Chisato Minamimura

Chisato in an illuminated blue dress with a projection of green hands across her performance shows the explosion of the A-Bomb in Hiroshima from a Deaf perspective. Scored in Silence, Edinburgh, 2019 Photo Credit: Mark Pickthall

“Through her use of BSL (and British Pathé-like voiceover provided by Peter Abraham), Minamimura echoes this mode of presentation with an accomplished sign mime performance (supported by Tetzuya Izaki), aided by a suite of simple white-line animations of life in 1940s Hiroshima by Dave Packer, slithers of video from two hibakusha (Katsumi Takebu and Tomoe Kurogawa) who recount the impact and effects of the A-bomb in Hiroshima, and the pioneering inclusion of Woojer straps for the audience — immersive haptic belts (mainly used for gaming) worn around the waist with a big bass vibrating speaker that emphasise certain parts of Danny Bright’s score.”

Ian Abbott, Writing about Dance

Digital Inclusion Production & Dramaturgy

Minamimura’s work explores the Deaf perspective through the employment of radical progressive digital artistry working in sound and light and the latest vibration technologies. Between 2014-2019, I worked alongside vibrafusionlab.com, Canada and Hologauze®, Bristol, UK and digital artists Jon Armstrong, Danny Bright, Harvey Cash and Dave Packer to develop the personal stories of Deaf Hibakusha; surviviors of the 1945 A-Bomb in her unforgettable solo performance, Scored in Silence.  The work has since toured live and digitally in Canada, Tunisia, China, Chile, Australia and South Korea.