Workshop--Recycling: Washi Tales

A workshop with the master artists from Recycling: Washi Tales, including theater artist Karen Kandel, paper artist Kyoko Ibe and Noh Drummer Shonosuke Okura.

Recycling: Washi Tales uses live performance to enliven human stories contained in sheet of “washi” (Japanese handmade paper) as it is recycled through time. Four tales of paper making from different periods of Japanese history unfold on stage with an extraordinary ensemble of performers and musicians, in a world created by distinguished paper artist, Kyoko Ibe. The Papermaker serves as narrator and guide as she creates something new from what she learns of the old. Washi Tales explores aesthetic and spiritual values of recycling, beyond practical environmental concerns, into the realms of history and the imagination.

With Kyoko Ibe (Designer); Elise Thoron (Writer/Director); Karen Kandel (Storyteller/Writer); Shonosuke Okura (Noh Otsuzumi Drummer); Shisui Arai (Biwa Player); Makiko Sakurai (Actor/Fujiawa Tamiko); and Sonoko Soeda (Actor/Oshin)

Presented with support from The Japan Foundation and Asian Cultural Council

Held in conjunction with the exhibition Kamakura: Realism and Spirituality in the Sculpture of Japan, on view at Asia Society Museum from February 9 to May 8, 2016