Begüm Erciyas

Cancellation of Performance

This performance has been cancelled as the artist is unable to travel to Japan due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.

Following your voice to the stranger within

Isn’t there something uncanny about hearing your own voice, say on a recording? While the physical explanation lies in the different route taken by the sounds, there remains in this experience a certain strangeness—precisely what Begüm Erciyas attempts to capture in Voicing Pieces.

Erciyas is a choreographer and performer with a unique background: she studied molecular biology and genetics in Turkey and contemporary dance in Europe. This piece is based on research conducted in Kyoto during a 2014 residency, and, seven years later, is finally making its Japanese premiere (the inspiration came from Japan’s culture of solo karaoke!) Booths are set up in the theater for each audience member to visit in turn, alone, reading the given texts aloud and listening to their own voice as if it came from elsewhere. The audience members thus become the performers, while at the same time being their own spectators. Some may find an “other” living within themselves for the first time; their own voice may appear as the invasive voice of a stranger. As coronavirus continues to render it difficult to meet, our voices play a hugely important role in communication today. Those who experience Voicing Pieces are sure to have all kinds of realizations.