[Description]

The performance art “Kurogo Me version 1.x + Kurogo me, Together! + Commodify Me!” consists of 3 parts as a set.

“Kurogo Me version 1.x” is a participatory performance art piece that reframes the traditional Japanese theatre, video game avatar, and live participatory theatre. The live participatory performance consists of the moving image introduction in the video game avatar format, followed by the live audience participation “let’s transform her into the “invisible” Kurogo” segment, and the continuous shoes animation. After the introduction/ instructional video in game avatar mode, the audience are invited to make the performer “invisible” Kurogo by putting the costume pieces one by one until she is dressed completely in black. Then, the “invisible” Kurogo character animates the shoes without the body, interacting with the audience.

 

“Kurogo Me, Together!” is an accompanying piece performed immediately after “Kurogo Me version1.x”. The audience members get to perform the role of Kurogo character and see the world from the point of view of “invisible” Kurogo. Following this embodied simulation experience, they are navigated to the discussion forum to analyze and exchange their experience of being “invisible” from both the observer and embodier’s point of view. “Kurogo Me version 1.x + Kurogo Me, Together!” challenges the conventional performance-for-performance-sake format, and redefines the performance as a vehicle for an embodied social justice platform—performance, participatory act, and discussion forum as a set of performance

art practice.

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“Commodify Me!” is an accompanying installation performance art piece displayed at the entrance hall of the performance. It is a mock merchandise booth that sells the products related to the theme of “Kurogo Me” performance in satirical mode; each item has both limited and unlimited editions, and the limited edition items are 100 times more expensive than the unlimited items, which are exactly the same product but without the artist’s signatures/ serial

numbers. It is a critical commentary on the commodification of the art. The items are not mean to be for commodification purpose.

 

[Definition: Kurogo]

Kurugo is a figure on the stage dressed completely in black from head to

toe in Japanese traditional theatre genres of Bunraku puppetry and

Kabuki. In the Japanese theatrical code, Kurogo signifies “invisible”/

“ non-existent”, functioning to support the on-stage characters. In

Bunraku, Kurogo animates puppets and handles props/set. In Kabuki,

Kurogo mainly serves as a stage hand. In both of these 400-year-old

Bunraku and Kabuki, women have not been permitted to perform professionally on the stage. Recently, Kurogo has been appropriated in the Western puppetry context as Kuroko in what they call “Bunraku-style” puppet

works.

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[Story behind the performance]

 

The Kurogo character was first developed in Ashizawa’s duo performance “I Cried Because I Had No Shoes Until…” commissioned by Physical Fest and performed in Liverpool, the U.K. in 2019. Ashizawa played the “invisible” Kurogo woman, animating multiple shoes on the stage throughout the show. What was perceived “invisible” figure was spotlighted, and “invisibility” became the core. Her co-performer, a British white male actor Matthew Austin. interacted with 100+ pairs of shoes without bodies manipulated by the “invisible” Kurogo woman, against the backdrop of Liverpool, the former colonial slave trade epicenter. The juxtaposition of two characters evoked the identity and gender politics.

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Ashizawa later developed the character further and created the participatory performance art piece “Kurogo Me version 1.0”, which was premiered in Art + Tech: An Asian American Experience exhibition in Brooklyn in 2023. 

 

Between November, 2023-June, 2024, Ashizawa performed “Kurogo Me version 1.1” in the Staller Center for the Arts, NY, “Kurogo Me version 1.2” at Assemble Fest, London, U.K., “Kurogo Me version 1.3” at La Biennale di Venezia Venice Night, Italy, “Kurogo Me version 1.4” at the National Institute for Directing & Ensemble Creation, MN.

 

After these tours, she felt more urgency of including the audience in deeper level. Thus,for the Marquis series at Coe, Ashizawa developed the piece even further to enhance the element of audience participation. She added the section that the audience also becomes ”invisible“ on stage, followed by the discussion forum as a part of the performance. 

 

Developing the concepts and characters in multiple stages over a long time span is the trademark of  Ashizawsa’ s works, and the evolution of the piece itself is her performance art. 

[Kurogo garment that makes Ashizawa invisible]​
The Kurogo costume in the performance was originally owned/worn by the professional Japanese male Kurogo puppeteer/ actor who is a close friend of Ashizawa’s. She saved his worn-out costume before it was disposed, and mended and adjusted it with the fabric pieces cut from the century-old black Japanese kimono owned by Ashizawa’s grandmother. As the number of “Kurogo Me” performance progresses (version 1.1 to 1.2 to 1.3, etc), the costume naturally deteriorates; each time, the added fabric pieces from her grandmother’s kimono will spread throughout the costume—maintaining the original with respect while reshaping/ recoding it to more fitted to her body.

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[In the context of her past works]

Ashizawa was trained under the traditional Noh theatre master of the

Kanze-Ha School. For the past 20 years, through her 20+ original theatrical pieces, she has been reinterpreting the Japanese traditional theatrical codes and placing them in different contexts to give new meanings.

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[Re-framing the traditional code]

By reframing her cultural heritage and spotlighting what is perceived “invisible” figure as a main character, Ashizawa examines the meaning

of “invisible” in the context of identity and gender politics as well as

internet and AI cultures.

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[Reinterpretation of the traditional technique]

The walking style Ashizawa utilizes in the performance is based on the mosquito walk in the traditional Japanese Nohgaku. It requires strength and stamina of an athlete to sustain the consistent steps.