Chisato Minamimura
Scored In Silence, Chisato Minamimura, 2019
© Photo by: Mark Pickthall
A photograph from Scored In Silence, Chisato Minamimura, 2019, depicting a woman wearing a white gown, bending over. She is on a dark stage with a large projection of hand on hand in the background.
Scored In Silence, Chisato Minamimura, 2019
© Photo by: Mark Pickthall
A photograph from Scored In Silence, Chisato Minamimura, 2019, depicting a woman wearing a white gown, standing on a dark stage looking upwards and with raised arms.
Scored In Silence, Chisato Minamimura, 2019
© Photo by: Mark Pickthall
A photograph from Scored In Silence, Chisato Minamimura, 2019, depicting a bent woman in a white dress. On the green background black silhouettes of people
Mark of A Woman, Chisato Minamimura
© Photo by: Mark Pickthall
A photograph from Mark of A Woman, Chisato Minamimura, depicting a woman in a white dress stands on a dark stage. In the background the drawing of a tiger
Mark of A Woman, Chisato Minamimura
© Photo by: Mark Pickthall
A photograph from Mark of A Woman, Chisato Minamimura, depicting a woman in a white dress stands on a dark stage. In the background the drawing of hands
Mark of A Woman, Chisato Minamimura
© Photo by: Mark Pickthall
A photograph from Mark of A Woman, Chisato Minamimura, depicting a woman in a white dress. On the green background silhouettes of people
The Lost Golden Lotus, Chisato Minamimura
The Lost Golden Lotus, Chisato Minamimura
Chisato Minamimura is a Deaf performance artist, choreographer and BSL art guide. Born in Japan and now based in London, Chisato has created, performed and taught internationally and was a Work Place artist at The Place. Chisato has been involved in aerial performances with Graeae Theatre Company, London’s Paralympic Opening Ceremony 2012 and Rio’s 2016 Paralympic Cultural Olympiad. Chisato trained at Trinity Laban in London and holds a BA in Japanese Painting and MA from Yokohama National University.
Chisato approaches choreography and performance making from her unique perspective as a Deaf artist, experimenting with and exploring the visualisation of sound and music. By using dance and digital technology, Chisato aims to share her experiences of sensory perception and human encounters.
Chisato’s work is highly regarded and supported by a number of organisations including Arts Council England, British Council, Unlimited, Wellcome Trust and Disability Arts Online. Chisato is fortunate to have received major commissions and funding to support the development and international touring of her work. Chisato’s work has attracted attention from national and international press through reviews, features, and interviews with TV, radio, print and online publications.
Her next project explores sound from a Deaf perspective through multiple senses. If you are interested in any of Chisato Minamimura’s work, please get in touch with Chisato or Emi Del Bene, Project Manager.
Contact details
Emi Del Bene
Project Manager
Artistic Directors
Chisato Minamimura
Online
Email: Chisato Minamimura: angel-c@h-and-c.jp / Emi Del Bene: emidelbenearts@gmail.com
Website: https://chisatominamimura.com/
The Lost Golden Lotus
Duration: 14 mins
Description: The Lost Golden Lotus is a powerful new immersive film installation created through a unique international collaboration between Chisato Minamimura (UK/Japan) and Alice Hu Xiaoshu (China). Bringing together their artistic perspectives and research, they explore and reimagine the legacy of China’s historical practice of foot binding.
Extra information: Audiences are invited into a world shaped by beauty and pain, revealing the hidden histories of the three-inch golden lotus, once a symbol of femininity and status, now a site of reflection and resistance.
Designed to engage both body and mind, the installation creates a multi-sensory environment combining projected imagery, immersive sound, vibrotactile technology, fragrance, and jasmine tea to create a deeply personal encounter with history and cultural memory. Visual Vernacular (VV), a Deaf-led performance language of movement, gesture, and sign, forms the heart of the piece, creating a shared experience for both Deaf and hearing audiences.
The film runs for 14 minutes and can be shown once or looped. It is available in both BSL (British Sign Language) with English or CSL (Chinese Sign Language) with Chinese (Mandarin) audio description and captions. Local language versions can be produced in agreement with the presenting venue.
The work is designed for studio or gallery spaces that can be fully darkened for immersive projection and sound playback, with vibrotactile seating (e.g. benches with bass shakers installed). An 8m x 8m space is ideal, though the installation is adaptable to other sizes.
Accessibility is embedded throughout the work, and the installation can be adapted to different venues, audiences, and presentation formats while maintaining its artistic integrity.
In addition to the installation, artist talks, audience discussions, workshops, and public engagement activities can be developed in collaboration with presenting partners.
People on road: 3 - 5
Freight: none
Mark of A Woman
Duration: 60 mins
Description: Mark of a Woman is a live performance project by Chisato Minamimura, celebrating and exploring personal histories & authentic accounts of the undertold relationships between women and tattooing cultures. The show is an exciting, accessible new exploration into women’s social, cultural and historical relationships to body marking.
Extra information: The show contains BSL and Visual Vernacular, suitable for Deaf audiences. There are captions during the showing of the films, but not for any other part of the work. We are happy offer the script in advance if a person needs.
The show is designed to be seen with vibration, and there up to 50 Woojer straps available for audiences.
The show can be audio described and tours with audio description equipment.
The show can be translated and performed into the local sign language. In order to do this, Chisato will need to meet with local Deaf people who have excellent Sign Language skills before the get-in begins. This will take 2 days. We can also use this time to work together on the voice-over.
Access Film
A film can be shown front of house/online around the performance which details the access offer in the performance.
People on road: 6
Freight: baggage
Scored in Silence
Duration: 60 mins
Description: “Scored in Silence” is Chisato Minamimura’s solo digital performance that unpacks the hidden perspectives of Deaf people from the handful that survived the horrors of the atomic bomb atrocity in Japan in 1945. Survivors of the A-bomb are known as ‘hibakusha’.
Extra information: Scored in Silence is an end on theatre production, which works best in mid-scale black box venues.
A film version with various access offers is also available, which can be streamed online or screened in person.
Live Performance Packages: we offer three live performance options. Option 1 is a theatre set-up for up to 50 audience members, ideally in a black-box studio space, with each member wearing a Woojer© strap. Option 2 is a theatre set-up for up to 120 audience members - with this option, only some members of the audience will be able to wear the Woojer© straps. Option 3 is a gallery setting, suitable for gallery spaces with good technical infrastructure and sound systems and the ability to suspend a project, basic lighting rig, and the Holo-Gauze projection surface.
Access and Language Translation: The performance is in English with English captions, voiceover and British Sign Language. We are however very happy to collaborate and find ways of translating the production into your local language. The caption and voice-over scripts can be provided in advance and used by you to create a translation into your local language. This can be edited into the film by our filmmaker, when provided in advance.
The show can be translated and performed into the local sign language. In order to do this, Chisato will need to meet with local Deaf people who have excellent Sign Language skills before the get-in begins. This will take 2 days. We can also use this time to work together on the voice-over.
Film Packages: we offer two film options. Option 1 is screening the full performance film, with or without Woojer© vibration straps, with or without English audio description and captions. Option 2 is screening a 10-minute extract, suitable for events, conferences and gallery installations, with or without 2 x Woojer© vibration straps and 2 x headphones.
People on road: 5 people for live performance . 4 people for performance film
Freight: baggage
Deaf for 4'33"
Duration: Durational (6-8 hours, but can be flexible)
Description: Deaf for 4’33’’ takes inspiration from John Cage's score 4'33". It is Chisato Minamimura's performative response from her Deaf perspective, where over the course of the day she slowly dismantles and destroys an (old) piano.
Extra information: Deaf for 4'33" is an installation work where Chisato performs live for 4 minutes and 33 seconds, every hour on the hour.
It can be responsive to environments, works best when there are a lot of passers-by. Can be outdoors or indoors.
Simple tech set up, requires a locally sourced old piano and a TV screen.
People on road: 2
Freight: none
Chisato is interested in wraparound activities including:
- Post-show conversations about the ideas, themes and form of her work and practice more broadly.
- Artist conversation panels around Deaf-led creative practice and access. Recent examples of this include: Deaf-led, accessibility-focused workshops at Digital Crip Camp in Liverpool, UK; "Presence, Perception and Choice" workshop hosted by Independent Dance in London, UK.
- Workshops/masterclasses for professionals, non-professionals, and student/youth dance companies.
- Choreographing for professionals, non-professionals, and student/youth dance companies for theatre spaces, gallery spaces and site specific contexts.
On Mark of a Woman:
“subtle, expressive and beautifully made” A Young(ish) Perspective
“a masterclass in physical awareness” Gramilano
“a quietly moving, resonant piece” Disability Arts Online
On Scored in Silence:
“a new way of remembering” The Japan Society
“poignant and moving in the extreme… an astonishing work” Michelle Potter
“utterly absorbing” ArtsHub Australia
Latest Video
The Lost Golden Lotus trailer
Mark of a Woman trailer
Scored in Silence Trailer
