霜田诚二
日本国际行为艺术节总监
到目前为止，我仍然感到有点诧异，我为什麽会写这样一篇关于亚洲行为艺术的文章。我知道，我是一个很了解亚洲行为艺术的艺术工作者，我可以说我所从事的工作以及自一九九三年创办日本国际行为艺术节开始，对部份亚洲国家的行为艺术发展产生了重大影响。
当然，我明白每个国家都有一些更称职的人才，可以介绍自己国家行为艺术的历史以及发展状况。但是，我希望籍此机会，透过自己的故事与大家分享我对亚洲行为艺术的看法。
首先，我想介绍本人以及日本国际行为艺术节的一些背景资料。
我一九五三年生于日本长野；一九六九年入读长野中学。一九六零年，由于日本政府计划签订美日安全条约，国内人民发起了大规模的反政府运动；当时很多学生、工人以及群众发动了大型游行示威，反对日本政府。那时候，日本政府亦修改了能源政策，用石油取替煤炭，很多煤矿工人因此而被解僱，最后亦加入反政府运动，而许多艺术工作者以及从事文化活动的人士亦纷纷加入反政府行列。我现在还清楚记得，六岁那年，我家门前有一大群示威工人，向着长野车站浩浩荡荡进发的情况。
当然，人民力量始终是较为薄弱的，政府政策最终没有被推翻。一九六四年，奥运会在东京举行，市内很多旧城区被移为平地，取而代之的是新建筑、新道路。六十年代是所谓的经济高速发展时期，反越战情绪、崇拜嬉皮士热潮等大量美国文化涌现日本。当时，国内亦正酝酿一股强大的日本地下文化，很多从事文化工作的人在国内进行宣传活动，反对现代主义。
五十年代中到六十年代初，很多艺术工作者创作了大量前卫的表演作品。当时社会的风气比较开放，大家都热衷于直接发表意见；一九六九年，我升上中学的时候，就是处于这样的一个年头。而在西方国家，很多大学生和工人到纷纷上街示威，我就读的中学亦定期组织反越战以及反政府政策游行，学生们亦通宵达旦开会。
踏入七十年代，政治运动开始减少，原因有很多，但无论如何，最终的结果就是支持新左派运动的人越来越少。我亦找不到任何理由去继续上学，于是我辍学一年。我坐便车到了北海道，开始习诗。或者，我已经厌倦了向外表达自己，反而对内心世界产生了兴趣。我发现写诗是其中一种表达自己的最佳方式，祇要一枝铅笔、一本记事部就可以了。但那年以后，我发现自己再不懂用文字表达自己，于是我想到了用身体代替；或者因为我曾经是一位运动员，对人体有一定认识，也相信行胜于言这个道理。
一九七五年，我第一次到大坂演出，一九七七年一月又到了东京。那段日子，我通常都租用那些专供创作乐团现场表演的小型音乐厅或一些小地方表演；那些小型音乐厅不单止遍佈东京，在日本其他小镇亦相当普遍。那时候，我利用那些小型音乐厅，由北部北海道到南部九州岛，展开了长达一个月的日本国内巡迴表演之旅。在旅途期间，我认识了具体美术协会、九州派、新达达派、零距离以及日本激流派等六十年代的前卫艺术家，他们都比我年长二十多岁，但有几位当时仍然活跃于各类活动。
一九七九年，我在东京租用了一个小地方，在那裡表演了一百场，写了九十九首诗；一九八零年，我的诗集终于正式面世。一九七九年，我在东京另外举行了三十多场表演。
一九八二年五月，我到了中国，这是我第一次出国旅行。我到中国不是为了表演，而是与父亲一起去的。战乱的时候，我父亲既是一名教师，亦是中国东北部一个半军事化农业集团的领导。当时，日本军国主义政府在当地建立了傀儡政权，强迫大量日本人民迁到那裡。父亲与一百四十名年仅十四到十六岁的学生亦因此而到了中国。但在一九四五年八月战争结束的时候，父亲被赶至当地的俄军逮捕，送往西伯利亚的劳改营。他的妻子以及四十名学生由于未能成功逃返日本而自杀，与祇有一岁半的长子双双离开了他；父亲在一九四八年返回日本后才知道这件事。一九八二年，我与父亲以及他以前的学生重返村裡参加一个纪念仪式，那是战后第一次举行的悼念仪式。这是我第一次出国的经历。
这次出国的经验给予我一次很大的文化冲击。我记得，即使是在北京，连接机场和市中心的高速公路就像是一条乡间小路，我们从哈尔滨乘坐小车进村。我仍然记得当地人的生活情况，部份房屋是用泥和草搭建的，这是我第一次见到这样的房屋。我们进村之后，学校开始举行仪式，小学生奏乐跳舞，热烈欢迎我们。父亲和他以前的学生走到山上；在那裡可以望见那条村庄，大家都哭了起来，一直等到时间到了才要离开。
当年我二十八岁；二十八岁第一次出国算不上年青。但无论如何，我体验了一次文化冲突。后来，我决定要更投入地从事艺术工作，因为我知道，生命原来并不漫长，而是非常短暂。如果我要继续从事艺术行业，就一定要更努力、更专业地组织艺术活动，这样才会活得更有意义。
一九八二年十二月，我意外地碰上了出访巴黎的机会。当时，我在东京一家小型音乐厅表演，表演结束后有一位观众说他有一张去巴黎的单程机票，还鼓励我去一趟。机票十天内有效；那位观众跟我说，他原本在巴黎读书，买了来回机票到日本之后才决定在东京结婚，所以他不再需要那张返回巴黎的机票了。我当然知道使用别人的机票是非法的，但他帮我巧妙地解决了这个问题。最后，我带着一点钱，安全到了巴黎，逗留了三个月。这次旅程，又一次带给我很大的文化冲击，这是我第一次接触到真正的西方文化。由于我身无分文，我在巴黎街头做了几百场表演，每天赚点生活费。在巴黎的三个月，我不停思考如何以艺术为生，而巴黎人都对我非常热情。返回东京之后，我策划了几个艺术活动，以日本当时得令的艺术工作者、音乐人、製片人和舞者作为卖点。我们的活动没有得到公众支持，我开始明白，艺术发展的道路还很漫长。我经常为活动垫支……但我甘愿这样做，我们经常一起讨论活动计划，又经常喝醉。
一九八六年，我第二次出国旅行，在几个欧洲国家进行表演，为时长达三个月；一九八七年和一九八八年，我又花了三个月时间在欧洲。行程部署方面完全没有问题，因为演出机会很多，而我这个年轻前卫的日本艺术工作者亦很受欢迎，几乎每个星期我都有机会在小剧院、画廊或者博物馆演出，有时甚至有酬劳。
一九八九年，我决定前往韩国。虽然韩国邻近日本，但是我对韩国所知不多。我在京都做了一场表演，赚了点酬劳，便出发到下关市，再乘船到韩国斧山，逗留了三天，然后又到了首尔。这一星期或许可称得上是我第一次到海外进行艺术资料搜集的旅程。
一九九零年，我被斧山青年双年展以及视觉艺术节邀请到韩国的一些机构演出。
一九九一年，我到了香港，为莫昭如策划的活动表演了两场。我与莫昭如曾经见过面几次，其中一次是一九八七年在东京，另一次是一九九零年分别在东京和纽约。那次，我在纽约参加富兰克林‧福尔兰斯筹组的表演活动，莫昭如专诚去看我演出，还邀请我去香港。我的演出很受香港人欢迎，听说有一个剧团对我的肢体动作留下了极深印象。
我曾经听说过曼谷有很多有折扣优惠的旅行社，香港演出之后，我到了曼谷，买了一套曼谷─雅典─华沙／富兰克福─曼谷─香港的机票。我到了希腊和波兰参加当地的行为艺术节，又在德国做了几场个人表演，两个月后我又回到香港。后来听说台湾有人想见我，于是我到了台北，认识了王墨林。
莫昭如和王墨林带我真正走进了韩国以外的其他亚洲地方。我们经常聚头，与他们的朋友一起谈天说地，一起喝酒。虽然当地没有反对行为艺术的运动，但因为当时刚发生了一九八九年天安门事件，所以当地局势颇为紧张。或者，经过那场地下小型剧院运动之后，这两个与中国有着密切关係的城市需要更多社会观点，需要更新的艺术表达方式。有好几次，莫昭如和王墨林与朋友一起为我举办行为艺术工作坊和艺术讲座，让当地人士参与。不过，要发展行为艺术从来都不是一件容易的事。
一九九九年开始，我多次被邀到韩国参加当地的各类节庆活动。事实上，韩国在那时举办了很多活动，并经常在开幕式中加插表演。虽然当时的经济状况不好，但当地艺术工作者会喜欢与自己的学生策划表演活动，有时学生的英语比老师好，部份艺术家前辈还能说一点日语。我对他们靠自己独立组织艺术活动印象非常深刻，这与波兰的情况相似。在波兰，艺术工作者往往也是活动策划人，因为祇有艺术工作者才明白行为艺术和艺术活动本身需要什麽，而且他们在艺术界都有较好的关係网。
参加波兰艺术节的愉快体验，促使我决定在一九九三年二月创办首届日本国际行为艺术节。我们一起创作，一起谈天畅饮，渡过了很多开心日子。我知道前面的工作艰巨，但我亦知道我是唯一可以在日本组织这类国际行为艺术节的人。一九九三年第一届日本国际行为艺术节祇有两位日本艺术工作者和三位韩国艺术创作人参与，其馀十人来自欧洲和加拿大。无论如何，首届艺术节非常成功，不但在长野受欢迎，甚至东京的艺术杂志都表示对艺术节有兴趣；这是日本第一个真正的国际行为艺术节。
一九九四年，我在日本认识了新加坡着名艺术家唐大雾，我邀请他参加了一九九五年第二届的日本国际行为艺术节，但他却推荐李文。参加第二届艺术节的亚洲艺术工作者就祇有李文、莫昭如推荐的两位香港女艺术家，以及一位韩国女艺术家。到了一九九六年的艺术节，李文向我推荐泰国的清彭‧阿皮苏克和新加坡女艺术家王良吟，而王墨林又推荐了台湾的陈界仁以及北京的马六明。其实，王墨林之前并不认识他们，后来中国着名艺评家栗宪庭送给我有关这两位中国前卫艺术家的个人资料，墨林看了资料后，才到北京与他们见面，并决定推荐六明成为第一位参加日本国际行为艺术节的中国大陆艺术工作者。我和墨林在完成九六年的日本艺术节之后，计划创办台湾国际行为艺术节。可惜，由于经费问题，计划告吹了。无论如何，除了两位日本艺术家之外，还有来自四个亚洲国家的艺术工作者参加了九六年的日本国际行为艺术节。
一九九六年，东京艺术博物馆邀请我筹办一个行为艺术活动，于是我想到了以亚洲行为艺术系列的形式进行。博物馆希望我安排五场周末表演，于是我们邀请了韩国、中国、新加坡和泰国的艺术工作者连续几个周末表演。后来我才明白，原来日本国际行为艺术节每年才举办一次，不足以吸引亚洲表演者参加。于是从一九九六年开始，艺术节改为一年举行两次，一次在二月份，是面向国际的，另一次在七月份，主要集中在亚洲地区。
一九九七年，我在魁北克认识的艺术家朋友Le Liue和艺术中心总监理查‧马泰尔(曾参加九三年和九六年的日本国际行为艺术节)邀请我到魁北克製作一个亚洲艺术节，除了我之外，韩国的李湘轃、中国的马六明、台湾的陈界仁、泰国的清彭‧阿皮苏克和新加坡的钱德拉塞卡也获邀参与。事实上，在九六年日本国际行为艺术节举办之前，西方国家的活动策划人和艺术界对亚洲的行为艺术可谓一无所知，而日本国际行为艺术节可能是唯一一个活动可以引领西方国家的活动主办方去认识亚洲的行为艺术，同时，这亦是一个让亚洲艺术工作者接触西方艺术世界的机会。
不过，由于我之前对亚洲的资料搜集工作做得不足，我祇知道韩国、香港和台湾的情况，所以很难邀请其他亚洲艺术工作者到日本参加行为艺术节；于是，我开始到东南亚搜集更多资料。一九九六年我到了泰国；一九九八年我到了新加坡和印尼；一九九九年我又到了菲律宾和缅甸。
一九九八年和一九九九年，我分别邀请到印尼的阿海麦安妮和昂敏参加二月份举行的日本国际行为艺术节。我没有菲律宾方面的资料，但曾经通过电子邮件联络当地几家艺术画廊，跟他们说我要到马尼拉物色合适的艺术工作者，后来他们安排了阮‧莫洛‧奥金宝和朗拿度‧瑞兹跟进我的资料搜集工作。与他们交谈了几次之后，奥金宝忽然跟我说他有意在一九九九年十二月组织首届菲律宾国际行为艺术节。由于我和阿海麦安妮将会在二零零零年二月在耶加达举办第一届耶加达国际行为艺术节，奥金宝希望菲律宾的艺术节可以在耶加达艺术节之前举行。
参加过九六年日本国际行为艺术节之后，清彭‧阿皮苏克开始在泰国组织艺术活动，又在一九九八年创办了亚托邦国际行为艺术节。他认为，虽然泰国经常举办行为艺术活动，但祇是作为展览等活动的开幕表演，在参加日本国际行为艺术节之前，他并不知道世界上原来有其他的行为艺术节，莫洛和其他知名亚洲艺术家也曾经这样告诉我。虽然部份亚洲国家已经开始发展行为艺术，但表演活动很少，而且并非定期举行，他们并不知道，行为艺术已经发展成为现今社会一个重要的艺术媒界。但是，当他们参加了日本国际行为艺术节之后，就意识到行为艺术是一个很重要、很有意思的艺术活动，正如我在一九九一年从波兰回来之后，也有同样的感受，哪怕祇是短短数天与艺术工作者会面，也是一个难忘的经验。
活动不仅对艺术工作者产生了重大影响，对整个社会而言也是如此。一九九八年往印尼途中，我先到新加坡与缅甸艺术家昂敏见面。我问他缅甸的行为艺术的发展状况，他说他曾经参与过行为艺术，于是我决定邀请他参加一九九九年二月举行的日本国际行为艺术节。昂敏在日本的演出非常精彩，于是我决定到缅甸利用短片与他探讨表演和艺术。令人惊喜的是，在缅甸这样一个独裁主义国家裡，昂敏家裡竟然有自己的画廊，还在那裡举办现代艺术展，又给我策划演出活动。
一九九九年，马六明为我安排演出，我到了北京。九六年日本国际行为艺术节之后，我有时会在外地碰见他。一九九八年在奥利亚我又与他碰面，当时他说，如果我有时间到北京的话，他会帮我在北京筹划演出活动。当时我们已经邀请了朱冥参加九九年日本国际行为艺术节，六明又在北京邀请了盛奇和王迈两位中国艺术家，我们就在六明的朋友位于北京市郊的工厂做了一些非正式的演出，吸引了很多观众前来欣赏，着名艺评家和摇滚音乐人崔健，还有舒阳都是座上客。第二年，六明又与陈进和朱冥创办了OPEN行为艺术节，他们把艺术节请柬连同日本国际行为艺术节小册子一併寄给了国外很多艺术家。后来，舒阳在北京为我安排了一场短片演出，还介绍我与西安的相西石和成都的戴光郁以及余极认识。于是，我去了北京。
上世纪九十年代初，除了波兰之外，我还经常往来其他中欧国家。自一九八八年开始，斯洛伐克的新扎姆基艺术节 (朱赫兹‧祖塞夫执导) 以及罗马尼亚的德兰斯瓦尼亚艺术节 (尤杜‧古兹达夫执导) 每年都深受欢迎，吸引很多艺术工作者出席。艺术节刚起步的时候，主办方祇管寄出大量请柬，至于最终谁会真正出席，就要到活动开幕当天才会知晓，中国和其他亚洲国家也有类似情况。有时候，日本国际行为艺术节的目录就如一本实用指南，主办方祇管按照目录内艺术家联络资料发出请柬，甚至并不认识收件人是谁。
日本国际行为艺术节与其他活动不同，因为我们会负责支付几乎所有艺术工作者的国际旅费、食宿和火车票等费用，这些开支在日本都是非常昂贵的。作为总监，我必须清楚知道有哪些艺术家参与活动。有时我会依赖朋友的推荐，但我总会到他们的居住地跑一趟，因为我相信，行为艺术与表演者的生活背景和社会环境有着密切关係，因此艺术节总监有必要事先了解与会艺术工作者的背景资料，而这一点尤为重要。作为总监，如果我对他们的背景一无所知，我就没有半点信心把这些艺术家介绍给观众了。
无论如何，为了推广行为艺术，我经常穿梭亚洲各地；当然，我亦会到访亚洲以外的其他地区，哪怕当地没有行为艺术演出，我仍然会到当地宣传。我们需要更多艺术工作者参与亚洲行为艺术发展。二零零零年五月，我第一次来到越南何志明市，做了一场表演以及一个短片演出，吸引了大约五十位观众，大部份都是艺术工作者，不过他们全部都是走社会现实主义路线。表演结束后，大部份观众马上离场，认为行为艺术对越南来说太新鲜了。不过，仍然有三位女艺术工作者留了下来，我问她们其中一位会不会表演行为艺术，虽然没有经验，但她却回答说：“会！”我决定邀请她参加二零零零年七月举行的面向亚洲的日本国际行为艺术节。她名叫黄莉，虽然初次参加行为艺术表演，但是演出非常精彩。
我知道，行为艺术并非一种深奥的艺术媒介，艺术工作者不须要懂得特别技巧，经过特别训练或使用特别素材，我们祇须要一个空间，但不是什麽“专用”空间，我们可以在任何地方表演，即使是在大街上也可以。事实上，菲律宾和印尼很多艺术家都很擅长街头表演，有时甚至在政治示威活动上演出。
亚洲很大，我祇是比较熟悉北部和东南部的情况，但仅仅这两部份已经包括了很多国家，他们有不同语言、宗教信仰、社会制度和历史背景，部份国家有相当程度发表意见的自由，但是有部份曾经历过西方和日本殖民主义管治的国家，即使时至今日，在这方面仍然非常落后。
我记得二零零一年我在纽约筹划了一个小型的亚洲艺术节，名为“日本社会与滋贺艺术博物馆”。当时纽约的“九．一一”事件发生了才三星期，市内情况仍然紧张，不过，仍然有很多纽约市民前去欣赏，活动在日本也吸引了很多观众入场。参加这次活动的艺术工作者有来自韩国、印尼、越南、缅甸、泰国和日本，我向观众介绍每位表演者的背景资料，又向他们解释即使同在亚洲地区，各国文化可以是如此不同。不过我发现，稻米是亚洲地区主要粮食，也就是说，亚洲各国人民的脑海裡都对种植稻米的农田景色留有深刻印象。
二零零三年，我在中欧组织了一个亚洲行为艺术巡迴表演之旅，在斯洛伐克、匈牙利、波兰和塞尔维亚-蒙特内哥罗四个国家演出，参加表演的艺术工作者有十五位来自日本，三位来自中国大陆，两位来自台湾。这次活动由日本国际行为艺术节和当地艺术工作者协办，这些属于日本国际行为艺术节的在外交流是非常重要的活动。这类国际间合作需要建基在真正的友情之上，而我们在全世界已经建立了这样一个良好的友谊网络。事实上，日本国际行为艺术节曾经邀请过五十个国家超过三百五十位艺术工作者参与。过去十年，我曾经与中国、韩国、越南、缅甸、印尼、新加坡、波兰、法国、美国、墨西哥、智利、阿根廷、乌拉圭等国家一起为日本国际行为艺术节组织交流活动，情况许可的时候，亦会儘量安排亚洲的艺术工作者同行，因为我知道他们须要累积更多经验。二零零七年十一月，我在北京、成都和西安组织了第三次中日交流活动。虽然当地已经有由中国艺术工作者筹办的行为艺术节，例如OPEN艺术节以及大道现场艺术节等活动，但是我发现，在这些城市举办再多的行为艺术表演仍是可行的。
今年，亚洲各地举办了很多有关行为艺术的国际活动，例如菲律宾每年一度的 “TUPADA行为艺术与多媒体艺术节”以及每两年一次的“TUPADA国际行为艺术节”、新加坡的“幻想的未来”、韩国的“韩国国际行为艺术节”以及“实验艺术精神”，还有中国的OPEN艺术节和大道现场艺术节，而西安、成都、香港等地也举办了各类表演活动，在澳门又举办了国际行为艺术节。此外，泰国举办了亚托邦国际行为艺术节，台湾也有自己的国际行为艺术节，印尼有“Perfurbance现场艺术节”，还有很多不同的行为艺术活动或项目在印尼各地、越南和缅甸举行。过去十年，亚洲地区在行为艺术方面的发展十分出色。今年年初，我的艺术家朋友埃耶科与他的同事在缅甸仰光开创了一个新的艺术天地“全新零距离艺术空间”。埃耶科写信跟我说，他们希望这个空间能够成为他们自己的艺术创作新天地，成为筹办展览和表演的场地，甚至设立艺术图书馆，发展成为艺术工作者聚会的地方。我仍未有时间去参观，但我相信这个空间不仅代表了他们的希望，也是我们所有人的希望。
今年五月，中国发生了灾难性地震，而缅甸亦受暴风吹袭，死伤无数。正如二零零六年印尼海啸和去年的地震一样，它们全部都是可怕的天灾。在出外表演的途中经常听到这类消息，灾难中很多受害者都是儿童，这些消息实在太不幸，心裡实在不好受。不过，很多西方国家和亚洲各地的艺术工作者写电邮给我，希望我帮忙了解一下他们在日本国际行为艺术节认识的缅甸和中国大陆的艺术家朋友的情况，因为有一段时间电子邮件通讯网络中断了。我觉得，这种全球性的同一感受、同一担忧，正是我们行为艺术活动网络所促成的一个重要正面的成果。虽然社会上仍然存在各种各样的问题，就像亚洲区内存在着不同文化一样，但是，纵使生活苦涩，世界仍然充满希望，因为我们还有一种沟通媒介，名叫：行为艺术。
Performance Art in Asia - A Personal Perspective
Seiji Shimoda
(Artist, NIPAF director)
I am still wondering how I can write this piece on Performance Art in Asia. I know I am one of the people who best know Performance Art in Asia in general. I dare say my activities and NIPAF (Nippon International Performance Art Festival, since 1993) have exerted a significant influence on the development of performance art in several Asian countries.
Of course, I know that each country has people better suited to describe their own history and development of performance art. But on this occasion I would like to express my own views about Asian Performance Art via my own experiences.
First of all, I need to share my personal history and background, as well as that of NIPAF.
I was born in 1953 in Nagano and entered Nagano High School in 1969. In Japan, a big people’s movement arose in 1960. Because the Japanese government wanted to conclude the AMPO (US - Japan security treaty) many students, workers and ordinary citizens marched in huge demonstrations, which rattled the Japanese government. During that period the Japanese government also changed its energy policy from coal consumption to oil. Many coalmine workers were laid off and they also engaged in anti-government activities. Many artists and those involved in culture joined the anti-government movement. I vividly recall a big workers demonstration going to Nagano Station in front of my house when I was six years old.
Of course, People Power was not strong enough and the system remained unchanged. In 1964, we hosted the Tokyo Olympic Games. Many old districts were bulldozed to make way for new buildings and new roads. The so-called Era of Economic High Development arrived in the 60’s. A lot of US-influenced culture was imported including anti-Vietnam War sentiments and the hippie cult. Those times also spawned a strong Japanese underground culture, in which many people engaged in culture promoted anti-modernism activities throughout the country.
Since the mid-50s and 60’s, many artists have created lots of avant-garde performances; the atmosphere of society was so volatile that everybody wanted to express their own opinions directly to others. And 1969, the year I entered high school, was just such a time. As in the West, many university students and workers demonstrated in the streets. In my high school, students periodically organised anti-Vietnam War and anti-system demonstrations, while student meetings lasted late into the night.
But those movements crumbled with the arrival of the 70s. There were several reasons for this but the net result was that sympathy dwindled for the New Left movement. I also could not find any reason to go to school and stopped for a year. I hitchhiked to Hokkaido then started to write poetry. Maybe I was tired of expressing myself to the outer world and became more interested in the inner universe. I found that writing poetry was one of the best means of expression. I needed only one pencil and a notebook. But after that year, I hit a wall in terms of being able to express myself through words. I then thought of bodily expression - perhaps because I had previously been a good athlete. I knew something about the body and believed that actions spoke louder than words.
I performed for the first time in Osaka in 1975, before moving to Tokyo in January 1977. In those days, the so-called Live House and small rented space served as our place for expression. Live Houses existed not only in Tokyo but in so many towns throughout Japan. During that period, I embarked upon a one-month tour of Japan using Live Houses from Hokkaido in the north to Kyushu in the south. Through this tour of Japan I met many 60s avant-garde artists including Gutai, Kyushu-ha, Neo Dada, Zero Dimension and Japanese Fluxus artists. They were some 20 years older than me but several were still active.
In 1979, I performed one hundred times in a small rented space in Tokyo and wrote 99 poems, before publishing a book of poems in 1980. I also gave more than 30 performances in Tokyo in 1979.
In May 1982 I went to China, my first experience of travelling abroad. I did not go to perform. I went because my father had been a teacher and the leader of a semi-militarised agriculture group in northeast China during the war. The militaristic Japanese government had created a puppet regime and forced many Japanese citizens to go there. My father, with 140 students aged 14 to 16 years old, also relocated there but at the end of the war in August 1945 the Russian Army arrived and he was arrested and sent to a labour camp in Siberia. His wife and one-and-a-half year old first son died when she and 40 students who unsuccessfully tried to escape to Japan committed suicide. My father did not know that fact until he returned to Japan in 1948. Anyway, in 1982, he and his ex-students went to their former village for a memorial ceremony, the first time since the end of the war, and I went there with them. It was my first experience of going abroad.
This experience exerted a great cultural shock upon me. Even in Beijing, I remember that from the Airport to the city centre the highway was like a country road. From Harbin, we took a small bus to the village, and I remember how life was for the local people. Some houses were constructed of soil and straw, a new sight for me. After reaching the village, the junior school prepared a warm welcome ceremony for us, with students performing music and dance. My father and his ex-students all cried after we reached the hill where we could see the village until it was time to leave.
I was 28 years old - not so young for my first experience abroad. But anyway, I experienced a cultural shock. As a result, I decided to concentrate more on Art as I already knew that life was not so long but very limited. If I wanted to continue art, I would have to concentrate on my art activities as a professional if my life was to have meaning.
That same year, in December 1982, I had the opportunity to go to Paris. It was very much by accident. I had just finished a performance in a small Tokyo Live House when one of the members of the audience told me he had a one-way air ticket to Paris and encouraged me to go there. The ticket had a 10-day time limit. He told me that he was studying in Paris and had bought a return ticket to Japan but had decided to marry in Tokyo, so he no longer needed the ticket. Of course, it was illegal to use another person’s named ticket but he knew how to circumvent this. Anyway, I reached Paris safely with a little money and stayed for three months. This, too, was a big cultural shock for me as it was my first encounter with real Western culture. Because I had no money, I did hundreds of street performances in Paris to earn a little each day. During this three month period, I was considering how I could live as an artist. People in Paris treated me warmly. After returning to Tokyo, I organised several art events featuring many Japanese same-generation artists, musicians, filmmakers and dancers. I realised we had lots to achieve in the cause of art development as there was no public support system for our activities. I always spent my own money . . . but always willingly, and we often got drunk and discussed upcoming projects.
The second opportunity to travel came in 1986, and I did various performances in several European countries for three months. I also spent three months in 1987 and 1988 in Europe. It was not so difficult to schedule because there were many opportunities and I was well accepted as a young avant-garde Japanese artist. Almost every week I could perform in small theatres, galleries and museums, and even received an artistic fee.
In 1989, I decided to go to Korea. I had no real knowledge of Korea even though the country was so close. I performed once in Kyoto then used the artist’s fee to go to Shimonoseki to board a ferry to Pusan in Korea, where I stayed three days before moving on to Seoul. Maybe this one-week trip served as my first artistic research abroad.
In 1990, I was invited to perform by the Pusan Youth Biennial and See Art Festival in Korea organisations.
In 1991, I performed twice in Hong Kong at events organised by Mok Chiu Yu, whom I had met in Tokyo in ‘87 and also in ‘90 in Tokyo and New York. He came to see my performances in New York, which had been organised by Franklin Furnace, and he invited me to Hong Kong. My performance was well received by Hong Kong people and I heard that a theatre group was impressed by my physical performance.
After Hong Kong, I went to Bangkok to buy a plane ticket for Bangkok-Athens-Warsaw/ Frankfurt-Bangkok-Hong Kong. I had heard that there were lots of discount travel shops in Bangkok. I joined a performance art festival in Greece and Poland and also did several solo performances in Germany before returning to Hong Kong two month later. Then I heard that someone in Taiwan wanted to meet me, so I went to Taipei to meet Wang Molin.
These two people - Mok Chiuyu and Wang Molin - were the entree for me to real Asia, with the exception of Korea. We talked a lot, discussed a lot and drunk a lot with their good friends. Even though there were no performance art movements there, there was tension because it was just after the Tiananmen incident in 1989. Those two China-related areas needed more new social perspectives, and maybe needed new avenues of artistic expression after the underground mini theatre movement. On several occasions they and their friends organised my performance art workshops and artist’s lectures for local people. But performance art development was often not easy.
From 1999 onward, I was also invited to many festivals in Korea. In fact, so many art festivals were held in Korea in those days - they always had a performance as the opening event. Their financial situation was not so good but artists organised themselves with their students. Sometimes, those students spoke better English than the teacher artists. And some older generation artists spoke a little Japanese. I was so impressed by their independent way of organising art festivals by themselves. It was the same in Poland. The performance organiser of an art festival was always an artist himself. Only artists understood the rudimentary point of performance art and the festival. Also, artists had a better network in the art field.
So, I decided to start NIPAF in February 1993 because the festival in Poland had been such a good experience. Some days we really had a good time - producing good art work, having great conversations - and consuming lots of beer! I knew it would be hard work but I also knew I was the only person who could organise this kind of international performance art festival in Japan. In the first NIPAF in ‘93, there were only two Japanese and three Korean artists, while the remaining ten came from Europe and Canada. Anyway, it was a big success: not only in Nagano - Art Magazine in Tokyo expressed a keen interest because it was the first real international performance art festival in Japan.
In 1994, I met leading Singapore artist Tang Dau in Japan. I asked him to participate in the second NIPAF in 1995 but he suggested Lee Wen instead. In NIPAF95, Asian artists only comprised Lee Wen, two young Hong Kong female artists recommended by Mok Chiuyu, and one female Korean artist. For NIPAF96, Lee Wen recommended Thai artist Chumpon Apisuk. And he recommended Amanda Heng, a female Singapore artist. In addition, Wang Molin recommended Chen Chieren from Taiwan and Ma Liumin from Beijing. In fact, Molin did not meet him until I showed him the portfolio of Chinese avant-garde artists that Li Shengtin, a famous Chinese art critic, had sent me. Molin went to Beijing and met them and decided Liumin should be the first artist from Mainland China to join NIPAF. Molin and I tried to organise TIPAF (Taiwan International Performance Art Festival) just after NIPAF96 finished. This failed, however, due to financial constraints. Anyway, for NIPAF96 I could invite artists from four Asian countries, excluding two from Japan.
Also in 1996, a Tokyo art museum invited me to organise a performance art event, so I put together the Asian Performance Art Series. The museum asked me to stage five weekend performance events: we invited artists on successive weekends from Korea, China, Singapore and Thailand. I realised that just one NIPAF a year was too infrequent to invite enough Asian performance artists. Since 1996, NIPAF has run two festivals a year. One is international and held in February, while the other focuses on Asia and is held in July.
In 1997, Le Liue, my Quebec artist friend, and art centre director Richard Martel, who participated in NIPAF93 and NIPAF96, asked me to produce an Asian Performance Festival in Quebec. Lee Sanjing from Korea, Ma Liuming from China, Chen Chieren from Taiwan, Chumpon Apisuk from Thailand, Chandrasekaran from Singapore and I were invited. In fact, prior to the NIPAF96 Festival, organisers and artists in the West had no idea about Asian performance art. The NIPAF was probably the only way Western organisers could be exposed to Asian performance art. Likewise, it was a way Asian artists could contact the Western art world.
Nevertheless, in those times it was very difficult to invite artists from Asia to NIPAF because my research in Asia was inadequate. I only knew Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. So I embarked upon a research trip to South East Asia. In 1996, I went to Thailand, in 1998 I went to Singapore and Indonesia, and in 1999 I visited the Philippines and Myanmar.
We invited Arhmaiani from Indonesia to NIPAF98 and Aung Myint to NIPAF99 in February. I had no information about the Philippines but e-mailed several art galleries about my research trip to Manila, following which Yuan Moro Ocampo and Ronaldo Ruiz visited me there. After several discussions with them, Yuan Moro Ocampo suddenly told me he wanted to organise the first PIPAF in December 1999. Because Arahmaiani and I were organising the first JIPAF in Jakarta in February 2000 he said he wanted to hold the PIPAF before the JIPAF.
In Thailand, after his experience of NIPAF96, Chumpon Apisuk launched performance art events and then started Asiatopia in 1998. He said performance art often happened in Thailand but only as an opening event at exhibitions; in fact, he did not know about the existence of performance art festivals in the world until his participation in NIPAF. This is what Yuan Moro and other leading Asian artists told me. Several Asian countries already had performance art but only put on short performances and infrequently. They did not know that today performance art was so important as an art medium. After the NIPAF experience, however, they realised it was an important and interesting artistic activity. This is what I felt following my experiences in Poland in 1991. Even meeting over just a few days - directly meeting artists – was an impressive experience.
The impact was substantial, not only among artists but local society. I first met Myanmar artist Aung Myint in Singapore in 1998 on the way to Indonesia. I asked him about performance art in Myanmar, and he said he had already experienced it. I decided to invite him to NIPAF99 in February. He produced a very good performance in Japan so I decided to go to Myanmar to discuss performance and art with a video show. It was amazing that even in such an authoritarian society Aung Myint had his own gallery in his house and organised modern art exhibitions and my performance there.
I also went to Beijing in 1999, where my performance was organised by Ma Liuming. After NIPAF96, I sometimes met him abroad. In 1998, I met him again in Austria and he said he would organise some events for me in Beijing if I had time to go there. We had already invited Zhu Ming to NIPAF99. In Beijing, Liuming invited two other Chinese artists, Sheng Qi and Wang Mai. We undertook private performances in Liuming’s friend’s factory in the surburbs of Beijing. Many people came to watch, including famous art critic and rock music celebrity Cui Jien. Shu Yang was also in the audience. The following year, he organised the Open Performance Art Festival with Chen Jin and Zhu Ming. They sent many invitations to international artists with the NIPAF catalogue. Later, Shu Yang organised my video show in Beijing and also introduced me to Xian, Xian Xishi, Chengdu, Dai Guanyu and Yuji. Then I went there.
In the early 1990’s, I often went to Central Europe, not only Poland. Slovakia’s Nove Zamky (directed by Juhasz Jozef) and Romania’s Transylvania (directed by Uto Gusztav) performance festivals had been well received every year since 1988. I met so many artists there. In the beginning they just sent lots of invitation letters and no-one knew who really attended until the festival opened, just as in China and other Asian countries. Sometimes, the NIPAF catalogue served as a good guide book because it included artists’ contact details. They sent invitation letters even though they did not know who he/she was.
NIPAF is a rather different kind of festival because we cover almost all artists’ international travel costs as well as the cost of hotels, food and trains, which in Japan are so expensive. As director, I needed to know who the participating artists were. Sometimes I relied on friends’ recommendations but I always tried to go to their country because I believe it is most important that the director knows a participating artist’s background as performance art is very close to one’s society and life. If, as director, I was unfamiliar with their background, then I could not introduce such artists to audiences with any degree of confidence.
Anyway, I travelled a lot in Asia to promote performance art but not only in Asia, of course. Even when there was no performance art to see I promoted performance art. Yes, we need more artists involved in performance art in Asia! I went to Ho Chi Min in Vietnam for the first time in May 2000. I did one performance plus a video show. About 50 people attended - most of them artists - but all were social realism artists. After finishing my performance, the majority of guests quickly disappeared, saying that performance art was too new an art for Vietnam. But three young female artists stayed and I asked one of them if she could do performance art. She said ‘yes’, even though she had no experience. I decided to invite her to NIPAF Asia, which was held in July 2000. Her name was Hoan Ly - she did an amazingly good performance even though she was just a beginner in performance art.
I know performance art is not so difficult an art medium. Artists need no special technique, no special training or materials. We need space but not ‘dedicated’ space. We can perform anywhere, even in the street. Actually, many artists in the Philippines and Indonesia specialise in street performances. Sometimes, they perform in political demonstrations.
Asia is a vast area. I am only familiar with North and South East Asia. But even in that region there are many different countries with different languages, religions, social systems and history. Some countries have a fair amount of freedom of expression, while some countries are in a really bad situation even now. Those places have a history of Western and Japanese colonialism.
I remember in 2001, I organised the Asian Performance mini festival in New York named Japan Society and Shiga Museum of Art. It was just three weeks after 9/11 in New York. It was still a tough situation but so many New Yorkers attended, and in Japan it was also well attended. The artists came from Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand and Japan. I explained their background to the audience and how different even the same area of Asia can be. At one point, however, I realised that rice was our common main staple. It means that our countries have a strong rice field view in our memory.
In 2003, I organised an Asian performance art tour in Central Europe, visiting four countries - Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and Servia-Montenegro - with 15 Japanese, three Mainland Chinese and two Taiwanese artists. That kind of foreign NIPAF exchange tour was important, and was co-organised by NIPAF and local artists. For this kind of international co-operation, we need a really good relationship. But we already have such a good network around the world. In fact, NIPAF has already invited more than 350 artists from 50 countries. In the last decade, I have organised NIPAF exchange tours with China, Korea, Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia, Singapore, Poland, France, the US, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, etc. and always try to include Asian artists as tour members whenever possible because I know Asian artists need more experience. Last year, in November 2007, we staged the third China-Japan exchange in Beijing, Chengdu and Xian. I found it works to have performance art events in these cities, even when there are already some other performance art festivals directed by Chinese artists like Open Art Festival and Dadao Art Festival.
This year, Asia is hosting so many international performance art festivals. The Philippines is hosting its TAMA (TUPADA Action and Media art) on an annual basis and TUPADA every two years. Singapore is holding its Future of Imagination, while Korea is holding the KIPAF and KOPAS. In China, the Open and DADAO are on and there are performances in other cities like Xian, Chengdu, Hong Kong and the Macao MIPAF. Thailand is hosting Asiatopia, and Taiwan the TIPAF. In Indonesia, you can see Perfurbance in Jogjakarta. Many performance art events or projects have been held in several Indonesian cities, and in Vietnam and Myanmar. The development of performance art over the past 10 years in Asia has been remarkable. At the beginning of this year in Myanmar, my artist friend Aye Ko and his colleagues opened a new art space in Yangon, called New Zero Art Space. He wrote to me saying they wanted this space for their own new art space, for exhibitions and performances, and as a meeting place for artists with their own art library. I have still had no time to visit but I believe that this space is not only their hope but the hope of all of us.
A catastrophic earthquake struck China in May and a terrible cyclone hit Myanmar, killing an enormous number of people. Both were terrible events, as was the 2006 tsunami and last year’s earthquake in Indonesia. I always heard such news while abroad on art trips. Many children were victims of these incidents. It was really hard to check the news sometimes because it was so sad. Many Western and Asian artists e-mailed me to ask about artists from Myanmar and China whom they had met in NIPAF because for a while e-mail was down. I realised that this kind of global feeling and anxiety is really important - and one of the positive results of our performance art networking activity. Still, many different problems exist in our society. It is like cultural differences exist even in the same Asia. Nevertheless, we can have hope in today’s world even if life is often so terrible - because we have this medium called performance art.
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