Ten Pen Chii

The meaning of KET-SUI is «decision»

TEN PEN CHii Art Labor is a Berlin-based dance company born in 1995 and closed in 2017. The name comes from Japanese and means natural catastrophe; Art Labor represents the need for research on which the group is based. The group brings together dance of Japanese origin, German sculptures and North American music. The social moment in which the group was born, its multiculturalism and the presence of three autonomous art forms give rise to a unique artistic matrix.
Founded by Yumiko Yoshioka (Japanese dancer, choreographer, teacher and director), JoaXhim Manger (German sculptor, director and producer) and Zam Johnson (composer and painter from Los Angeles)

ORIGIN

KET-SUi is part of the 2010 trilogy that also includes Bi-KA (“Beautification”) and UN-MEi (“Destiny”), works that explore different aspects of the contemporary human condition through Japanese concepts translated into the Western context.

CONCEPT

In the borderline zone between driving and being driven, between acceptance and repulsion, a new state arises, a surface of active friction. The spectator can expect a game like on the golf course. The golf club symbolizes external manipulation in decision-making. A game of decisions with an uncertain outcome is played with the performers: the result is to decide, act, react and create an action.

The performance explores that moment of transition where external and internal forces converge. As a counterweight to the conventional frivolity of Western art, they confront the vulnerable human body with the anonymous hardness of the artificial apparatus.

The steel sculptures are living objects that express means and meanings of real time, becoming a unity with the dance and music on stage. The space transforms into a laboratory where each movement can trigger unforeseen consequences.

SYNOPSIS

A decision is a conscious choice between alternatives or among several different variants based on the specific preferences of one or more subjects making the decision. It can take place spontaneously or emotionally through instinct, intuition, accidentally, or rationally through knowledge or memory

One way or another, a change begins. Once a decision has been made, a process is set in motion that seems to be controllable, but which can also create unpredictable consequences.

This small in-between moment, which changes the lines of life, or moves the train of life over a switched point from one track to another and thus completely changes direction, is the theme of KET-SUi.

In the borderline zone between driving and being driven, between acceptance and repulsion, a new state arises, a surface of active friction,

The spectator can expect a game like on the golf course. The golf club symbolizes external manipulation in decision-making. A game of decisions with an uncertain outcome is played with the performers: the result is to decide, act, react and create an action. Open outcome …

GALLERY

decisión Ten Pen Chii — TPC: KET- SUi 10 — 229

decisión Ten Pen Chii — TPC: KET- SUi 11 — 244

decisión Ten Pen Chii — TPC: KET- SUi 12 — 272

decisión Ten Pen Chii — TPC: KET- SUi 13 — 278

decisión Ten Pen Chii — TPC: KET- SUi 14 — 284

decisión Ten Pen Chii — TPC: KET- SUi 15 — 291

decisión Ten Pen Chii — TPC: KET- SUi 16 — 293

decisión Ten Pen Chii — TPC: KET- SUi 17 — 320

decisión Ten Pen Chii — TPC: KET- SUi 18 — 337

decisión Ten Pen Chii — TPC: KET- SUi 19 — 340

decisión Ten Pen Chii — TPC: KET- SUi 20 — 352

decisión Ten Pen Chii — TPC: KET- SUi 21 — 395

decisión Ten Pen Chii — TPC: KET- SUi 22 — 423

decisión Ten Pen Chii — TPC: KET- SUi 23 — 426

decisión Ten Pen Chii — TPC: KET- SUi 24 — 453

decisión Ten Pen Chii — TPC: KET- SUi 25 — 458

decisión Ten Pen Chii — TPC: KET- SUi 26 — 463

decisión Ten Pen Chii — TPC: KET- SUi 27 — maticabeza

decisión Ten Pen Chii — TPC: KET- SUi 28 — matislavacamille

decisión Ten Pen Chii — TPC: KET- SUi 9 — 309

ARTISTIC CREDITS

Classification: Butoh
Creation: 2008 Ten Pen Chii Art Labor
Re-premiere: 2010
Duration: 60 min
Choreography: Yumiko Yoshioka
Installation and Design: Joachim Manger
Musical composition: Zam Johnson
Performers: Slava Inozemecev (BY), Cynthia Gonzalez (BO/PL), Yumino Seki (JP), Yuko Kominami (JP), Camilla Giani (IT), Tlathui Benavides Trejo (MX), Matilde J Ciria (ES)