The Duet Project: Distance is Malleable

Project Description

The Duet Project: Distance is Malleable is a mutable and evolving series of experiments in collaboration. Negotiating differences of race, time, culture, ethnicity, religion and gender, the artists seek to maximize the potentials of their encounters. Eiko deeply acknowledges Sam Miller for his help in conceiving this project.

When two living artists work together it is a celebration of living (and a preparation of dying), foreseeing the time when one of the two inevitably dies and becomes a memory of the other. Eiko also performs with artists who have passed away. Creating a duet with the deceased means absorbing their work and learning their thoughts in imagined conversations guided by memories and artifacts. How do we live and communicate with the dead? The question is pertinent because most of the art works we study or experience were created generations ago. It is also urgent for Eiko that she continue to converse with those who inspired and helped her plan this project.

Prior to the start of The Duet Project, Eiko performed a series of Talking Duets with various collaborators as part of the 2014 and 2015 River To River Festival and the 2016 Danspace Project Platform: A Body in Places.

Photo of Alexis Moh by David Brick
Photo of C.D. Wright by William Johnston
Photo of Chitra Vairavan by William Johnston
Photo of David Brick by William Johnston
Photo of Emmanuelle Huynh by Lucile Adam
Photo of Iris McCloughan by William Johnston
Photo of John Killacky by Jean Cross
Photo of Margaret Leng Tan by William Johnston
Photo of Merián Soto by Maggie Loesch
Photo of My Mother by Aodi Liang
Photo of Tomoe Aihara by William Johnston
Photo of Wen Hui by Richy Wong