Emi Kodama’s work explores the every day through stories that take shape in a multidisciplinary practice. Situated at the intersection of visual art and film, her work includes performance, installation, video, sound, photography, and drawing. Writing with a minimalism that emphasizes brevity and intensity, she attempts to be precise about the commonplace in a way that sheds new light on familiar objects and situations and blends her imagination with yours. Causing this imaginary overlap, her works aim to give others the opportunity to spend time in their inner world — for them to be curious, ask questions, and realize the power of their own imagination.
Originally from Vancouver (CA), Emi has been based in Belgium since 2008, where she graduated from the Higher Institute of Fine Art (HISK), a post-graduate program in Ghent. She has an MFA from the Frank Mohr Institute in Groningen (NL) and a BFA from ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in Enschede (NL).
Emi’s performance work has been presented at a.o. Kaaitheater (BE), KAAP (BE), Vooruit (BE), the Rotterdam Film Festival (NL) and New York Live Arts (USA)... She has attended various residencies, which include Be-Part Platform for Contemporary Art (BE), Center for Art and Architecture Kanazawa (JP), and The Rooms (CA). She has worked in collaboration with artists such as Elias Heuninck for La Monnaie and Hans Demeulenaere for the Beursschouwburg. Her collection of short stories and drawings “If I Were You” was published by MER. Paper Kunsthalle in 2012.
In this interactive piece, the participants listen to a story guiding them in making a drawing while blindfolded. Cinematic storytelling takes them to a distant forest and includes suggestions of what to draw and questions about what they see. People are asked to imagine their mind’s eye at the tip of their pencil and draw what they see in the landscape of their imagination. They can think of the pencil point touching the contours of different surfaces in their inner world. Drawing connects their body to their mental space and helps them concentrate on what they visualize. The resulting drawing isn’t important at all, simply the residue of the internal journey they took. This piece exists both as a standalone interactive installation and as a performance with Emi as storyteller and guide on your journey.
In this installation by Emi Kodama and Elias Heuninck, two microscopes allows a visitor to look at a sand dollar (a flattened, burrowing species belonging to the order of the sea urchins) and a volcanic rock. They are held in custom built manipulators, which move the object in such a way that the viewer feels like they are flying over their magnified surfaces. Through headphones, a story is read that navigates effortlessly between a vast imagined landscape and a miniature world, constantly confusing your perception, shifting from moving image to moving object and back.
get in touch with us on info@clapclaplab.com if you would be interested in presenting or collaborating with Emi Kodama
