Naotaka Fujii + GRINDER-MAN + evala

How do we build a social relationship with others? How will technology interfere with the building process? The immersive art performance Neighbor visualizes the subjective process and will predict the future pattern of social bonding.

Two participants wearing HMD and headphones stand facing each other at the center of  the stage. Over a period of six minutes they see live images or a recorded past, or mixture of the two, which blurs the self/other boundary. They are instructed use their hands in order to interact with the other participant and create a new relationship. The two performers interact with the participants in real and virtual space. The participants’ views are displayed on the screen. As witnesses, audiences can observe the participants’ subjective experience and feelings through the stage and screen.

Neighbor allows participants and audiences to share the same subjective process from different perspectives, which will stimulate and enhance interpersonal relations.

Executive producer: Naotaka Fujii
Producer / director / visuals creator: Hitoshi Taguchi (GRINDER-MAN)
Choreographer: Makiko Izu (GRINDER-MAN)
Composer / sound designer: evala
Programmer: Takamitsu Hamajo
Dancer : Samuel Delvaux, Sonia Borkowicz
Project manager: Satoru Oyamada
Equipment support: Bose

Supported by Arts Council Tokyo (Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture) and the Agency for Cultural Affairs of the  Government of Japan in the 2016 fiscal year.