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Where EAST meets the Northwest
JAPANORAMA. An art installation by Yayoi Kusama titled "Dots Obsession-Day," is seen at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Japan took the stage at the Kennedy Center for the two-week festival, "Japan! Culture + Hyper Culture," which featured Japanese art, robots, and dance performances. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
From The Asian Reporter, V18, #8 (February 19, 2008), page 8.
Dancing robots and more: Kennedy Center Japanese festival
By Brett Zongker
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON — Robots took the stage at the Kennedy Center — along with about 450 human artists — as the performing arts center was transformed into a festival of Japanese music, theater, dance, exhibits, and technical wizardry.
The dancing, trumpet-playing Toyota Partner Robot helped link Japan’s technical and performing arts, along with Honda’s people-friendly Asimo robot, which can recognize voices and faces. Another android robot, Kokoro, greeted visitors, answered questions, and directed them to the bathroom.
"This robot exhibition hasn’t been seen anywhere before in this way," said Alicia Adams, vice president of international programming for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. "The most advanced robots in the world (were) here."
The 10-day "Japan! Culture + Hyper Culture" festival had a budget of more than $5 million, and was funded primarily through the center’s Japan endowment, which was established in the 1970s with support from the Japanese government. Past cultural festivals have focused on China, France, Germany, and other countries.
Dozens of theatrical, musical, and dance performances showcased Japan’s traditional and ultramodern arts scene. The 10-year-old New National Theatre Ballet, Tokyo, made its international debut at the festival. And a Laptop Orchestra featured traditional Japanese music from a sho — or mouth organ — mixed with interactive computer sounds.
Robot engineers and inventors were on hand for demonstrations and lectures on the future of robotics. The growing popularity of robots gave a glimpse into the future of Japanese culture.
"As their population ages, they will not have the people to take care of the elderly," said Adams, the festival’s curator. "So robots are a way to replace actual human beings."
Taeko Baba, a consultant on Japanese culture who advised the Kennedy Center staff, said Japanese and American people view robots very differently. While some may see robots as machines, "we think that robots are friends," Baba said. "The Japanese are always looking for the next innovation."
Besides robots, the Kennedy Center’s large corridors were filled with exhibits of Japanese sculpture, costumes, photography, colorful textiles, kimono dating to the 1920s, and more abstract art.
One of the most striking exhibits was artist Yayoi Kusama’s "Dots Obsession-Day" and "Dots Obsession-Night" — two rooms filled with polka dots. "Day" had black dots on a yellow background, and "Night" had black with yellow polka dots.
The psychedelic dots installation, along with architect Tadao Ando’s "Four Cubes to Contemplate Our Environment" — which explores sustainability with water, CO2, garbage, and the future — helped link to the "hyperculture" of post-World War II Japan, said Paris-based designer Adrien Gardere. Robots, fashion, anime, and Japanese comics called manga now help define the culture.
During the festival, there were North American and world premieres of some of the latest anime films, as well as a fashion show and a closing party featuring the latest in Tokyo street culture with Japanese hip-hop and robot DJs. Kennedy Center restaurants featured special Japanese fare.
"This I think is an extraordinary collection of artists," Adams said. Rather than just having visitors see a show, she said the goal was to give thousands of people a chance to "sample other aspects of the cultural world."