On December 10, 2021 (Fri.), the workshop “Language & Music Vol. 12” featuring Yoko Tawada and Aki Takase” was held. The workshop is normally held at Ono Memorial Hall, Waseda University, but it was held online as last year to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. In Zoom Webinar connecting Germany and Japan, the live virtual audience on the day numbered over 60.
If You Were in Mexico 100 Years Ago
In the workshop, 13 people of 11 groups of Waseda University undergraduate and graduate students and alumni participated. Their task was to present for three minutes or less on the theme of “If you were in Mexico 100 years ago,” They presented their pre-produced video works or performed live reading performances. From their residences in Berlin, Tawada and Takase provided commentary. The intentions behind the videos and performances were shared with the presenting students. “What is language and music?” “What is the surreal?” “Is it any different from the real?” Facing these unanswerable questions, they presented a world of rich individuality born from these.
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Recitation at Takadanobaba Station Rotary
In the overall critique, Tawada and Takase commented, “Presentations with a high degree of completion are increasing.” The performers took advantage of the online features to create their own works and present them via Zoom to challenge new expressions. With performances of outstanding individuality, those two hours flew by.
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| Recitation at Takadanobaba Station Rotary | Trio session across the ocean |
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| Text, images, and BGM all expressed in solitude | Trio session across the ocean |
Language, Music, and Exploration of Expression Online
The coordinators, Professor Miho Matsunaga, Yoko Tawada, and Aki Takase, together with the Cultural Promotion Department, set the goal of not halting cultural activities, under which the workshop was held online also in 2021. We prefer to hold the workshop in an in-person format, as it had been held at Ono Memorial Hall until 2019, while we realized the advantages of online: it can be held safely and can be viewed by distant viewers from anywhere in the world. It was also an opportunity for the presenting students to work on new expressions adapting to the online format, and to grow to a higher level. There was also an opinion that it is better to continue video presentations even if an in-person format is possible with the convergence of the corona in the near future, which made us feel the expansion of expression methods. Above all, it was a time to feel the importance of connecting with each other because we cannot meet in person.
Finally, we would like to express our profound gratitude to everyone who cooperated, including Yoko Tawada and Aki Takase, who performed from Berlin, Germany; the student presenters; and everyone in the audience.
Yoko Tawada and Aki Takase Performance “Surreal & Real”
Tawada and Takase have also done a new performance. The theme of the performance, inspired by life and works of the famous Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (1907–1954), is “the surreal and the real.” The video of the piece, recorded in Berlin, is now streaming. This video offers a rare opportunity to glimpse the process of the duo—one a writer and the other a pianist—creating a work. Also see the commentary by Professor Miho Matsunaga.
* This clip is not available for streaming.
Contact Information
The Office of Professor Miho Matsunaga 03-5286-3637
Waseda University Cultural Affairs Division 03-5272-4783
Sponsored by
Waseda University Cultural Affairs Division
Global Japanese Studies Model Unit, Top Global University Project
The Office of Professor Miho Matsunaga, Creative Writing and Criticism Theoretical Configuration, School of Culture, Media and Society, Waseda University
