as part of Nippon Performance Nights

01.10. – 22.11.2025

Our program series Nippon Performance Nights offers diverse insights into current works by Japanese artists. Since 2013, Akiko Okamoto has been inviting productions from Japan and from Japanese artists living in Germany and Europe. These encounter the special German Japanese context that characterises Düsseldorf and are meant for both German-speaking and Japanese-speaking audiences.

more
Naoko Tanaka

Stadt(T)Räume-Bilder-Schaukasten

(Urban Spaces/ Dreams – Images – Showcase)

Installation Social/Urban Movements Theatre & Performance
Zwei Frauen betrachten bei Nacht eine Gebäude-Projektion auf Leinwand, befestigt an einem roten Fahrrad auf der Straße.

A bicycle. An animated film. A moment on the street that is unexpectedly touching. At dusk, a mobile film installation shows up at various locations within the city. All the required technical elements are mounted onto a bicycle – inspired by the traditional Japanese narrative art of “Kamishibai” that transformed street corners into stages with paper theatre performances. Instead of rigid paper images, a hand-drawn animation film appears on screen – a moving drawing, expressly created for Düsseldorf by Naoko Tanaka. For a moment, this silent guerilla installation transforms public space into a fleeting theatre – a stage of the imagination.

Arbitrary, unforeseen encounters happen – with strangers, with the city, with oneself. These experiences will be documented and subsequently transferred into indoor spaces. An exhibition event as a gathering and communal reflection space is planned.

cast

Concept, Installation, Film: Naoko Tanaka

Naoko Tanaka studied Fine Art at the University of the Arts Tokyo (MFA) and at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Her interdisciplinary works encompass, among other things, drawing, installation, performance, and film. With the “Shadow Trilogy” (2011 – 2015), Tanaka developed an idiosyncratic format of performative play within installations – moved light, shadows, and objects become choreographic and architectural compositions that can transfer the audience into an extraordinary mode of perception.

She received accolades at festival ImPulsTanz, at Zürcher Theaterspektakel as well as elsewhere. Her performances and site-specific installations were also presented at the Echigo-Tsumari Triennal and at KYOTO EXPERIMENT festival. She lives and works in Berlin.

credits

With friendly support lent by: Kunsthaus Mitte in Oberhausen.