Haptic

Choreography & Dance: Hiroaki Umeda
Sound & Lighting Design: S20

Production: S20
Coproduction: Théâtre de Nîmes, Festival d’Automne à Paris
special thanks to Hervé Villechenoux

Year: 2008

Millions of photoreceptor cells existing in the human eye receive all photic stimulations existing in the external world. These stimulants are then transformed into hosts of different color signals through the output ratio of only three receptors: red, green and blue. Analogous to sounds, smells and temperatures, Umeda considers that the color is only ‘one of many stimulants received by the human body.’ In other words, Umeda regards colors as not fixed entities existing prior to physical perception, but rather as stimulants that first come into being through the function of the retina where three primary colors of light are compounded to attain precise cognizance of the color. In Haptic, the artist who has solely focused on monochromatic expression ventures into the realm of color and challenges the limit of the ‘haptic stimuli received by the eyes.’ On stage, violent yet elegant spectrums of colors are displayed and in accordance with this tonal transformation, the texture of Umeda’s physical movements—sometimes wildly and sometimes robotic—seamlessly and ceaselessly transform. Flooded with violent palette of colors, the retina of audience members are intensely ignited. From almost-invisible darkness to crash of excessively vibrant colors, the criticality of the human body as a receptor of light is challenged.

http://hiroakiumeda.com/project.html#haptic (29.08.2019)