2 min
Part(ie) by Daisuke Kosugi
With his performance Part(ie), Daisuke Kosugi plunges us back into the script of Hiroshima Mon Amour. Through a stage featuring two actors and a distinctive lighting effect, the artist evokes the fleeting nature of memory in situations of cultural disconnect.
A multimedia creative
Daisuke Kosugi, born 35 years ago in Tokyo, has a degree in political science. He has chosen to live in Norway, where he is now a citizen, to develop his artistic research and explore his creativity there. Through his performances, cinema, texts and sculptures, Daisuke Kosugi discusses subjects close to his heart such as nationality, gender, freedom and memory. Together with artist and author Ina Hagen, in 2016 he co-founded the Louise Dany initiative in Oslo, an artistic, dynamic, innovative venue.
Exploring languages
The performance Part(ie) is based on the English and French versions of the script for the opening scene of the film Hiroshima Mon Amour by Alain Resnais. Two actors recite them in alternation, echoing each other line by line, while a spotlight flashes across the stage. This bilingual, simultaneous double-reading creates a unique, almost hypnotic rhythm.
Memory and EMDR
Daisuke Kosugi is interested in psychotherapeutic techniques for treating trauma. In Part(ie), through the voices of the actors and the continuous movement of the spotlight, he experiments with “eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing”, better known by the acronym EMDR. In doing so, the artist recalls the way memory is lost in the process of cultural translation. A deterioration which is symbolically reflected in the staging, but also in the subject of performance itself: the disappearance of memory.
International co-productions
Part(ie) was created for the Move 2019 event at the Centre Pompidou (Paris, France) on 31st May 2019, with the support of the Norwegian Office for Contemporary Art (OCA). In October 2019, Daisuke Kosugi will present his new video creation at the Jeu de Paume (Paris, France) as part of Satellite 12, a programme designed by Laura Herman in co-production with the CAPC Museum of Contemporary Art in Bordeaux and the Museo Amparo in Puebla, Mexico.
The work Part(ie) was presented in May 2019 at the Pompidou Centre, as part of the Move festival. In 2018, Daisuke Kosugi was in residence at the Cité Internationale des Arts.
Find out more about the residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts.