COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (UPDATE: Jan. 26, 2023) — The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College is pleased to present I Invited Myself, vol. II, the first museum solo-exhibition by the award-winning inter-disciplinary artist Eiko Otake.
Otake’s experimental, movement-based art practice engages and pushes traditions of dance, exploring themes of mortality, time, and place. The Fine Art Center’s exhibition foregrounds Otake’s recent film and video works, which have developed alongside her dance, choreography, and performance installations. The works feature a body as it moves in and through various places, including the urban infrastructure of Tokyo and New York, irradiated post nuclear disaster Fukushima, and the vast landscapes of Wyoming and California. Viewers are strongly encouraged to return as select media will rotate over the course of the exhibition in recognition of changing seasons.
“Eiko’s creative practice pushes us to rethink the conventions of museum work to support an experience that will grow and change over time, both in our galleries and beyond,” said Michael Christiano, Museum Director at the Fine Arts Center. “The project blurs the boundaries between visual and live arts inviting guests to encounter Eiko’s work in a dynamic and sensorial environment.”
Japanese-born and New York based, Eiko Otake creates performance work as well as media works. After her long career as Eiko & Koma, she began working independently in 2014 and has directed her own projects in collaboration with other artists. Otake has a long-standing relationship with Colorado College, having taught there since 2011.
“Eiko Otake has spent a career breaking down barriers and expectations for what can count as dance and where dance can happen,” said Ryan Platt, chair of the Theatre & Dance Program at Colorado College. “Bucking our society’s obsession with speed, she takes her art of radical slowness to all-too-real places, like Fukushima, the Japanese internment camps, and Wall Street. Eiko invites us to witness our reckless neglect of the body as she explores sites of economic and ecological crisis. Perhaps the power of such witness can raise the alarm as we seek to survive the planetary unraveling that we all know is to come, all too soon.”
“I wish to create works only a performer can make,” said Eiko Otake. “I sincerely invite many different people to experience the exhibition. I want you to come back, observe the changes, and feel intimate with this performer’s body and mind.”
Eiko Otake: I Invited Myself, vol. II is co-curated by the artist, Katja Rivera, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Fine Arts Center, and Ryan Platt, Associate Professor of Performance Studies in the Department of Theater & Dance at Colorado College with support from Savanah Pennell, Curatorial Paraprofessional and Elise Butterfield, Independent Curator.
About Eiko Otake
Born and raised in Japan, Eiko Otake began performing professionally in 1972 with her partner as Eiko & Koma. After studying in Japan and Germany, Eiko & Koma moved to New York in 1976. They had since created 46 interdisciplinary performance works, for which they handcrafted visual design, sound, videos, and texts. They produced two career exhibitions and their durational “living installations” were commissioned by the Whitney Museum, the Walker Art Center and MoMA. After Eiko & Koma’s Retrospective Project was completed, Eiko began performing alone in many public sites. She also created media installations, memorial rituals, two feature-length films, and a photo-essay book. In 2017, she launched a multi-year Duet Project that she directs and performs with a diverse range of artists.
Eiko & Koma were awarded the first United States Artists Fellowship. They were the first collaborative pair to share a MacArthur Fellowship and the first Asian choreographers honored for their lifetime achievement by American Dance Festival Scripps Award and Dance Magazine Award. Eiko received the Doris Duke Artist Award, and the Anonymous Was a Woman Award. She regularly teaches at Wesleyan University, NYU, and Colorado College. She received an honorary degree from Colorado College.
The artist will be available for interviews. Further videos and photos are available upon request.
RELATED EVENTS
Opening Celebration
Friday, Feb. 3, 5–7 p.m.
El Pomar Galleries at the Fine Arts Center
Please join artist Eiko Otake for a live performance in celebration of the opening of her solo exhibition I Invited Myself, vol. II.
Meet artist Eiko Otake
Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 4–5, 11–1 p.m.
El Pomar Galleries at the Fine Arts Center
Eiko Otake will be at the Fine Arts Center to meet and speak with visitors.
Public Talks and Conversations
Thursday and Friday, Feb. 9–10, 2023
Thursday and Friday, April 6–7, 2023
Edith Kinney Gaylord Cornerstone Arts Center at Colorado College
In celebration of Otake’s solo exhibition I Invited Myself, vol. II, the Department of Theater and Dance at Colorado College will host a series of two-day events featuring a film screening (Feb. 9, 6 p.m.), a live performance by Otake (Feb. 10, 5:30 p.m.), and conversations with faculty, scholars, and curators.
For a detailed schedule and list of participants, please visit the Fine Arts Center’s Website.
Public Talks & Conversations
Thursday and Friday, April 6–7
Edith Kinney Gaylord Cornerstone Arts Center at Colorado College
In celebration of Otake’s solo exhibition I Invited Myself, vol. II, the Department of Theater and Dance at Colorado College will host a series of two-day events featuring film screenings, live performance by Otake, and conversations with faculty, scholars, and curators.
Eiko Otake: In the Community
Friday and Saturday, July 7–8
FAC and other locations to be announced
Please check the Fine Arts Center’s website for the most up-to-date schedule of events.
All events are free and open to the public.
VISIT THE FAC MUSEUM
Museum free days are offered the second Saturday and third Friday of each month.
We are open late on the First Friday of each month with free admission 5–8 p.m.
The Ladyfingers at the FAC shop is open during regular museum hours with handmade, locally sourced, and inclusive goods paired with a selection of items designed to expand and enrich your FAC experience.
PLEASE NOTE: Exposure to COVID-19 is possible in public places. For the latest information on any COVID guidelines and requirements, visit the FAC website.
ABOUT THE FINE ARTS CENTER MUSEUM
The FAC Museum’s permanent collection of approx. 17,000 objects showcases the rich history and vibrant contemporary cultures of the Southwest and the Americas, containing works of art from Native America, Hispanic and Spanish Colonial New Mexico, and 20th and 21st-century America.
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College
The story of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College (FAC) began with the founding of the Broadmoor Art Academy in 1919. A museum, performing arts theatre, and community art school, the FAC is a pillar in the cultural community of the Rocky Mountain West providing innovative, educational, and multi-disciplinary arts experiences designed to elevate the individual spirit and inspire community vitality. For more information about the FAC, visit devfac.coloradocollege.edu or follow on Facebook @CSFineArtsCenter.
Land Acknowledgement
Colorado College occupies the traditional territories of the Nuchu, known today as the Southern Ute Tribe, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and the Northern Ute People, who lost their beloved homelands due to colonization, forced relocation, and land theft. Other tribes have also lived here including the Apache, Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Comanche — and notably, continue to do so, along with many other Indigenous Peoples. To actively seek social justice, we acknowledge that the land continues to hold the values and traditions of the original inhabitants and caretakers of this land. We pay honor and respect to their ancestors, elders, and youth — past, present, and future.
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