The meaning of Mi-LAI is «future»
TEN PEN CHii
TEN PEN CHii Art Labor is a Berlin-based dance company that was born in 1995 and closed in 2017. The name comes from Japanese and means natural catastrophe; Art Labor represents the research drive the group is based on. The group brings together dance of Japanese origin, German sculpture and North American music. The social moment in which the group was born, its multiculturality 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
Mi-LAI represents the culmination of a cycle of investigations that Ten Pen Chii Art Labor developed between 2010 and 2014, exploring the relationships between crisis, transformation and regeneration. The work completes the conceptual triad begun with YOKU-BOU (2012) on primal impulses, continued with KONTON (2013) on creative chaos, and concluded with this exploration of the active construction of the future.
The performance marks a turning point in the company’s methodology, proposing not only a critical analysis of contemporary crises but also conceptual tools for building alternatives. The premise of a “break with the past” represents one of Ten Pen Chii’s most radical proposals in its exploration of the possibilities of human transformation.
This work anticipates many of the contemporary discussions on futurism, practical utopia and the design of new social realities. The proposal of a “clean space without burden” resonates with current concerns about how to build futures not conditioned by historical traumas.
Mi-LAI demonstrates Ten Pen Chii’s evolution from documenting crisis toward proposing methodologies of regeneration, maintaining its interdisciplinary approach while expanding into more proactive, constructive territories.
The work includes the collaboration of Matilde Javier Ciria, who had begun working with Ten Pen Chii in 2010 and by 2014 had become a central collaborator in the development of these investigations on future and transformation.
CONCEPT
The term Mi-LAI means “future” in Japanese and is used in a way that implies the future requires no delay, but can connect directly with the present. The fundamental thesis assumes that everything that happens in the future can be influenced by the past, but need not necessarily be.
Mi-LAI is about a theoretical philosophical construction and also a theoretical determination of key points. The starting point is the future space imagined as a clean space without burden. This clean space is conceived so that what we carry there depends on ourselves.
SYNOPSIS
The connection between performative elements and expansive spatial installation already has a tradition in Ten Pen Chii Art Labor. The term Mi-LAI means “future” in Japanese and implies that the future requires no delay, but connects directly with the present.
The fundamental thesis is that everything that happens in the future can be influenced by the past, but need not be. The greatest force toward the future is a fundamental philosophical thought, comparable to a flash of fire in our brain.
In Ten Pen Chii Art Labor’s project of the previous year, under the title KONTON “Chaos toward the Future”, through chaos and a situation of complete disorder and confusion, the open space or breach emerged — that is, the confused void of order within a previously established order, which in turn offered the creative human being the possibility of filling this space.
Mi-LAI is about a theoretical philosophical construction and also a theoretical determination of key points. The starting point is the future space imagined as a clean space without burden. This clean space shows what we carry with us. In this space everything is transformed.
The condition for this is a break with the past. This is possibly the greatest and most difficult step in a real situation. The performance assumes that the future can and must be redesigned if one frees oneself from the past.
If one considers philosophical thoughts as a fire in the brain, true fireworks can develop, comparable to an electric arc during welding. An enormous package of energy is created that aligns and leads to inspirations and ideas from which there is no escape.
GALLERY
ARTISTIC CREDITS
Classification: Butoh
Creation: 2014 Ten Pen Chii Art Labor
Duration: 60 min
Choreography: Yumiko Yoshioka & Team
Installation and Design: Joachim Manger
Musical composition: Zam Johnson
Performers: Dara Jin (IT), Ichi Go (JP), Matilde Javier Ciria (ES), Natsuko Kono (JP)
Lighting technique: Spiros Paterakis (GR)
Video art documentation: Mario Morleo (DE/IT), Yoann Trellu (FR)
Graphic design: Ollie Peters (DE)
Assistance: Christos Mpirakos (GR), Jens Zimmermann (DE), Michael Krause (DE), Tom Adam (NL), Yukihiro Ikutani (JP)
Photographic documentation: Klaus Rabien (DE), Yuki Ikutani (JP)