past, it has also developed the research project researchlight with the design team UMA / design farm at Kyoto Experiment.The collective currently has six members: Toshikatsu Ienari, Takeshi Shakushiro, Wataru Doi, Keiko Miyachi, Ai Ikeda and Ryosuke Katsube.
Nagara Wada
Kyoto

Nagara Wada graduated with a degree in film and performing arts from Kyoto University of Art and Design, and then completed the art studies master’s program at the same university. Establishing shitatame in February 2011, she started working as a theater director based in Kyoto. In her practice, she creates theater that uses language and the body to zoom in on the vast amount of details that we miss in our daily lives, as if stringing together a series of failed attempts to grasp something. She collaborates with artists from such other fields as visual art and photography. In 2015, she won Best Work at the fifth edition of the Telling a Story by Creating from a Play Script competition. In 2018, she won the Audience Award at the Komaba Agora Directors Concours. Since 2018, she has served as the bookings manager for the multidisciplinary art space UrBANGUILD. From 2019, she has been involved with the cartographical research project Our Freehand Atlas. She is a 2021 Saison Fellow I.
Co-Direction: Nagara Wada, dot architects
Performers: Tatsunori Imamura, Shotaro Moroe (ARCHIVES PAY), Asuka Inamori (Yuuguresya Yowaotoko Unit), dot architects
Set Design and Lighting Design: dot architects
Stage Manager: Yohei Sogo
Lighting: Hazuki Kayamuro
Sound: Sho Takiguchi
Assistant Director: neco (Gekidan Mikenecoza)
Production Coordinator: Hirotomo Kojima (Bassline Arts Management), Kanako Hirai (Kyoto Art Center)
Research Coordinator: Haruka Iwami
Research Members: dot architects, Nagara Wada, Tatsunori Imamura, Yoko Kawasaki, Yuya Tsukahara, Juliet Reiko Knapp
Produced by Kyoto Experiment
Supported by Japan Foundation for Regional Art Activities [Intergenerational Thinking] and The Saison Foundation
Presented by Kyoto Experiment