Production Details / Press Releases
Over the past decade, Berlinbased Singaporean artist Choy Ka Fai has delved into the metaphysics of the human body. “CosmicWander” is an ongoing project for which the artist ventured across Asia to study the spiritual practices and shamanic dance cultures of different peoples and communities. On his travels he met over 50 shamans and filmed extraordinary dance rituals and immersive trance experiences. The exhibition “CosmicWander: Expedition” presents his research to date in the form of an immersive installation inspired by the practices he observed in Singapore, Indonesia, Siberia, Taiwan and Vietnam. In meshing new technologies with ancient rituals, Choy interweaves his encounters with “altered states” with personal accounts of spirituality and his own speculations on the posthuman body.
Choy Ka Fai, born in 1979, lives and works in Berlin and Singapore. He is an artist, performance maker and speculative designer, inspired by the histories and theorizations that together contain the uncertainties of the future. His research springs from a desire to understand the conditioning of the human body, its intangible memories and the forces shaping its expressions. His work stands at the intersection of art, design and technology. Choy Ka Fai graduated in Design Interaction from the Royal College Of Art London, under a National Arts Council Singapore Overseas Scholarship, and was conferred the Singapore Young Artist Award in 2010. Choy Ka Fai has presented his work worldwide, including, 11th Venice Architecture Biennale (2008), Festival Tokyo (2011), Singapore Arts Festival (2012).
ka5.info
[Source: www.tanzimaugust.de]
TFB Nr. 1550
Cast & Credits
Concept, Direction, Cinematography: Choy Ka Fai
Curation: Khim Ong
Dramaturgy: Tang Fukuen
Mediaturgy: You Mi
3D Visual design & Programming: Brandon Tay
VR Experience: Maria Judova, Florian Friedrich
Motion Capture Dancer: Yurika Yamamoto
Video Performance: Lin Su Lien, Fangas Nayaw, Song Wei-Jie
Sound Design: Tseng Yun-Fang, Betty Apple, Phu Pham, Cheryl Ong, Rizman Putra (NADA), Safuan Johari (NADA)
Costume & Fabric Design: Tran Thao Mien
Light Design: Jui Hsuan Tseng
Writers: Ng Hui Hsien, Yak Aik Wee
Research & Translation: Sekar Putri Handayani, Chun Tseng, Holly Chan, Tran Thao Mien, Chu Hao Pei, Mitya Glavanakov
Additional Videography: Kin Chiu
Web Design: Currency Design
Technical Management: Yap Seok Hui (ARTFACTORY)
Project Management: Mara Nedelcu
Adaptation Berlin: Andrea Niederbuchner (Curation), Anja Trudel (Exhibition Design), Johanna Herrschmann (Assistance), Ingo Ruggenthaler (Technical Management)
Supported by: Singapore Art Museum, Taipei Performing Arts Center, tanzhaus nrw Düsseldorf, Nationales Performance Netz (NPN) – Coproduction Fund for Dance by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, Germany. The research process is supported by: the National Arts Council of Singapore, Kunststiftung NRW, the VERTIGO project as part of the STARTS program of the European Commission, based on technological elements from Moving Digits. Special thanks to Anisah Aidid, Ray Tseng.
In cooperation with KINDL – Zentrum für zeitgenössische Kunst.
Tanz im August 2021
Artistic Director: Virve Sutinen
Executive Producer Festival: Stefan Nagel
Curator & Producer: Andrea Niederbuchner
Producer & Assistant to Artistic Director: Alina Scheyrer-Lauer
Producer & Logistics: René Dombrowski
Production: Monica Ferrari, Florian Greß, Johanna Herrschmann, Mmakgosi Kgabi, Ben Mohai, Charlotte Werner
Technical Director Festival: Ingo Ruggenthaler
Tanz im August is a festival by HAU Hebbel am Ufer, funded by the Capital Cultural Fund.
KINDL Zentrum für zeitgenössische Kunst
Am Sudhaus 3
12053 Berlin
Video Documentation
The video documentation is produced on behalf of the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion. The purpose of this contract is to document productions in the field of contemporary dance in Berlin. The master recordings are archived by the University Library of the Berlin University of Arts. Copies of the recordings on DVD are available for viewing exclusively in the reference collections of the following archives (at media desks in these institutions):
University Library of the Berlin University of Arts
Mediathek für Tanz und Theater des Internationalen Theaterinstituts / Mime Centrum Berlin
Inter-University Centre for Dance Berlin (HZT)