RESEARCH PRESENTATION
Hi my name isand I’m here today to talk about time based art. In particular I will be focusing on the work of Eiko and Koma, their influences, inspiration, artistic expression and basically just everything related to their professional lives as well as their profession.
Before I begin, can I get to know by a show of hands how many people know exactly what time-based art is? Don’t be shy show media will tell you what it is anyway. Time based art is a form of art which adopts time as one of its performance paradigms. I know I am speaking Greek but stay with me I will disambiguate that point in a moment.
Time based art is a form of art where time is considered part of the performance rather than a mere unit of time that is relegated to the sideline. Sounds much better doesn’t it?
Eiko and Koma are a performance duo from Japan. I never really had much interest in nor appreciated Japanese art until I found out about these two. If you are an arts enthusiast and you still haven’t warmed up to art from Japan or you just have not gotten to explore it then you are missing out on a lot. End of statement.
Back to my artists. Like I said, Eiko and Koma are a duo from Japan and have been in the arts and artistic business since the year 1972. That long huh! Talk about art being timeless. These two have multiple artistic talents and are not only performers but are also choreographers and have this unique skill where they create a unique, to say the least, theatre of movement out of stillness, sound, light, shape and of course time. Unique in deed. Eiko and Koma are so engraved in their artistry and they love it so much that they insist on conceptualizing and creating their own costumes as well as their own set and more often than not they happen to be the sole performers at most of their work. I think this is because they are yet to find an artist that measure up to their professional standards but that is just my opinion.
Surprisingly neither Eiko nor Koma have ever studied Japanese choreograph and prefer to perform their own works only. They are however documented as sitting Kazoo Ohno as their chief inspiration and the main driving force behind their work. No wonder they are so impressive.
Their artistic expression involves a combination of slow movements that are nuanced and come with an extremely bold theatrical design. These two have a tendency of moving during their performances that might tempt the audience to think that they are indeed not human. These unique, to say the least, movements are not just restricted to their indoors performances inside theaters. They have proven on many occasions that they can move with this snake like tenacity even outdoors where wind is a major factor in terms of balance and complete control of one’s movements.
In short these two can perform anywhere and I am quite sure they can put up a spectacular and even better presentation on the moon, but that is just me.
Eiko and Koma always develop this extremely strong emotional bond with their audience. Their inhuman movements have a somewhat hypnotizing ability on their audience, which synchronizes their movements with the emotions of their audience. This is a unique aspect of art at work. What I am alluding to is the fact that inhuman movements evoke human emotions in the audience an impressive mystery to say the least.
Eiko and Koma’s choreography and unique movement in many circumstances progresses in a time scale that extremely differs from normal everyday life and stands out in comparison to other artistic works and theatrical productions.
The purpose of mu presentation was to shed some light on the concept of time-based art and to highlight two artists that I think are just sensational that is Eiko and Koma. Thank you very much for your undivided attention.
Works Cited
"A Moving Portrait of Cambodia; Eiko & Koma Evoke Disturbing Images in the Premiere of 'Stories'." The Washington Post [washington] 1 Apr. 2006: 3. Print.
Campbell, Globe Correspondent. "STATIC ELECTRICITY CHOREOGRAPHERS EIKO AND KOMA MAKE A RITUAL `OFFERING' TO THE LIFE CYCLE." The Boston Globe [boston] 4 Apr. 2003: 4. Print.
"Eiko & Koma let their dances do the talking." Chicago Sun-Times [New York] 3 Oct. 2008: 7. Print.
"Eiko & Koma: Dynamic Duo." The Washington Post [washington] 6 Mar. 1992: 7. Print.
"Eiko and Koma, Making Earthly Connections." The Washington Post [washington] 9 Apr. 2004: 4. Print.
Preston, Rohan. "DANCE REVIEW; Eiko & Koma's non-narrative of loss and love; In sometimes glacial, butoh-inspired movement, dancers invoke elemental themes.(VARIETY)(Dance review)." Star Tribune [New York] 11 Oct. 2008: 4. Print.
"Put urban life aside to reap rewards of Eiko & Koma." Chicago Sun-Times 21 Nov. 2004: 3. Print.
Randall, Tresa. Dance studies and global feminisms: : 41st annual conference, November 14-16, 2008, Hollins University, Roanoke, VA. Birmingham, Ala.: Congress on Research in Dance, 2008. Print.
Rothfuss, Joan. Eiko & Koma: time is not even, space is not empty. Minneapolis, MN: Walker Art Center ;, 2011. Print.
"The Clinging Creations of Eiko & Koma." The Washington Post [New York] 20 Nov. 1989, sec. 2: 5. Print.
