ZENSORS Berlin 2008

ZEN SO RS

A project by Vanini Belarmnino Supported by the Japan Foundation through Performing Arts Japan

Foto by Walkscreen

JAPAN FOUNDATION Established in 1972, the Japan Foundation is Japan‘s principal agency for international cultural relations. Through its headquarters in Tokyo and 21 overseas offices, the Japan Foundation conducts a wide range of programs concerning arts and cultural exchange, Japanese language education, Japanese studies and intellectual exchange. Japan Foundation started its Performing Arts Japan (PAJ) program for Europe in 2006 to revitalize and facilitate exchange between leading artists in Europe and Japan. In 2006 and 2007, PAJ Europe funded 21 projects for a total amount of approximately 315,000 euros. In 2008, 11 projects will be funded by PAJ Europe.

PUBLIC ART LAB

www.jpf.go.jp/e/

Public Art Lab (PAL), founded by artist and cultural operator Susa Pop together with artists Hans Wiegner in 2002, is realising international nomadic creative projects that catalyse artistic processes and public awareness in temporarily possessed urban settings. It aims to create nomadic communication platforms that act as ‚Ideas‘ Circus‘ delivering neutral ground for discussions and debates. PAL is engaged in the development of sustainable and mobile formats for cooperation, exchange and networking.

Based in Berlin, PAL functions as an open platform for media technology experts, architects, dancers, musicians, art scientists, and art historians. Ela Kagel plays a key role as multi media producer and is responsible for the interactive media of the communication platforms together with the IT specialist David Farine. International cultural producer, Vanini Belarmino joins PAL this year, bringing with her a full network and experience in realising inter-cultural exchanges in the performing arts between Asia and Europe.

Through its nomadic community programmes like Mobile Studios (2006) and Mobile Museums (2004),PAL provides the opportunity for the audience to participate and experience their daily environment from a different perspective of view. www.publicartlab.org

ACTIVITIES AT A GLANCE

20 May

19:00

21 May

23:00

Zensors joins DMY 2008 Opening at Arena

24 May

21:00

ZENSORS Performance Party at RADIALSYSTEM V

27 May

21:00

21:00 ZENSORS Performance Party at Cookies

Zensors Picnic co-hosted by the 5th berlin biennal of contemporary art

25-26 May 14:00-21:00

Workshop at RADIALSYSTEM V

28-29 May 14:00-21:00

Workshop at RADIALSYSTEM V

30 May

21:00

Zensored Night at RADIALSYSTEM V

ZENSORS

by Vanini Belarmino

The quest for achieving a sense of balance is one of the main challenges for the project ZENSORS. Balance emanating from multiple sources, different inviduals, holding varied expectations, perspectives and approaches geared towards a parallel direction. By saying so, this initiative holds an ambition beyond bringing media technology and performance side by side or even the so called mix of cultures and artistic disciplines to create something spectacular or experimental over a short-period of time through its activities in Berlin on 21-30 May . But essentially, it aspires to find a common ground, a meeting point for artists and/or diverse individuals as well as institutions and culltural spaces, who normally work independently from one another.

ZENSORS is an attempt to introduce a fresh perspective on collaboration by coming together and enabling those involved in the process to learn something about/from each other. Thereby confronting and embracing the realities offered when embarking on such exchanges.

ZENSORS encourages its collaborators to work outside their comfort zone, seek and respond to the impetus offered by the situation, environment and the people around them.

Through the marriage of creative energies, fragments of ideas and improvisations of artists Naoto Iina, Daito Manabe, Motoi Ishibashi, Kanta Horio, Fuyuki Yamakawa, Takayuki Fujimoto, David Canisius, Matanicola, and Walkscreen, ZENSORS hopes to share with its audiences the outcome of their three-day artistic rendezvous and allow each one to travel with his/her senses.

Enjoy the performance and have some Japanese sake with us afterwards.

producer / curator VANINI BELARMINO, Producer/Curator, is an independent cultural producer specialising in international artistic collaborations. She received academic training in theatre arts art history, European cultural policy and management. While working for the Asia-Europe Foundation’s Cultural Exchange section (2003-2007), she was responsible for the establishment of its performing art programmes such as I’mPULSE (music) and Pointe to Point (dance). Vanini has spearheaded projects in countries like China, Finland, France, Israel, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Sweden, United Kingdom and Vietnam.

In 2006, she curated Borderless Me – a multi-media installation of combined moving images, photographs and sound, for the ASEM 6 Summit in Helsinki, Finland; Pointe to Point Warsaw, exchange amongst visual artists, choreographers and dancers, and ImPULSE Beijing, a collaboration of DJs, VJs, photographers and video artists.

Foto by Walkscreen

Vanini has been engaged in the field of cultural management since 1990 and has worked for institutions like the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Department of Education, Culture and Sports, Ballet Philippines and the European Cultural Foundation.

She moved to Berlin in 2007 to join the project management team of Walkscreen to launch the art-peace project Challenging Walls in Israel and Palestine.

Foto: courtesy of the artist

Fuyuki Yamakawa, Media Performance Artist, is a creator of sound/ visual installations and improvised musical happenings. He is known for his outstanding performance by picking up and amplifying the sound of his heartbeat with an electronic stethoscope. At the same time triggering the series of light bulbs that oscillate simultaneously with his heartbeat.

Through his vocalisation, he controls his heartbeat`s speed and velocity.

David Canasius / Violin is known to the cultural scene as a classical violinist and member of the Chamber Orchestra in Berlin/Germany.

He has been working with Yellow Lounge since 2003 as its Artistic Director and Resident-DJ, where classical music meets the club scene.

With the series of Yellow Lounge parties, David has collaborated within a wide range of clubs situated in Berlin, combining musical appearances with live acts of artists. He has produced four Yellow Lounge Classic compilations released by Universal Records and 5 DJ – Sets for I-tunes linked to the Popkomm in 2005.

David performs regularly as a solo violinist, bandleader and Artistic Director of the legendary Capital Dance Orchestra. His engagement as a musician within the scene of mixed media and diverse collaborations with artists coming from different backgrounds give his work a profile of manifold appearance.

In 2001 he won the Grand Prix and Audience Award at the 1st Khoomei Festival in Japan, which launched his professional career as a voice performer. In 2003, he was invited to the 4th International Khoomei Festival, held in the Republic of Tuva where Yamakawa won the Avant-garde Award.

In the same year, he participated in the 2nd Khoomei Festival in Japan and succeeded in defending his championship title.

Foto: courtesy of the artist

Participating Artists

Foto by Walkscreen

Daito Manabe, DJ and Sound Designer, started his sound design career as a club DJ, track making/scratching for Jazz bands, sound design for advertisements and exhibitions. He studied Mathematics and computer programming such as Topology, Java language and Fractal theory. His educational and creative background has contributed greatly to his music career. After graduating from IAMAS (International Academy of Media and Sciences) in 2004, he worked as a systems engineer /programmer for movie/sound control systems. Since then, Daito started working internationally as turntablist and sound artist using surround/oscillation/super low frequency technology and pursuing sensual peculiarity, commonality and interaction.

Motoi Ishibashi, Sound Engineer+Programmer. Born 1975. Studied control system engineering at the Tokyo Instituteof Technology followed by mechanical engineering and image processing engineering at the International Academy of Media Arts and Science in Gifu,Japan, thus initiating the foray into digital media production. Currently pursuing new artistic methods in embracing the visual environment as well as devising engineering solutions for art production and public interactive spaces. Began the design team DGN in 2006 in the development of creating designs and devices for interactive systems.

Foto by Walkscreen

Matanicola is a creative duo project founded

by Israeli and Italian choreographers/performers, Matan Zamir and Nicola Mascia. The duo’s first production Under created in collaboration with Israeli choreographer Yasmeen Godder, premiered in Berlin in August 2005 and has since been touring throughout Europe. This choreographic piece won the Kurt Jooss Award 2007.

Apart from choreography and performance, Matanicola regularly conduct classes and workshops in contemporary dance.

In 2007, Matanicola successfully presented Ladies First, which was co-produced by Tanz-ImAugust.

Foto: courtesy of the artist

Naoto Iina, Director/Media Creator, studied filmmaking and film history at Meiji Gakuin University, Japan.

He is the founding director of Dance and Media Japan (DMJ), a Tokyo-based organisation that fosters dialogue between performing arts and media. Naoto Iina works as a curator and producer for artistic projects both in Japan and abroad.

He is actively engaged in organising and conducting workshops/seminars at institutions all over Japan, and collaborates with artistic companies in Berlin (Germany), Limerick (Ireland), Seoul (Korea).

Foto by Walkscreen

His workshops include teaching skills and themes around dance-filmmaking, videodance documentation, site-specific dancemedia, interactive media and dance.

In 2003, he initiated the International Dance Film Festival in Japan and opened with Hyojung Seo the Seoul branch of DMJ.

Foto: courtesy of the artist

Takayuki Fujimoto of Dumb Type Collective: Director & Lighting Designer He has been a member of Dumb Type since 1987 and works internationally both as director and lighting designer. For Dumb Type, he designed the lights for projects like "S/N", "OR", "memorandum" and "Voyage". He has also worked with artists like Ryoji Ideka, Daniel Yeung and Ea Sola.

Recently, Fujimoto started focusing on the use of LED (Light Emitting Diodes) light projectors for theatre works. He collaborated with Kosei Sakamoto/Monochrome Circus in Refined Colors; a dance performance that focused on the simple and direct play of body, sound and LED lights.

In 2007, he directed "True,” a new sound, light dance performance.

Walkscreen was founded by artists‘ Ruthe Zuntz and Michael Reitz in 2000. Walkscreen focuses on multimedia projects using the medium of photography and interactive installations, creating a direct and emotional link between cities, peoples and lives. It is a platform for multimedia artists engaged in socially critical affairs and brings together artists and combined different arts to create synergies in a number of projects in the past years. Walkscreen works at the intersection between art, industry, politics and science, draws attention to selected aspects of the natural and created environment and encourages people to experience and understand these aspects by way of taking part in large scale multimedia installations. Ruthe Zuntz and Michael Reitz are fellows of the German Young Academy of the Arts (AdK) and initiators of an art-peace project called Challenging Walls.

Fotos by Walkscreen

INSTALLATIONS the somnambulist 2005, 7 min, video installation with 3 screens

by Masayo Kajimura “the somnambulist“ is a film installation, consisting of 3 screens which are positioned next to each other and loop simultaneously.

The material for this film was shot for a narrative short film. It is a fictional story of a girl, taking place in the real space of the city and in a Berlin apartment. It is about the death of the beloved grandmother, whose „absent presence“ is the connecting thread. Reality as well as time do not only have one dimension, but the different worlds are synchronous.

Masayo Kajimura Masayo Kajimura looks at how memory, (hi)stories and migration leave traces in landscapes and spaces, visible or hidden, and how these traces can be described, scanned and reproduced with the medium video/film.

By creating poetic spaces, her works bring together reality, memory, and dream, and thus articulate that the „in between“ is not a place of emptiness but of sensitivity and awareness.Masayo Kajimura lives and works as a video artist in Berlin. She has been collaborating with artists from different genres, such as contemporary dance and music, e.g. the Tokyo based dance company Mademoiselle Cinema. She has received stipends from several institutions, such as the DAAD, the Zeit Foundation, or the City of Berlin. In 2008 she was artist in residence at the Künstlerhaus Lukas, Ahrenshoop.

Foto: courtesy of the artist

Foto by Walkscreen

Berlin-Tokyo

By Walkscreen Stories unfold every minute of the day.

The eyes absorb images, send the information to the brain - where they are transformed into stories, into personal stories.

Berlin-Tokyo is a series of daily life images in both cities as seen in the eyes of walkscreen duo: Ruthe Zuntz and Michael Reitz. The photos provide a glimspe into two parallel worlds as seen through their lenses. Every photograph displays layers of meaning and attempts to tell its own story. It captures shadow and light; conveys rhythm and stillness.

Foto: courtesy of the artist

Kanta Horio, sound designer, studied acoustics and sound art at the Kyushu Institute of Design in Fukuoka. He presents audio/visual performances using programming software and assorted self-built gadgets, electronic devices, kinetic objects and musical interfaces. Recent performances have utilized electromagnets, motors, contact microphones and a video camera to generate audio/visuals. His machines are based on physical phenomenon and some actual sounds. Since 2001, he has performed widely in both galleries and clubs throughout Japan, and overseas in Barcelona, Mexico, Montreal, and Toronto. Alongside his performance activities, he organizes events with Kazuhiro JO, exonemo, such as „dorkbot tokyo - people doing strange things with electricity.“

Collaborators

RADIALSYSTEM V In September 2006, RADIALSYSTEM V was opened as a new creative space for the arts in Berlin.

Formerly a turn of the century pumping station for the Berlin Wasserwerke (Berlin Water Services), RADIALSYSTEM V currently functions as a cultural centre where new ideas ‚radiate‘ out in all directions, attracting artists and the public from within as well as beyond the city limits of Berlin.

The concept of dialogue plays a key role at RADIALSYSTEM V: a balanced synthesis of tradition and innovation, old music and contemporary dance, fine arts and new media, economy and culture.

Working with artists, ensembles, and other partners, RADIALSYSTEM V strives to develop genre spanning, innovative artistic formats, setting them into practice. Various art forms meet in the creative process, inspiring one another, with special emphasis placed on contemporary dance and early music.

www.radialsystem.de

COOKIES Cookies has been an essential part of Berlin‘s night life for 13 years. At its 7th location in Friedrichstrasse/ Unter den Linden, it remains the venue for the creative scene. The concept to have a club, bar and restaurant in one place draws many people from all over. The delicious vegetarian food at `Cookies Cream´ has caused quite a stir few months after its opening. Tuesdays‘ residents like Carsten Klemann (mymy) & Carsten Jost (Dial), Clé (Pokerflat) & Diringer (Kickboxer) and the Berlin youngsters Trickski (Sonar Kollektiv) find their home here. In the middle of the week, hedonism of early energetic house era is held high at Cookies. The model and the freak come here and love to dance to the cool house music and drink a Watermeleonman. www.cookies-berlin.de

DANCE AND MEDIA JAPAN Dance and media Japan is an artist collective that proposes collaboration for dance and performing arts with other media through growing networks and communication. It aspires to bring forth arts for the succeeding generations. It aims to act as a “medium“ to transmit cultural notion concerning performing arts, as one organisation for new media and new generation. “Re-Mediation“ = Design and composition of new approach for existing forms of art, which will lead to collision of every kind of artistic discipline, like chemical reaction.

Dance and Media Japan’s headquarters in Tokyo and maintains satellite offices in Seoul, Berlin, New York, San Francisco and Yamagata. www.dance-media.com DMY DMY Berlin is a platform for design professionals established in 2003 by visionaries, who think, act and work beyond existing boundaries. DMY Berlin hosts the annual DMY International Design Festival in Berlin that presents latest trends, current flows, experiments and innovations from the design scene to diverse audiences. Through the festival, DMY Berlin hosts the following events in the city: DMY Youngsters (central exhibition space at the Arena); DMY Allstars (central places for exhibitions), DMY Klublabor (Parties and Events) and the DMY Design- Symposium. DMY regularly participates and represents Berlin design at different exhibitions in Germany and abroad.

DMY International Design Festival takes place from the 21. – 25 May 2008 in Berlin. www.dmy-berlin.com

Special contributors

Project staff

Brunnenstraße Productions Cine Plus www.cine-plus.de Kuchi www.kuchi.de Rozalb de Mura www.rozalbdemura.ro 5th biennal for contemporary art www.berlinbiennale.de

Producer/Curator Vanini Belarmino Special Project’s Advisor Susa Pop and Truong Ngu Project Assistant Christina Rogers Video Documentation Brunnenstraße Productions Special Clothing Provided by Rozalb de Mura Technical Director/Sound Engineer Sebastian Benser Photography Walkscreen Model for Poster Kae Ishimoto Interpreters Masayo Kajimura and Mary Ye Mint Poster Distribution Lars of Icon Club

Media Partners ZITTY www.zitty.de EXBERLINER www.exberliner.com

The organisers wish to express its gratitude to the invaluable support given by the staff of RADIALSYSTEM V, Cookies and 103 Studio

103 STUDIO 103 Studio is an experimental platform and performance venue, established by Maximilian Wirtz in 2007 under the umbrella of 103 Agency and Club. It runs a regular monthly programme Dance on Screens, which aims to encourage encounters amongst artists engaged in the performing art and new media. This platform serves both as a venue and meeting point for professional and young dancers; performance artists; established and up-coming DJs; VJs; classical and digital musicians, who wish to explore creative collaborations with varied creative media. www.103studio.de

VORSPIEL VORSPIEL is a gallery that aims to present a diverse spectrum of work in the field of contemporary arts. Set in a bar/lounge environment, it is a place of encounters and exchanges, welcoming street and comic artists, painters, sculptors, photographers and everyone who has something to show or say. Its programme ranges from activities such as poetry readings, classical and acoustic music concerts, contemporary dance performances, video art installations and DJ presentations. www.vorspiel-online.de

Acknowledgments Tomoyuki Sakurai Masateru Nakagawa Koji Umeda Hiromitsu Takaha Koichi Makise Chie Nasu Yurina Tsurai Thomas Golk Jochen Sandig Folkert Uhde Bettina Sluzalek Bettina Schuseil Gesa Rindermann Nina Leipold Thomas Herda Cookie Juliane Silard

Maximilian Wirtz Dragos Olea Nelja Stump Marco Kuno Riedel Friedhelm Tiecke Elisabeth Wellershaus Stefan Rudnick Sonja Elfers Sigune Sachweh Maurice Frank Milly Sheratt Joerg Suermann Heike Suermann Bram Van Doren Christiane Isenberg Ralph Niebuhr Adam Szymczyk Regina Tetens

Gordona Jovetic Sebastian Waschulewski Marlis Fresemann Katerina Valdivia Bruch Yaneg Kage Einat Zinger-Feiler IETM On the Move Goertz Club Karin Kirchkoff Phay Ngu Duc Ngothe Anh Ngothe

www.myspace.com/zensors