Performances by the Naohiko Umewaka Noh Theater
within the framework of the exhibition
The Architecture of Time by Hiroshi Sugimoto

The Kunsthaus Bregenz is delighted to be able to present an unique artistic symbiosis of the photographic works of Hiroshi Sugimoto with the extraordinary architecture of Peter Zumthor and traditional Japanese theater.

From the 27th to the 30th of September 2001, the Kunsthaus Bregenz will present four performances by the famous Noh theater group around Naohiko Umewaka. These will be the only European performances and take place within the framework of the exhibition The Architecture of Time by Hiroshi Sugimoto.
Hiroshi Sugimoto (born 1948 in Tokyo, lives in New York) integrates a Noh theater stage set he designed himself in the presentation of his photographs. In the exhibition space, his new, monumental Pinetrees and a photograph from the series of Seascapes replace the classical, painted stage set and become an integral part of the Noh theater performances. The complexities of time, a central concern of Hiroshi Sugimoto´s photographic work, is also fundamentally significant for the Noh theater. Sugimoto consciously chose the performance of the piece Yashima since it is characterized by the overlapping of different times, the merging of past and present, of ficticious and real time.

Naohiko Umewaka - Performances of the Noh Play Yashima (27-30 Sept. 2001)

Japanese Noh theater is a stylized stage art which developed out of cult dances and folk art musicals and looks back on to a 700 year old history. Most of the ca. 200 Noh plays are by Zeami (1363-1443) who, like many masters of the Noh theater, was writer, actor, musician and director in one and also formulated fundamental writings on Noh theater. Noh plays consist of the rhythmic recitation of a text, of classical Japanese music and of symbolic movements of the actors. The acting, by male performers only, is extremely concentrated - gesture is reduced to but a few standardized gestures and dance movements, and the main actors wear characteristic masks.
The types of magnificent costumes used today were fixed in the 18th century and not changed since.
Yashima, the piece to be performed at the Kunsthaus Bregenz, is by Master Zeami and is about wars between the Taira and Minamoto clans in the late 12th century. Sugimoto´s photograph Seto Inland Sea from the Seascapes series functions as the stage set for the Noh theater and was taken in Yashima, the historical site where the battles between the two clans were fought.

Naohiko Umewaka, director of the Noh theater ensemble invited by Hiroshoi Sugimoto, is the son of the legendary Noh actor Naoyoshi Umewaka. Naohiko was instructed by his father and began to act at the age of three. Naohiko Umewaka has composed, choreogrpahed and performed various Noh pieces including the play The Baptism of Christ which was performed for Pope John Paul II at the Vatican. In addition to his numerous roles in international performances by the Umewaka theater group, Naohiko Umewaka played the Emperor Hirohito in the film Hiroshima (1995) under the direction of Roger Spottiswoode.

Peter Zumthor - The Kunsthaus Bregenz

To design a place for works of art and a place for people who wish to encounter these works of art in a quiet atmosphere- this was the task to which Peter Zumthor committed himself with his design for the Kunsthaus Bregenz which opened in 1997. As one of Europe's most innovative exhibition houses, the Kunsthaus received the Carlsberg Prize in 1998 and the Mies van der Rohe Award for European Architecture in 1999. Like the photographic work of Hiroshi Sugimoto, the architecture of the Kunsthaus Bregenz is characterized by reduction, peace and timelessness. The interior spaces are surrounded by exposed concrete walls as smooth as silk and are illuminated with natural light. No unnecessary details distract the eye. The unaffected structure of the building allows for the contemplation and concentration on the significant which Zumthor aspired to and which have a fundamental meaning for Japanese art as well.