Witness

Witness is an artistic inquiry into how a performative action can have the power of memento.

The action draws on the scenic concept from a new Teatr ZAR performance, Armine, Sister. At its core is an installation of 16 columns representing an Armenian temple. Witness, however, is an independent work, although created on the same artistic premises as Teatr ZAR’s performance. The piece explores Armenian history but at the same time goes beyond it, addressing the issues of how memory is retained and carried.

Teatr ZAR first started collaborating with Daisuke Yoshimoto in 2003 on a piece called Lazarus, as part of Gospels of Childhood. The creative encounter with the Japanese dancer was an important ensemble-forming experience for the group, of which the Butoh master became a honorary member.

Witness is an important voice in the discourse on the actor’s/performer’s identity. It shows the multitude of possible artistic identifications and the diversity of definitions of the performer’s subjectivity. By including Daisuke Yoshimoto’s action in the programme of the BodyConstitution practical seminar the organizers ask how a testimony can change and constitute an actor’s identity, how a performer can give testimony and call oneself as a witness to testify to events that are not part of his experience?

Performer Daisuke Yoshimoto

Concept Jarosław Fret