Exhibition

Eiko Otake: I Invited Myself, vol. III: Duets

November 9, 2023–March 24, 2024

“The Duet Project: Distance is Malleable,” July 9, 2019. Performed by Eiko Otake and DonChristian Jones. Photo credit: Ben McKeown.

Experience this two-part solo exhibition of media works by internationally acclaimed movement artist Eiko Otake (b. 1952, Tokyo). Celebrated as both a collaborative and solo artist, including 42 years performing as Eiko & Koma, Eiko Otake, now in her early 70s, is exploring how to create a time and space for viewers to see her body, movement, and concepts of her project that she has undertaken through video and photography without the necessity of her live presence.

“I want to create media works only a performer can make. If a viewer chooses to give ample time and attention to each piece, ‘a different kind of performance’ happens between that person and myself. One’s seeing becomes a uniquely personal experience, in which I wish to linger.”

Each volume of the project includes exhibitions, screenings, and public conversations along with performative interventions and installations.

Co-presented by Asian Arts Initiative (AAI) and The Fabric Workshop and Museum (FWM), I Invited Myself, vol. III is a two-part exhibition in Philadelphia. Part One, I Invited Myself, vol. III: A Body at AAI (on view September 9–December 9, 2023) features Eiko’s lone body moving within different landscapes and absorbing what they hold. Part Two, I Invited Myself, vol. III: Duets at FWM (on view November 9, 2023–March 24, 2024) highlights her collaborative projects with artists of different races, identities, cultures, disciplines, and ages.

Location

Eiko Otake: I Invited Myself, vol. III: Duets
November 9, 2023–March 24, 2024
The Fabric Workshop and Museum
1214 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107

Eiko Otake: I Invited Myself, vol. III: A Body
September 9–December 9, 2023
Asian Arts Initiative
1219 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107

Opening Reception

Saturday, September 9, 2023, reception 3:00–5:15 pm. Screening of Slow Turn and performative intervention at 3:00 and 4:30 pm.

Asian Arts Initiative, 1219 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107

The screening, held with performative interventions in the AAI theater, has limited seating and requires registration.

Register

About the Artist

Born and raised in Japan and a resident of New York since 1976, Eiko Otake is a movement-based, interdisciplinary artist. She worked for more than 40 years as Eiko & Koma, but since 2014 has been working on her own projects. Eiko & Koma created numerous performance works, exhibitions, durational “living” installations, and media works commissioned by American Dance Festival, BAM Next Wave Festival, the Whitney Museum, the Walker Art Center, and the Museum of Modern Art, among others. Eiko has performed her solo project A Body in Places at over 70 sites, including a month-long Danspace Project PLATFORM (2016) and three full-day performances at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2017). Collaboratively created with photographer and historian William Johnston, A Body in Fukushima (2014–) is a multifaceted project that records Eiko‘s solo performances in post-nuclear disaster Fukushima. It consists of photo exhibitions, book publication, video installations, mix-media performances, lectures, and feature length film which premiered at 2022 MoMA’s Doc Fortnight Film Festival. The Duet Project (2017–) is a series of experiments with artists of different disciplines, races, genders and generations. The project has produced performances and media works, including feature length documentary No Rule is Our Rule, collaboratively created with Wen Hui. Eiko is currently working in her ten-year project, I Invited Myself (2022–), a series of exhibitions and screenings of her film/video works.

Recipients of two Bessies (1984 and 1990), Eiko & Koma were the first collaborative pair to share a MacArthur Fellowship (1996). They were the first Asian choreographers to receive the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award (2004) and the Dance Magazine Award (2006), and were honored with the inaugural United States Artists Fellowship (2006). Eiko was honored with the first Doris Duke Artist Award (2012), a Special Bessies Citation (2016), the Anonymous Was a Woman Award (2016), and the Sam Miller Award for Performing Arts (2020).

About the Curator

Eiko Otake: I Invited Myself, vol. III: Duets at The Fabric Workshop and Museum is organized by DJ Hellerman, Chief Curator & Director of Curatorial Affairs.

Eiko Otake: I Invited Myself, vol. III: A Body at the Asian Arts Initiative is co-curated by Joyce Chung, Curator, and Eiko Otake.

Support

Major support of The Fabric Workshop and Museum is provided by the Marion Boulton “Kippy” Stroud Foundation. FWM receives state art funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. Additional support is provided by Agnes Gund and the Board of Directors and Members of The Fabric Workshop and Museum.

At the Asian Arts Initiative, Eiko Otake: I Invited Myself, vol. III: A Body is made possible with the support of William Penn Foundation, The Culture and Community Power Fund, Pennsylvania Council for the Arts, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation, and the National Performance Network.