This and that about ETAT 2022 ⑧（Written on 10 Aug）

I went to check out artwork by Ongoing Collective presented at the gymnasium space of Sansho House (former Matsunoyama Town Sansho Primary School) on 7 August. Ongoing Collective is an artist collective represented by Nozomu Ogawa and each of them created decent work for Oku-Noto Triennale 2017. For ETAT2022, 19 artists and groups “play” sugoroku in the gymnasium, and each work seemed to stand in a row independently. Some artists brought in the field inside the building whereas the others ran a workshop to make a book of dictations of the talking by local old ladies. It would be good to allocate time here to enjoy each of these works but unfortunately, I didn’t have time to spare.

In Matsudai, I went to see works by Ikebana artists in Joyama. They must have spent enormous efforts but I couldn’t help thinking about the challenge that the contemporary ikebana faces, difficult to go beyond “composition” and “colours”. However, works by Kato Satoru and Otsuka Rishi were interesting, managing to have created site-specific works in given spaces.

From here, I went to show my support with the football game by FC Echigo-Tsumari in the Hokushinetsu second division league. The opponent team was Toyama Ladies, known as a strong team. FC Echigo-Tsumari played well but the game was nill-all for half an hour. I heard that the team got three goals in a row as soon as I left the game to see the original performance “footprints of tomorrow, footsteps and me” by Ochi Yoshie in Echigo-Tsumari Kamigo Clove Theatre.

and   私はここから一転して当間高原で行われるFC越後妻有の北信越リーグ2部の試合の応援にかけつけた。相手は「富山レディース」。強敵だ。30分間、攻勢なのだが0対0のまま、上郷クローブ座で上演される越智良江の津南町オリジナル歌劇「あしたの あしあとと あしおとと あたし」の観劇に向かったところ、立て続けに3ゴールしたとの連絡である。

Going back to the theatre play, it involved fifteen actors, from 1st to 6th-year students of primary school. It was so fun and sold out its 150 seats for two days. Beginning with a lap dance, students showed three different kinds of dances and danced to various songs including popular songs from the Showa era as well as the school anthem of Kamigo Junior High School. There was no moment for the audience to get bored in this 50-min production. I was so impressed by Ochi-san who managed to create this performance piece in just two months, fully occupying the entire theatre. I would imagine it must be for the first time for everyone in Tsunan, from adults to children, to see such a fulfilling space. As it occasionally happens, it almost brought tears to my eyes thinking that it was great to see that we had managed to run the festival.

Kitagawa Fram