The 2024 OzAsia Festival commenced in style with Chisato Minamimura’s Scored in Silence. Minamimura is deaf, and much of her artistic practice revolves around visualising sound and music.
Scored in Silence is a fascinating work that describes a seminal event in Japanese – indeed world – history, the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. A well-worn subject matter to be sure, but this is a performance with a difference.
Audience members were invited to wear a Woojer Strap, an extraordinary gizmo emerging from Canada-based Vibrafusion Lab, the brainchild of hard-of-hearing media artist David Bobier. This uses vibration both as a language of creation and a means of sensory interpretation. Hard to understand? Well, you had to wait until the bomb dropped. You’d be quite literally shaken to the core.
Minamimura’s performance was utterly absorbing. With poise and elegance she took us through the history that led to the fateful decision to drop the bombs. Then we were there on the very day. People were going about their business. Then, in 10 seconds, the world changed forever. Again, no news here. But for the deaf – especially in the aftermath – they knew nothing at all.
Interwoven with the performance were snippets of the stories of several deaf survivors. These were stark reminders of the impact of the catastrophe on those already relegated to the fringes of society and located and humanised the experience.
Read: Exhibition review: Magritte, Art Gallery of NSW
Animations from Dave Packer were an integral part of the show and Minamimura’s confident and practised interaction with these added much to the overall impact. Scored in Silence was unique. It was part movement, part mime, part film and part documentary. And it was perfect festival fodder.
Scored in Silence
Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre
Artistic Director/Performer: Chisato Minamimura
Producer: Michael Kitchin
Lighting Designer and Production Manager: Jon Armstrong
Animator: Dave Packer
Sonic Artist: Danny Bright
Audio Describer/Writer/Mentor: William Elliot
Vibrotactile Specialists: David Bobier/Jim Ruxton (VibrafusionLab)
Sign Mime Specialist: Tetsuya Izaki
Sign Language Mentor: Steven Webb
Scored in Silence was performed 24-26 October 2024 as part of OzAsia Festival.
