Hirai-Kikaku and Media Kobo

An avant-garde dance performance with a multimedia twist.
Inspired by the tale Tower of Babel from the Old Testament, The Story of the Tower combines elements of words, dance, and projection mapping to depict the dismemberment and reconnection of the body with spoken words.

The performance uses excerpts of Yasunari Kawabata’s One Arm, Mimei Ogawa’s The Black Tower, and an automatic transcription of the breaking news of the 2001 terrorist attack on the Twin Towers.

Employing speech-to-text software to automatically extract the words of the original news broadcast, the software algorithm produces a variety of linguistic errors, resulting in an incomprehensible string of sentences. Through this work you can experience the confusion of language and the richness of images it evokes when free from human control.

With the rapid development of communication technology, we can instantly exchange words with someone far away, raising questions for the future. How will language change as we confront each other as anonymous ”bodies” that have no contact with each other?

Mitsuko Hirai has been working with filmmaker Rob Moreno of Media Kobo to create video performance works using projection mapping since 2018. Their second work, The Story of the Tower, features the dancer Yoshiko Imamura.

It was scheduled to be performed in April 2020, but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The company will continue to create and release works online in preparation for live performance and touring once this becomes possible internationally.

--This show has been shortlisted for Voice Magazine’s Best Newcomer Award at Brighton fringe -

www.mitsukohirai.com
Trailer: vimeo.com/581784088

? Listings Information ?
C ARTS | C venues | C digital at the Greater Manchester Fringe
1-31 July | Online at manchester.ssboxoffice.com/events/the-story-of-the-tower/
Also showing year-round at C ARTS | Online at res.CtheArts.com/event/34:3401

| 0hr30min?