Gutai, founded by YOSHIHARA Jiro in Ashiya in 1954, is one of the most remarkable artist collectives and art movements in the postwar-Japan context for its pioneering, radical and performative approach and experiment on art making. As Gutai Art Manifesto published in 1956 states, “Gutai Art does not alter the material, but brings it to life.”

Through wearing light bulbs, passing through papers, moving on the mud, drawing by feet, throwing bottles of pigment, and sculpting smoke on stage, the Gutai artists have challenged boundaries of art, choreographed relations between objects and the body, and conceptually performed intersections of the liveness and visual art.

How Gutai’s conception and practice would arguably chart the history of performance art and inspire a new lexicon of today’s live art is a point of departure for River LIN to conceive this project “Dancing with Gutai Art Manifesto (1956).”

Transforming the Gutai Art Manifesto into a score and revisiting selected works of TANAKA Atsuko, SHIRAGA Kazuo, MURAKAMI Saburo and SHIMAMOTO Shozo, this project attempts to replay a series of actions and happenings as expanded choreography straddling painting, sculpture, installation, participation and performance via a collective process and rehearsal.

【Please Note】 This show contains nudity. Audience under the age of 18 will not be admitted. A photo ID is required for admittance.