MUNCH and Øya presents
Kiyoshi Yamamoto:
So, what about next year? (PARABENS)
This year's festival artist marks the 25th anniversary of the Øya Festival with their new commission.
The performance can be experienced several times a day during this year's Øya Festival, all over the festival area.
Kiyoshi Yamamoto's new performance revolves around themes of parades, community and celebration. It is based on the line-up over the past 25 years at the Øya Festival in Oslo, which has lasted from 1999 to the present day.
Of the title, So, what about next year? (PARABENS), Yamamoto comments:
‘Anniversaries are all about continuity. When an art or music festival is over, the festival has to start thinking about how to make it happen again next time. Now, the Øya Festival has kept things going for 25 years, which comes back to my point that an anniversary is about continuity. Parabens means ‘congratulations’ or ‘good job’ in Portuguese.’
Using textiles recycled from the performance MAS QUE NADA (Let's Run Away), which will be performed at MUNCH on the 22nd of June, the artist will create a parade in which 25 unique costumes and 25 flags represent the history of each year of Øya, its music programme and design profile.
A parade can be held for a number of reasons, but it’s usually part of a celebration, as is also the case at this year's Øya Festival. The flags are carried by 25 flagbearers, who will move around the festival area in small groups and all together. In this way they refer to Øya's multifaceted programme, which has established itself as an integral part of summer in Oslo.
Kiyoshi Yamamoto is a Japanese-Brazilian artist who mainly works with textiles, graphics and performance. Their is best known for their large-scale room installations using textiles, as well as their costumes and masks. The materials are often recycled, or large, colourful silk and cotton fabrics. Yamamoto has used flags as a tool for expressing identity in several of their projects, such as at the Ålesund Art Museum in 2021.
Artist: Kiyoshi Yamamoto
Choreographer: Kyue Bae
Curators for MUNCH: Marte Danielsen Jølbo and Trine Otte Bak Nielsen
Project leader at MUNCH: Mirjam Snåre Jarbo
Project leader at Øya: Kyrre Heldal Karlsen
Kiyoshi Yamamoto (b. 1982) lives and works in Bergen, and was educated at KHiB/Bergen Art Academy, Escola de Belas Artes in Rio de Janeiro, and Central Saint Martins in London. Yamamoto works with textiles, sculpture and performance, and explores issues relating to identity, belonging, existence and politics. Solo exhibitions include Kunstnerforbundet, TSSK - Trøndelag centre for contemporary art, Trafo Kunsthall, Rohsska Museet, KUBE Museum in Ålesund and Hå Gamle Prestegård.
Their work is in the collections of Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum, Kode Kunstmuseum, the Norwegian embassy in Brasilia, the City of Oslo and the City of Bergen. Yamamoto is a lecturer in Colour at the Faculty of Art, Music and Design – KMD at the University of Bergen, and a guest teacher at the Art Academy in Oslo/KhiO, the Academy of Arts in Tromsø and Sámi allaskuvla/ The Sámi University of Applied Science in Kautokeino.
