Aichi Triennale 2025: A Time Between Ashes and Roses, Period:September 13 to November 30, 2025, 79 days, Venues: Aichi Arts Center, Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum, Seto City

What’s On

TAIHEN

  • Performing Arts
  • Aichi Arts Center

Performances

World Premiere, New CommissionDance
BRAIN
  • Photo: Hikaru Toda
  • Visual image: Mitsuru Tokisato
  • Photo: Mitsuru Tokisato
  • Photo: Mitsuru Tokisato
Issues relating to the brain, body, and artificial intelligence raise questions about the dignity of humanity. This latest work by TAIHEN is a product of the group’s exploration of the human body spanning forty-two years.

The artistic expression of TAIHEN, which is led by Kim Manri, leaves the aesthetic sense and values of viewers significantly shaken due to the overwhelming presence of the artists’ bodies writhing on the floor. The theme of this work is the brain. In response to recent developments that have seen artificial intelligence come to influence every aspect of our lives, the work examines the troubled relationship between the brain and body through the artists’ bodies, which deviate from the brain’s control. Collaborator Tokisato Mitsuru serves as the system architect who creates art using media technology. With this provocative new work, TAIHEN poses the question to society of how much dignity will be retained by human beings (human life) in modern times.

Date
  • MEET THE ARTIST
  • Childcare Services
  • Relaxed Performance
  • Childcare Services
Venue

Aichi Prefectural Art Theater, Mini Theater (B1F)
(1-13-2 Higashisakura, Higashi-ku, Nagoya)

Performance time

80 min.

Language

Non-verbal

Tickets
Adult
¥3,500
U25
¥2,000

* Same-day tickets (General and U25) are ¥500 more than the advance price.
* Pair tickets (6,500 Yen) are sold only in advance.

Ticket Purchase

Seating

Unreserved

Staff
Playwright & Direction:
Kim Manri
System Architect:
Tokisato Mitsuru
Performance flyer

It will be released at a later date.

Assistance for viewing
[Before you attend]
  • This is a non-verbal work.
  • Preschool-aged children are welcome to attend this performance. Children of preschool age may attend for free if they sit on an accompanying adult’s lap. A ticket is required for children who need a separate seat (U25 tickets are available).Childcare service is available for parents or guardians who wish to attend alone.
  • Visitors using wheelchairs are asked to contact i-Ticket at 0570-00-5310.
[Childcare Services]
Childcare services are available. Advance reservation is required. Further details will be announced on the official website at a later date.
[MEET THE ARTIST ()]
A talk with the cast and director(s) will follow the performance. Audience members are welcome to attend without a reservation.
  • Live text support via UD Talk.
[Relaxed Performance ()]
Relaxed performances offer a more flexible setting and looser audience etiquette. Attendees are welcome to make noise, come and go as they please, and enjoy the show at their own pace. These performances offer a welcoming space for parents with young children, visitors with disabilities, and anyone who finds traditional theater environments challenging.

Profile

  • Formed 1983 in Osaka, Japan. Based in Osaka, Japan.

TAIHEN is a performance group founded by Kim Manri, in Osaka 1983. All of the members have physical disabilities. The group places value precisely on their bodies considered “deformed” and their crawling over the floor in a way deemed “ugly.” They have unswervingly continued to pursue the nature of bodies with disabilities. Their expression is an act of resistance to the outlook on beauty constructed by bodies that walk erect on two legs, and all the attendant social norms and biases. This has confronted audiences by making them question what “ugliness” and “beauty” are. Besides being staunchly supported by the late Ohno Kazuo, one of the legendary Butoh dancers, their incomparable physicality has had a significant influence on literature, philosophy, sociology, activism, and other aspects.
This new work by TAIHEN confronts the brain with the bodies of disabled people that do not follow its orders and are detached from its control. It is an attempt to depict the history of the twisted and tangled relationship between the body and the brain, in response to the present social situation, in which artificial intelligence is in the process of affecting every facet of our lives. BRAIN is a collaboration with Tokisato Mitsuru, who has a keen interest in bodies and creates installations and live performances applying AI technology. Through it, TAIHEN is taking up the challenge of a new work that looks at how our respect for our existence (life) can be preserved in contemporary society.

Selected Performances
2023
“We came from Africa,” ABC Hall (Osaka, Japan)
2022
“Song of White Petals,” AI HALL (Hyogo, Japan)
2021
“Wandering Love” (trilogy), Yokohama International Performing Arts Meeting 2021 (Kanagawa, Japan)
2005
“The Legend of Maha-Laba Village,” Theater der Welt (Stuttgart, Germany)
1997
“DEPARTED SOUL,” 11. Berner Tanztage (Switzerland)