TIE

Traditions, Inventions and Exchange is an audio video installation in three sections; Indonesia, Japan and USA. Each section has three videos and audios. Indonesia and Japan sections are directed by Molly Davies. I worked as an assistant director as well as the editor for those sections. USA section is currently produced by Davies and directed by Nakagawa.

Traditions, Inventions and Exchange considers the effects of cultural exchange over time, among the 6 dancers and 6 promoters from Indonesia, Japan and the US, who first encountered each other through the Triangle Arts Program exchanges during 1994 and 1997.

The installation revisits, in 2002 and 2003, the locales and the performers and considers the changing landscapes, both artistic and cultural, of the participants. Images from East Kalimantan to Maine, from Tokyo to New York City, are juxtaposed. The installation interprets some of the effects of this cultural exchange on contemporary dance in Japan and Indonesia.

The Triangle Arts Program (conceived jointly by the Asian Cultural Council, the New England Foundation for the Arts, and the Saison Foundation) brought together a dancer and a presenter from each of the three exchange countries and gave this group of six people a chance to work together for one month in the US, one month in Indonesia and one month in Japan. The project first took place in 1994 and was repeated in 1997 with a different group of six. The goal of this cross-cultural program was openness and exchange, process rather than product. One result has been an ever widening circle of artistic connection among the three countries.