Concept/Performance: Michiyasu Furutani
System design: Hironori Kawaida
Light: Marc Lagies
Photo: Evgenia Chetvertkova
Dramaturgical support: Sandra Man, Moritz Majce

08/Jan/2022 at Flutgraben Berlin

This ongoing dance/installation work unfolds in an immersive environment, where a performer and spectators interact within a forest of precariously arranged lumber. The lumber occupies the space in unstable, unbalanced configurations without any risk protections. Spectators are free to move through the space, closely observing and even touching the details of the installation.

Bridging the boundary between life and the inanimate, some lumbers are equipped with infrared and motion sensors that respond to spectators’ movements. These interactions trigger lifelike reactions—vibrations, flickering LED lights, and eerie sounds—activated by ERM motors, stepping motors, and other apparatus. Also, motion-capture technology records movements within the space and these captured motions are visualized on a monitor beside the lumber, with highlighted effects amplifying any actions within its scope.

Through this interplay, the work blurs the distinctions between human actions and the movements of the lumber, placing all entities—spectators, performer, and objects—on an equal plane of existence. By doing so, the presentation seeks to evoke awareness of the overlooked connections and abandoned companionships inherent in our choice-driven, anthropocentric lives. It asks: Can we recognize the shared vitality, however fleeting or imagined, among all presences in the space? And may this recognition inspire a more profound sense of responsibility and empathy for the systems we are part of, shaping, and shaped by?

Videos: from the test scene for motion capturing (above) and from the presentation (below)

Some of Sensors and Motors attached to Lumber’s to wear their movements

Digest movements images