News

News

Port B, "Referendum Project" & "Kein Licht II" at the Wiener Festwochen

From May 10th, Port B and director Akira Takayama is taking part in the Wiener Festwochen in Vienna with two works inspired by the Tohoku disaster, "Referendum Project" (first seen at F/T11) and "Kein Licht II" (first seen at F/T12).

Port B and Akira Takayama will be presenting their work as part of the "Unrest of Form - imagining the political subject" program, a series of collaborations between the Wiener Festwochen, Secession, Akademie der Bildenden Künste and MuseumsQuartier. Under the concept of "parcours" the curated group exhibition traverses stage and visual arts, featuring participants such as Tim Etchells, Tino Sehgal and Rabih Mroué.

Port B is presenting four separate projects over one month (May 10th to June 16th), including a sepcial tour of the Zwentendorf nuclear power plant and a lecture on "Referendum Project".

Presented by Wiener Festwochen
Supported by The Japan Foundation


"Referendum Project" Video Installation

This theatre experiment is a response to the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11th, 2011, and the subsequent Fukushima crisis, in the form of a national referendum -- something that has never happened in Japan.

The project is an attempt to archive the post-disaster Japanese mindset. From its premiere at F/T11 it has continued to the present and is planned to tour to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 2013. It currently features over 800 interviews, from which 16 have been selected of Fukushima junior high school students to exhibit in Vienna. Akira Takayama will also give a lecture on the overall project and how it will develop in the future.

Venue: Akademie der Bildenden Künste
May 11 (Sat) to June 16 (Sun), 10:00-18:00
Closed on Mondays
Language: Japanese with English subtitles

Learn more about "Referendum Project" at F/T11:
http://www.festival-tokyo.jp/en/program/11/Referendum

"Referendum Project" Director's Lecture
May 14 (Tue), 20:00
Venue: Freiraum quartier 21 at MuseumsQuartier
Language: German only


"Fukushima -- Epilog?" ("Kein Licht II") Audio Tour

"Kein Licht II", which was an acclaimed and popular highlight of F/T12, is being presented in a special Vienna version. Audiences will visit locations in Vienna with a map, listening to Elfriede Jelinek's text for new experiences and interpretations of Fukushima.

Wednesdays to Saturday, 13:00-18:00, May 15 (Sat) to June 16 (Sat)
Last tour departure at 16:00
Departure Point: Secession
Language: Japanese/German
Learn more:
Wiener Festwochen
Learn more about "Kein Licht II" at F/T12:
http://www.festival-tokyo.jp/en/program/12/kein_licht_2


Prologue - Zwentendorf / Unruhe der Form

Zwentendorf is a nuclear power plant in a suburb of Vienna that was never put into operation following a national referendum in Austria in 1987. The decommissioned plant is now open for sightseeing tours and for nuclear engineering research. Akira Takayama visited Zwentendorf in May 2011, which led him to conceive his "Referendum Project" in Tokyo in late 2011. He will now accompany a plant guide for this special tour of Zwentendorf.

"I first visited the Zwentendorf Nuclear Power Plant in June 2011, a mere three months after the Fukushima Daiichi disaster began. Television had been showing images of its feeble frame seemingly about to collapse at any moment, looking like it was made of wood. But actually going inside a nuclear power plant my impressions were utterly different. The reactor was like a submarine. The numerous clean pipes that spread throughout the structure evoked the pipe organs of churches. Wherever one looked, it was oddly robust, so overpowering it felt almost celestial. The terrifying gravity of a place like this exploding struck me again. When I then learnt that the plant was never used and the reactor had been decommissioned following a national referendum, it led me to consider if in Japan we could have a referendum on nuclear power. This was the catalyst for starting the Referendum Project. This tour will visit the inside of the building, primarily guided by an engineer, who will give explanations on the facilities. I will supplement the tour with guidance." (Akira Takayama)

June 6 (Thu), June 7 (Fri)
Buses depart from Secession at 18:00
Tour finishes at 21:30, returning to Vienna by 22:30
Language: Japanese with German interpretation
Learn more:
http://www.festwochen.at
  • May 14, 2013