What we do

TERASIA: Theatre for Traveling in the Age of Isolation

  • Organization : UPN, Ltd.
  • Section : Project on artistic and creative focus
  • Type of Grant Program : Long
  • Art Forms : Interdisciplinary

Outline of the project

“TERASIA: Theatre for Traveling in the Age of Isolation” is a collaborative Asian project that began in 2020 along with the global coronavirus pandemic. Teams of artists from the various Asian regions of Japan, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam and Indonesia successively reworked the theatrical piece “Tera,” which premiered in Tokyo in 2018, recreating and presenting it under the theme of modern beliefs and perspectives on life and death.
The practices of “TERASIA: Theatre for Traveling in the Age of Isolation” as a project have direct links to the many questions that present obstacles to the realization of a multicultural symbiotic society– questions like how to respect mutually different cultures, whether it is possible to collaborate from a distance, and how people can continue to work together and demonstrate solidarity in difficult situations.
The aim of the TERASIA project, which has been grappling with these issues through the medium of art since 2020, is to show society a model case for international partnerships going forward.
The highlight of the project will be the international festival “Sua TE RA SIA Episode2” to be held in Indonesia in January 2025. Participants will engage in creative work and the collection of interviews for the first year and a half of the project, and after the festival will produce a digital version of a book documenting the project.


First year
(1) Interviews -published online in Japanese/English1
Details: Interviews with the artists involved in TERASIA were published as online articles in both Japanese and English. Delineating project members’ personal histories in interviews, an element not fully divulged before now, allowed project organizers to share the larger context behind the project with international readers. In addition to being an archive focusing on changes to the emotions and thoughts of TERASIA members from all over Asia as they continued to work on creating works amid changing social conditions, the interviews played a PR role, broadening the audience base beyond that of art lovers.
Period: from time to time year-round
Venue: online

Japanese: https://note.com/terasia_jp/m/mcdf01ccb93c3
English: https://note.com/terasia_jp/m/m953faa136b6b
(2) Indonesia: research in residence
Details: Several project members from Japan, Indonesia, Thailand and Myanmar got together to prepare for the international festival Sua TERASIA in the second year.
Audiences were able to enjoy a work in progress performance of “TERA Indonesia: Back to Nature,” a new work directed by Dindon W.S. of Teater Kabur in Jakarta.
Members visited Cianjur to inspect and research Gunung Padang Megalithic Site as a possible venue for the festival.
Networking with other arts organizations etc. and researching of venues was conducted.
Period: Sunday, September 4 – Tuesday, September 13, 2022
Venue: Teater Kubur, Jakarta, Indonesia, Gunung Padang Megalithic Site, Cianjur, Indonesia

(3) Vietnam: Video creation (short version)
Details: The Vietnamese artist team including video artist Nguyen Hai Yen together with Japanese dramaturg Maho Watanabe conducted research in residence with a view to producing a short version of a new video work entitled “TERA Vietnam: The Tangerine Womb,” which blends documentary and fictional elements.
Participants stayed in the northern region of Lang Son, Nguyen’s birthplace, interviewing local people, visiting temples and cemeteries, and conducting surveys on local customs. In addition, they visited a cave temple which is a candidate venue for the festival, engaging in planning, rehearsal and filming.
Period: Monday, September 26 – Sunday, October 23, 2022
Venue: Chùa Tiên Cave Temple and other venues, Lang Son, Vietnam

(4) TERASIA Online Week 2022 + Onsite
Details: Artists from Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Indonesia and Japan held an online mini-festival, “TERASIA Online Week 2022.” The program of interdisciplinary works spanning theater, art, video and music as well as various talks and reading material were hosted sequentially on the website over a ten-day period. In principle the event was held free of charge except for some charged content. The event was viewable in its entirety in both Japanese and English and included some recorded footage in Burmese. At the same time, on-site events were held at various locations in Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Indonesia where you could meet TERASIA artists in person.

Period: Friday, November 4 – Sunday, November 13, 2022
Venue: Online

Japanese: https://terasia.net/event/onlineweek2022/
English: https://terasia.net/en/event/onlineweek2022/


Second year
(1)International festival Sua TERASIA
Details: The international festival Sua TERASIA was held in Indonesia in January 2024. Programs including screenings, performances, exhibitions, workshops, symposiums, and artist talks were held in the two cities of Jakarta and Bandung. A dedicated website offered information on each program in Japanese, English, and Indonesian, as well as streamable archive material.

https://terasia.net/event/suaterasia/jp/

Period: Friday, January 12 – Sunday, January 20, 2024
Venue:
[Jakarta]
Komunitas Utan Kayu

Institute of Indonesian Arts and Culture (ISBI), Bandung

(2) Interviews -published online in Japanese/English 2
Details: Interviews with the artists involved in TERASIA were published as online articles in both Japanese and English. Following on from the previous year, online articles of interviews with three artists (Zun Ei Phyu, Narumol Thammapruksa (Kop), and Yustiansyah Lesmana) were published in both Japanese and English.

Period: from time to time year-round
Venue: online

Japanese: https://note.com/terasia_jp/m/mcdf01ccb93c3
English: https://note.com/terasia_jp/m/m953faa136b6b


Third year
“TERASIA: Theatre for Traveling in the Age of Isolation” is a collaborative Asian project that began in 2020 along with the global coronavirus pandemic. Teams of artists from the various Asian regions of Japan, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam and Indonesia successively reworked the theatrical piece “Tera,” which premiered in Tokyo in 2018, recreating and presenting it under the theme of modern beliefs and perspectives on life and death.
The practices of “TERASIA: Theatre for Traveling in the Age of Isolation” as a project have direct links to the many questions that present obstacles to the realization of a multicultural symbiotic society– questions like how to respect mutually different cultures, whether it is possible to collaborate from a distance, and how people can continue to work together and demonstrate solidarity in difficult situations.
The aim of the TERASIA project, which has been grappling with these issues through the medium of art since 2020, is to show society a model case for international partnerships going forward.
The highlight of the project will be the international festival “Sua TE RA SIA Episode2” to be held in Indonesia in January 2025. Participants will engage in creative work and the collection of interviews for the first year and a half of the project, and after the festival will produce a digital version of a book documenting the project.

【First year】
(1) Interviews -published online in Japanese/English1
Details: Interviews with the artists involved in TERASIA were published as online articles in both Japanese and English. Delineating project members’ personal histories in interviews, an element not fully divulged before now, allowed project organizers to share the larger context behind the project with international readers. In addition to being an archive focusing on changes to the emotions and thoughts of TERASIA members from all over Asia as they continued to work on creating works amid changing social conditions, the interviews played a PR role, broadening the audience base beyond that of art lovers.
Period: from time to time year-round
Venue: online

Japanese: https://note.com/terasia_jp/m/mcdf01ccb93c3
English: https://note.com/terasia_jp/m/m953faa136b6b

(2) Indonesia: research in residence
Details: Several project members from Japan, Indonesia, Thailand and Myanmar got together to prepare for the international festival Sua TERASIA in the second year.
Audiences were able to enjoy a work in progress performance of “TERA Indonesia: Back to Nature,” a new work directed by Dindon W.S. of Teater Kabur in Jakarta.
Members visited Cianjur to inspect and research Gunung Padang Megalithic Site as a possible venue for the festival.
Networking with other arts organizations etc. and researching of venues was conducted.
Period: Sunday, September 4 – Tuesday, September 13, 2022
Venue: Teater Kubur, Jakarta, Indonesia, Gunung Padang Megalithic Site, Cianjur, Indonesia

(3) Vietnam: Video creation (short version)
Details: The Vietnamese artist team including video artist Nguyen Hai Yen together with Japanese dramaturg Maho Watanabe conducted research in residence with a view to producing a short version of a new video work entitled “TERA Vietnam: The Tangerine Womb,” which blends documentary and fictional elements.
Participants stayed in the northern region of Lang Son, Nguyen’s birthplace, interviewing local people, visiting temples and cemeteries, and conducting surveys on local customs. In addition, they visited a cave temple which is a candidate venue for the festival, engaging in planning, rehearsal and filming.
Period: Monday, September 26 – Sunday, October 23, 2022
Venue: Chùa Tiên Cave Temple and other venues, Lang Son, Vietnam

(4) TERASIA Online Week 2022 + Onsite
Details: Artists from Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Indonesia and Japan held an online mini-festival, “TERASIA Online Week 2022.” The program of interdisciplinary works spanning theater, art, video and music as well as various talks and reading material were hosted sequentially on the website over a ten-day period. In principle the event was held free of charge except for some charged content. The event was viewable in its entirety in both Japanese and English and included some recorded footage in Burmese. At the same time, on-site events were held at various locations in Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Indonesia where you could meet TERASIA artists in person.

Period: Friday, November 4 – Sunday, November 13, 2022
Venue: Online

Japanese: https://terasia.net/event/onlineweek2022/
English: https://terasia.net/en/event/onlineweek2022/

【Second year】
Teater Kubur
[Bandung]
(1) Selasar Sunaryo Art Space International festival Sua TERASIA
Details: The international festival Sua TERASIA was held in Indonesia in January 2024. Programs including screenings, performances, exhibitions, workshops, symposiums, and artist talks were held in the two cities of Jakarta and Bandung. A dedicated website offered information on each program in Japanese, English, and Indonesian, as well as streamable archive material.

https://terasia.net/event/suaterasia/jp/

Period: Friday, January 12 – Sunday, January 20, 2024
Venue:
[Jakarta]
Komunitas Utan Kayu

Institute of Indonesian Arts and Culture (ISBI), Bandung

(2) Interviews -published online in Japanese/English 2
Details: Interviews with the artists involved in TERASIA were published as online articles in both Japanese and English. Following on from the previous year, online articles of interviews with three artists (Zun Ei Phyu, Narumol Thammapruksa (Kop), and Yustiansyah Lesmana) were published in both Japanese and English.

Period: from time to time year-round
Venue: online

Japanese: https://note.com/terasia_jp/m/mcdf01ccb93c3
English: https://note.com/terasia_jp/m/m953faa136b6b
【Third year】
(1) Interviews -published online in Japanese/English 3
Details: Interviews with the artists involved in TERASIA will be published as online articles in both Japanese and English. Following on from the previous year, online articles of interviews with three artists will be published in both Japanese and English.

Period: from time to time year-round
Venue: online
Japanese:https://note.com/terasia_jp/m/mcdf01ccb93c3
English: https://note.com/terasia_jp/m/m953faa136b6b

(2) Production of documentary book
Details: A “TERASIA: Theatre for Traveling in the Age of Isolation” project compilation comprising an archive of works, talks, and articles, and a record of discussions and studies based on those materials.
The documentary book will be produced in both Japanese and English, and the digital version will be published on the website. A print book of some of the material will also be published.

Period: Monday, May 25 – Monday, June 30, 2025
Venue: Online

Japanese: https://terasia.net/
English: https://terasia.net/en/

Profile

UPN, Ltd.
UPN was put together by Yukari Sakata (director) and Maho Watanabe (dramaturg, interpreter, translator), who to date had been active on a freelance basis for the purpose of conducting cross-disciplinary cultural and artistic projects. The organization engages in activities such as planning and management of art events, work production, editing and publishing which are not bound by a particular sphere.