What we do

Supernatural Pavilion (Bangkok Biennial 2020)

  • Organization : Chiharu Shinoda
  • Section : International project
  • Type of Grant Program : Single Individual
  • Art Forms : Interdisciplinary

Outline

As part of the Bangkok Biennial, theater director Chiharu Shinoda organized and produced the Supernatural Pavilion in the Bangkok district of Nang Lerng. Shinoda could not stay in Bangkok due to the impact of coronavirus, so under her supervision Tokyo and Bangkok were connected remotely for two live streams and an exhibition. For the Supernatural Pavilion in 2018, the drum performer Pin from Bangkok and dancer Aokid from Japan had given a performance based on the motif of a local Nang Lerng story about possession by a tiger. The two livestreamed an online session based on the 2018 performance. In the other live stream, the duo Shojiki conducted an online session with children from Bangkok. Together with Shinoda, Toru Inoue and Mari Fukutome ran a series of workshops with children from the Nang Lerng district to come up with ideas for new magic charms. Toru Inoue created the music “Re:souvenir” (known as “Omajinai Saiseiki” or “magic charm playback”) which incorporated audio recordings of participating children reciting magic charms. Meanwhile Fukutome drew illustrations of “How to make Omajinai Kamen” (magic charm masks), a piece of choreography using the face and hands which she devised with the children to go with the magic charms. Both the music and the illustrations were exhibited for the Pavilion.

Profile

Chiharu Shinoda
Playwright and director. In 2004 she co-founded Japanese theater company FAIFAI with students from the same faculty of Tama Art University, and until she left in 2012, Shinoda was a core member of the group, handling direction, scriptwriting, and planning. After leaving FAIFAI she started working independently from her new base in Bangkok.
Her creations include works that question the origins of theater itself, such as “Four Chances for Drama” and “Higeki”; “ZOO,” based on a play by a Chilean writer about a zoo where humans are the exhibits; and “Cross The Road,” a participatory performance piece that simulates revolution using the act of walking by visitors.
Shinoda returned to Japan in 2020 and is looking for a way to quit theater.

Contact

Chiharu Shinoda
info@shinodachiharu.com

Venues

PARA, Itabashi City, Tokyo
Baan Nang Lerng, Bangkok, Thailand
Online