Introduction

   Event Schedule

   Registration

Thursday 25 – Sunday 28 September 2008

ResCen (Centre for Research into Creation in the Performing Arts at Middlesex University) is convening Artists Open Doors: Japan/UK to celebrate and investigate the state of the art – contemporary dance in Japan and England. Artists Open Doors will include performances, panel discussions, workshops and presentations that will stimulate debate on key issues: understandings of ‘contemporary’; contemporary practice in Japan; structures, support systems, agencies and artists; community arts practice; and cultural policy. It will be attended by artists, arts professionals, academics, and students from the UK and Japan.

Leading Japanese artists Kentaro!!, Un Yamada and Natsuko Tezuka will join UK-based artists including Saiko Kino, Chisato Minamimura, Shobana Jeyasingh and Rosemary Lee. Representatives from the Setagaya Public Theatre (Tokyo); MUSE Company, Tokyo; Japan Contemporary Dance Network (JCDN), Japan Foundation for Regional Art Activities, The Place (London) and the Foundation for Community Dance (UK) will contribute to discussions along with academics from Waseda University, Tokyo and Middlesex University, London. Artists Open Doors: Japan/UK will be one of the largest gatherings of Japanese dance specialists ever held in the UK. It is an accredited Japan-UK 150 event.

The three-day event will be held at the Japan Foundation and The Place in central London. It will be complemented by an evening seminar at the Daiwa Foundation Japan House, Regents Park and the Saturday evening performance of The Place Prize that currently has two Japanese semi-finalists.

This event is part of ResCen’s current Japan-focused research projects that forge new connections with Japanese artists and agencies by examining their engagements with audience and policy, funded by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, British Academy, Sasakawa Foundation and British Council.

日本語　(Japanese version)