KYOTO EXPERIMENT 2023 Partner Programm
The Goethe-Institut Osaka-Kyoto and the German Consulate organize the project A Gathering in a better world, where artists with disabilities meet, gain insights and create something together through artistic activities. This year's theme is visual language. The Visual Vernacular (VV) performance, originated from sign language, will be experienced in a workshop format with sign language entertainer Eri Nasu and sign language performer KAZUKI.
What is Visual Vernacular?
Visual Vernacular (VV) is an art form that uses the visual representation of sign language to depict stories and scenes. It incorporates elements of poetry and pantomime and combines powerful movements, symbolic signs, gestures and facial expressions to capture the world in all its visual complexity.
Cinematic effects are a key feature of performances, such as playing with fast or slow motion, and rhythmic movement, zooming and point-of-view changes etc. Performers can use movement to morph into different characters, or even objects, to help build a story. By combining these techniques, performers create a unique and very powerful way of storytelling. „Visual” in VV is naturally linked to the deaf culture whose essence is the view, the adjective „vernacular” derives rather from the reference to the spoken characteristic of a limited area, emblematic of a dialect.
Eri Nasu
Eri Nasu
Born in 1995 and raised in a deaf family in which all family members are deaf. She graduated from Nihon University Law School, followed by an internship at Frontrunners in Denmark, where she also studied deaf leadership and organizational studies. She currently works as a sign language entertainer, actress and is active in international sign language relations. She appeared in the Fuji TV drama "Silent" in 2022. She currently appears in NHK's "Minna no Shuwa"(Sign Language for All) and "Shuwa de tanoshimu Minna no TV" (Sign Language Television for All).
KAZUKI
KAZUKI
Actor and sign language performer. He uses various techniques such as sign language singing, silent contemporary, butoh dance and nonverbal communication of the deaf to create a visual performance that everyone, deaf or hearing, can enjoy. KAZUKI also works as a film and stage actor. He appeared in the films "Summer Light, Summer Sound ", "Hige no Koucho" (The Bearded Headmaster) and in the theater production "Terror". As a performer, he appeared at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics opening ceremony.
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