Performance Event “NATURE AND ME－Eleven Dreams－”
International Joint Curriculum for Global Art, “Tokyo University of the Arts × École des Beaux-Arts”, an international joint project granted by the Enforcing the Function of National Universities program by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)

On August 6, a performance event as part of Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale 2015, “NATURE AND ME－Eleven Dreams－” was held as the outcome of the international collaboration project by Tokyo University of the Arts and École des Beaux-Arts, in Bunagaike Botanical Garden, Kamou, Tokamachi-City, Niigata Prefecture. (A welcome performance for the summer school participants on August 4 preceded the performance event)

The outdoor stage in Bunagaike Botanical Garden, filled with a magical ambience, was the venue for the one night only performance. Exceeding the number of seats available, as many as 150 spectators came together under a star-filled sky and enjoyed the dream show of our joint effort.

To realize the performance, the Japanese and French students from two institutions conducted preliminary research on the theme of relation with the nature and had various discussions to dig deep into the theme using English as their common language. The students worked on the costumes, music and dance in pairs, and completed the performance consisting of short stories. For music, they worked together with music students of our university. Sounds which were collected from nature and arranged to suit the concept of each pair contributed to adding even more sophisticated, uniquely creative and illusionary effects to the stage already integrated in the surrounding nature.

Participating in the triennale was a perfect opportunity for the students to put into practice the “Contemporary Arts in Social Art Practice” program which we have dealt with since this April. The students from the two institutions earnestly faced the theme of “NATURE AND ME” and prepared for the performance after experiencing the production phase in Echigo-Tsumari surrounded by great nature.

Among the performers were 30 children gathered from Tohoku and other parts of Japan, and 20 secondary students from Hong Kong, who attended the summer school program organized by the art festival. They had participated in a workshop with our faculty members during the summer school and practiced songs and music using musical instruments made of bamboo for the event. “Eleven dreams”, the performance’s subtitle, was named because we wanted to add “the children’s dreams for the future” to the number of performance staged by the 10 tertiary student pairs.

Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale is a contemporary art festival began in 2000. World leading artists have presented their works there, which made the event to attract global attention as a successful example of community revitalization.

Struggled with difficulties during the creation process, students managed to achieve a successful result in the performance event, which proved that their performance ability of international communications was comparable to that of other world class participants of the triennale. The successful completion of the project owes much to the help and cooperation of children with future, local residents and many other people.

Through the entire project, we have surely acquired an ability to think flexibly to enjoy two different culture of Japan and France and raised awareness towards social issues. The triennale became a great opportunity for us to contemplate how contemporary art can contribute in solving such issues.

Photo:  Osamu Nakamura

Performance Event
“NATURE AND ME－Eleven Dreams－”

BASIC CONCEPT
Jean-Luc Vilmouth (Director of Studies, Professor of Department of Artistic Practices)
Clelia Zernik (Professor of Philosophy of Art Department of Theoretical Teaching)

STAGE DESIGN
Toyomi Hoshina (Dean of Faculty of Fine Arts, / Professor of Oil Painting)
Hidenori Sonobe (Lecturer of Department of Crafts)
Yusuke Nishimura (Project Associate Professor )

Form for NATURE AND ME
Jean-Luc Vilmouth (Director of Studies, Professor of Department of Artistic Practices)
Toshimaru Uehara (Associate Professor of Department of Crafts)
Tsuyoshi Ozawa (Associate Professor of Department of Intermedia Art)
Shinji Ohmaki (Associate Professor of Department of Sculpture)

SOUNDSCAPE
Tatsuhiko Nishioka (Professor of Faculty of Music)
6 students from Graduate School of Music, Tokyo University of the Arts

LANDSCAPE OF LIGHT
Yoshito Ikeda

CREATION AND CASTS
20 students of the Tokyo University of the Arts and the Ecole Nationale Superoeure des Beaux-Arts
Satsuki Imai, Kanako Saito, Kazunari Nakajima, Chinatsu Hara, Akifumi Toishi, Saaya Hitomi, Tsunoda Risa, Rina Uchida, Aiko Owada, Takeshi Yasura (Tokyo University of the Arts)
Christelle Téa, Nicolas Courgeon, Yuyan Wang, Nathanaelle Herbelin, Vincent Ballard, Claire Froës, Théo Medina, Bady Dalloul, Anais Descarpenterie, Qin Han（the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts）
Children from Summer School
Students from Po kok Secondary school

SPONSORSHIP
Fondation Carmignac, Embassy of France / Institut Francais

The record of this project was exhibited in Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale 2015.
Exhibition Period: Sunday 26th of July to Sunday 13th of September
Venue: Nunagawa Campus（576 Murono Tokamachi-city,Niigata Prefecture）

＊Copyright of the photos without a name of photographer belong to“Tokyo University of the Arts × École des Beaux-Arts”