Dumb Type

Dumb Type is a group composed of artists from various backgrounds including visual arts, video, computer programming, music, and dance. Since being founded in 1984, it has continued to explore the possibilities of collective collaboration through an array of distinctive projects. Without a designated director, the group’s creative practice is based on flat, fluid, non-hierarchic collaborations in which participating members change according to each project. The group’s multimedia art that transcends all forms of expression and is not limited to established genres of art, drama, and dance has been widely introduced both in Japan and overseas. Their works have been performed and exhibited in numerous international venues including the Melbourne International Arts Festival, The Barbican Centre (London), New National Theatre (Tokyo), International Modern Dance Festival (Seoul), Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon, The Athens Concert Hall, Singapore Arts Festival, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam. Recent activities include the presentation of their video installation Memorandum or Voyage at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo in 2014. The work was later exhibited at Romaeuropa (Italy) and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Korea), and thereafter was included in the collection of the Centre Pompidou (Paris, France) in 2017. Their large-scale solo exhibition “Dumb Type | Actions + Reflections” was presented at the Centre Pompidou-Metz (France) from January 20 to May 14, 2018, followed by the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo from November 16, 2019 to February 16, 2020. Dumb Type’s new work 2020 will be performed at ROHM Theatre Kyoto on March 28 and 29, 2020. — Artist’s Statement: Dumb Type is a system. Since our founding we have welcomed the participation of various members, engaging in collaborations through a flat and non-hierarchical relationship without a typical director figure, expanding the scope of our activities. Dumb Type continues to further expand. Dumb Type turns an observant eye to: Nature Technology Society Human beings The era of post-truth “The place beyond truth” “The holes of time” post-truth To question “Truth” itself In a world of fragmented chaos in which the systems we believed in are on verge of collapse, what had once appeared to be fact now seems uncertain, and people assume what they want to believe in as being the “truth.” “Truth” is no longer “Truth” as it used to be. The “Future” is no longer the “Future” as it used to be. “Hope” is no longer “Hope” as it used to be. “Happiness” is no longer “Happiness” as it used to be. We must continue to question how to perceive spaces of discourse on the internet = post-truth, and ask ourselves “How should we understand the present, live our lives, and die?” while revisiting “norms” through a pure and unfaltering gaze in the context of an information environment where words are like fog and have lost their weight. — Dumb Type Members: Takatani Shiro, Sakamoto Ryuichi, Furudate Ken, Hama Satoshi, Shiraki Ryo, Hara Marihiko, Takatani Yoko, and others Commissioner: The Japan Foundation

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