East Asian studies

'A very ornate, unique experience': U of T alumnus Kokichi Kusano debuts theatrical and musical performance

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 01 May 2023 18:23:17 +0000

'A very ornate, unique experience': U of T alumnus Kokichi Kusano debuts theatrical and musical performance

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 05/01/2023 - 14:23

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NAE, a theatrical and musical work created by U of T alumnus Kokichi Kusano, tells a story of life in Japan during a 13th-century famine (photo by Gak Tanaka)

David Goldberg

Topic

Our Community

East Asian studies

Alumni

Faculty of Art & Science

Theatre

�ؿ�ζSM alumnus Kokichi Kusano is preparing to debut his theatrical and musical work NAE, which translates to “The Rice Seedling,” at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre – a performance years in the making and inspired by his studies in the Faculty of Arts & Science.

NAE runs from May 5–7 and uses elements of traditional Japanese theatre, music and art to tell a story of life on the island nation during a 13th-century famine.

Kokichi Kusano (supplied image)

“It's going to be quite a costume spectacle and a very ornate, unique experience,” says Kusano, who earned his honours bachelor of arts degree from U of T as a member of Woodsworth College in 2005.

“I'm very excited to share that with Toronto.”

The story centres on a lonesome monk offering comfort to the dead as they float down a metaphorical river to the afterlife. The monk will soon discover the mysterious forces that hold the fate of humankind in the balance.

The monk’s character was inspired by a book Kusano read while studying in the department of East Asian studies: Hōjōki: A Hermit's Hut as Metaphor, by Kamo no Chōmei – one man’s chronicle of natural disasters and war in medieval Japan.

Many people and events in NAE are rooted in Kusano's studies and instructors at U of T.

“He was a great student,” says Ikuko Komuro-Lee, a linguistics expert and associate professor, teaching stream, in the department of East Asian studies. “He was very motivated, diligent and it was obvious he cared a lot about his Japanese heritage.”

Kusano earned a scholarship through the Dr. David Chu Program in Asia-Pacific Studies to study abroad at Kyushu University in Japan – on the same southern island his grandparents came from.

“I met a lot of musicians and artisans who were influential to my musical style and writing techniques,” he says. “U of T opened so many doors inside and outside the classroom.”

Kusano was born and raised in Toronto, but his grandparents came to Canada from Japan more than a century ago. However, those decades of distance couldn’t erode the connection to his ancestry – a nexus that grew even stronger when he started at U of T in the late 1990s.

Kusano felt welcome right away, surrounded by students with similar life experiences who celebrated Asian cultures, languages and traditions in stark contrast to his childhood experiences.

"In the 1980s, being Japanese in Toronto was something that incited disgust in other people,” says Kusano. “The idea of eating sushi was cringe-worthy back then, but by the time I was in university, there were sushi restaurants all along Bloor Street.”

Canada recognized May as Asian Heritage Month more than two decades ago after U of T alumna Vivienne Poy, who would later become a chancellor at the university, put forward a motion while serving in the Senate.

At U of T, Kusano noted a cultural shift. After a painful struggle, the Japanese community had found acceptance in Canada's largest city.

In first year, Kusano joined Toronto’s Nagata Shachu taiko drumming ensemble as a flutist. The group played many shows at Hart House and performed at Faculty of Music events, which prepared him for his post-university career as a professional composer.

Kokichi ramped up writing music and dialogue for NAE at the start of the pandemic, a time when he – and so many others – struggled with isolation and existential fears.

He was also dealing with his father’s terminal cancer battle. In the spring of 2020, Kusano’s family made the difficult decision to move his ailing father out of a locked down hospital, allowing him to spend his final days with loved ones.

“At the time, I had no control over outcomes or cancer treatments or symptoms, and some very key characters in the show are depictions of my father’s desperation as well as my own ups and downs,” says Kusano, explaining that NAE is about the struggle with uncontrollable forces.

"Several hundred years ago, people were at the mercy of nature because it was still very unknown and unconquered. Plays and stories from that time have a supernatural element; this belief that there are demons and ghosts around every corner and in every shadow.”

NAE marks the culmination of hard work, personal pain and virtual rehearsals with a cast across Canada that will be reunited just one week before showtime.

"We exercised great care as we took this from the original Japanese script and put it in English – all while we respected the shape of the traditions,” Kusano says. “We know our family, friends and the core Japanese community will come to support us, but we’re very excited to share this experience with a broader audience.”

Between Us: U of T alumna Cailleah Scott-Grimes focuses her lens on relationships, difficult conversations

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 13 Jul 2021 14:48:10 +0000

Between Us: U of T alumna Cailleah Scott-Grimes focuses her lens on relationships, difficult conversations

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 07/13/2021 - 10:48

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With a degree in East Asian studies from U of T, Cailleah Scott-Grimes filmed her short Between Us over four days in rural Japan using actors from the LGBTQ2S+ and seniors communities (photo courtesy of Cailleah Scott-Grimes)

Topic

Faculty of Arts & Science

Most people snap a picture or take in the panoramic views when in the mountains. Cailleah Scott-Grimes, however, decided to shoot a short film.

The �ؿ�ζSM alumna recently screened her film, Between Us, at Toronto’s recent Inside Out film festival. The short, which won this year’s Lindalee Tracey Award at the Hot Docs Film Festival, follows Kei, a young transgender man, and his queer Canadian partner as they navigate conflicting desires in rural Japan.

Part of Scott-Grimes’s master’s thesis in York University’s film production program, Between Us was filmed in four days in the hot springs of Japan’s Yamagata mountains in November 2019. It features both the LGBTQ2S+ and seniors communities in Japan’s countryside – each important worlds for Scott-Grimes. She says it took her a long time to forge connections in Japan, but that she eventually found them within LGBTQ2S+ communities, and the trans communities specifically.

“Yamagata was where I was living and I decided to film there so I could engage with my friends in the behind the scenes of making the film and bring in new actors,” says Scott-Grimes, who was an East Asian studies (EAS) and visual studies student in U of T’s Faculty of Arts & Science. “I wanted to weave a story that would talk about the relationship between immigrants in Japan and locals living in a rural area.

“It was cool to bring together trans folks and seniors who would never normally have a chance to meet or work on a project together.”

The filming and casting processes were arduous, but Scott-Grimes says she felt strongly about the project and its story. There were extensive interviews for casting since there was a priority to cast trans and non-binary people in the lead roles. Due to a lack of representation at traditional agencies, she used word-of-mouth to find the actors she needed to tell the film’s narrative in an authentic way.

“It was one of the hardest projects I’ve ever done – for that same reason, it’s also what made it exciting. All of it was about building trust because it was the first time for them [the actors] and also a challenge for me to work in Japanese. I think it set the stage for everyone being more vulnerable and open to trying something new together.”

Between Us (Official Trailer, 2021) from Cailleah Scott-Grimes on Vimeo.

Scott-Grimes has been travelling to Japan for many years on various projects since her graduation from U of T in 2011. A linguaphile and art lover, she says East Asian cultures and languages were not on her radar when she began her studies at U of T.

“I’ve been an artist of various kinds for my entire life,” she says. “When I first came to U of T, I thought I would focus on the visual arts side, but because I love all these other art forms, I eventually realized that film combines all of these mediums. Specifically, I was interested in Japanese films but didn’t know much about them until taking EAS courses. They opened my eyes to Japanese visual art, contemporary painting and film, which were huge influences.”

Scott-Grimes cites EAS Professor Eric Cazdyn and Associate Professor Jotaro Arimori as inspirations.

“There was a Japanese cinema course taught by Professor Cazdyn, which was absolutely pivotal for me. His courses demonstrated different types of filmmaking approaches, some of which, like [Hirokazu] Koreeda’s films, bridge documentary and fiction to create an intimate fly-on-the-wall feeling of family life.

Scott-Grimes adds that the department provided an ideal foundation for her later work.

“I loved Arimori sensei’s classes – he was really fun and so organized,” she says. “It was a great stepping stone to being in Japan and starting to use Japanese more frequently.

“At EAS, the focus was really on staying curious and open-minded. It was allowing other people’s experiences to really shine through – for example, taking interdisciplinary approaches and not looking at things from one angle. Those things were so important to learn – a film lives and dies in your ability to collaborate.”

Her advice for new graduates? “If you’ve got an interest or passion, follow it – no matter how small or niche it may seem.”

She offers an example from her own life in which she is an a capella singer in addition to being a film maker. One day, she says, someone called her about an opportunity to film a capella concerts in Japan – a collision of her interests she never saw coming.

“Whatever your interests or talents are, somebody is out there looking for you. Think about what your strengths are and what excites you.”

For Scott-Grimes, what excites her is film and the possibilities of artistic storytelling. When asked what people should take away from Between Us, she says she hopes that audiences can think deeply about the relationships in their lives and what tough questions are not being answered.

“I see this film as asking: How do we initiate conversations that are difficult to have? We know we need to have them, but don’t know where to start. Even within the umbrella of LGBTQ2S+, there is so much variety and so many different kinds of experiences. I wanted the film to be a bridge between generations, different cultural backgrounds and identities. It’s meant to spark questions and hope.”

Going all-digital, U of T Mississauga art gallery addresses COVID-19 crisis, supports arts and culture

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 27 Apr 2020 15:38:07 +0000

Going all-digital, U of T Mississauga art gallery addresses COVID-19 crisis, supports arts and culture

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 04/27/2020 - 11:38

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Adam Bierling, How to Swim in a Living Room, 2020. Photo: Marcus Marriott (image courtesy the artist)

Topic

Faculty of Arts & Science

Humanities

U of T Mississauga

Visual Studies

Learn to swim in your living room. Make music from tweets. Explore the folk remedies of pandemics past. The Blackwood Gallery at the �ؿ�ζSM Mississauga has launched an ambitious new initiative to support artists and capture the creative energy of the current moment.

Earlier this month, the Blackwood Gallery published TILTING (1), a special two-part digital publication that marks several firsts for the on-campus art centre as it adapts to the new realities imposed by a global health crisis.

The Blackwood Gallery was among the countless galleries forced to close their doors in March, leaving gallery staff to find new ways to work with established artists from around the globe and support educational programming for curatorial students enrolled in U of T Mississauga’s art and art history program, as well as a joint visual studies program with Sheridan College. Programming is supported by U of T, the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.

“The closure of almost all public institutions across the country meant the simultaneous cancellation of contracts for the unprotected labour force, which [includes] the art and culture industry,” says Christine Shaw, Blackwood Gallery director and curator and assistant professor, teaching stream, in U of T Mississauga’s department of visual studies.

“An entire community of makers was left without income, without support systems and without resources. That became an immediate concern for us.”

Alison Bremner, Distancing, 2020. Acrylic on paper. (image courtesy the artist)

Shaw says her team was well-positioned for the challenge and saw an opportunity to re-imagine the gallery’s printed broadsheet series, The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (SDUK). The series launched in 2017 with the Blackwood’s The Work of Wind: Air, Land, Sea exhibition to connect artistic production and research with interdisciplinary debates.

The Blackwood team moved the SDUK series online, issuing the first-ever open call for submissions and launching the first-ever all-digital version of the series on a revamped gallery website.

“This is a way that we might be able to support artists who are working – both in reaction to the unique social conditions created by this crisis and their own realities as freelancers who are adapting to this situation,” says Blackwood assistant curator Alison Cooley.

Aisha Ali, Atanas Bozdarov, Craig Rodmore, Florence Yee, Alternate Forms of Delivery, 2020. Laptop, framed photograph, signage (image courtesy the artists)

The project asks artists to consider how the pandemic has shifted our ideas about the world as it was, as well as the world that could be.

“We intimately connect the COVID crisis as one of a long-term pre-existing condition of oppression and injustice,” says Shaw. “The community of thinkers and makers that we collaborate with and support have fairly critical perspectives on this current moment and propositions for how to think, work and do otherwise.”

Sydney Shen, Four Thieves Vinegar (installation view), Springsteen, Baltimore, MD, 2017 (image courtesy the artist)

The first of the two-part issue launched on April 20. TILTING (1) features works by 20 artists and researchers responding to the pandemic, including original images, poems and performance projects from artists who were paid for their contributions. Among the submissions are: How to Swim in a Living Room, a performance piece from Toronto artist Adam Bierling; Four Thieves Vinegar, an installation project about folk cures for plagues by Sydney Shen; W.E.I.R.D. Uncertainty, a real-time sound performance generated by Twitter posts by Venice-based musician and digital artist Nicola Privato; and Distancing, an acrylic on paper work by Tlingit artist Alison Bremner.

Nicola Privato, W.E.I.R.D: Uncertainty (video still), 2020 (image courtesy the artist)

U of T researchers have also contributed to the project, with concept pieces by John Paul Ricco, a visual studies professor who writes about resistance and reality; Andrea Muehlebach, an associate professor of anthropology who considers the virus and the commons; and Distinguished Professor Eric Cazdyn of the department of East Asian studies who ponders the relationship between critique and crisis. Blackwood post-doctoral researcher D.T. Cochrane responds to issues of employment with a proposal for job guarantees.

“There’s a sense in which this situation might allow some people to ‘tilt’ what’s happening in order to support decisions that might shape the world more justly and more equitably,” says Cooley.

There is more to come. The Blackwood team will launch a second instalment of the project, TILTING (2), on May 1, and are re-imagining how the gallery will proceed and continue to support artists in the coming months through publications, digital workshops and more.

“We might not be able to make physical exhibitions for a while, but we are committed to research and knowledge production, and have the tools that enable us to virtually convene, gather and exchange knowledge,” says Shaw.

“The Blackwood has what it needs to go forward.”

Cover of The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge 07: TILTING (1) featuring Sara Graham’s Conjecture Diagram no. 05, 2014.

K-pop, fandom and the BTS boys: U of T researcher brings ‘Korean Wave’ into classroom

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 29 Aug 2019 17:32:07 +0000

K-pop, fandom and the BTS boys: U of T researcher brings ‘Korean Wave’ into classroom

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 08/29/2019 - 13:32

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BTS perform onstage during the 2019 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas earlier this year (photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for dcp)

Topic

Faculty of Arts & Science

Global

South Korea

If you’ve tuned into a late night show, listened to the radio or logged onto Twitter lately, it’s likely you’ve heard of Korean boyband BTS, or at least come across the name.

The K-pop darlings have performed on Saturday Night Live, sold out New York City’s 40,000-seat Citi Field and topped the Billboard charts – all while inspiring a devoted, global and cross-cultural fan base.

So it’s no wonder that Michelle Cho, an assistant professor in the �ؿ�ζSM’s department of East Asian studies in the Faculty of Arts & Science, is captivating students with her courses on Korean film, media and popular culture.

“The really unique thing about East Asian studies is that it’s interdisciplinary by design,” says Cho. “You have students coming from all across the arts and sciences. My courses attract students who have an interest in Asian pop culture.”

It’s not only students who are interested. North Americans in general have demonstrated a growing interest in Korean pop culture in recent years, part of the global “Korean Wave.”

In her courses exploring fandom and transmedia – storytelling across multiple platforms – Cho allows her students to bring their own expertise as fans to the classroom, which she says has been useful as a researcher of fandom culture.

At its most basic level, the term “fandom” is used to describe a subculture or community formed around a collective love of something in the pop culture sphere. Whether it’s a sports team, TV show, book series, movie franchise or band, fandom is a shared love of something that builds community – often online – and becomes a significant part of a person’s identity.

Michelle Cho is an assistant professor in U of T’s department of East Asian studies (photo courtesy of Michelle Cho)

Cho’s research addresses a phenomenon that’s becoming more engrained in our modern lives.

“You see fandom culture becoming much more important in the way that people define themselves in a media landscape that can seem very fragmented,” says Cho. “In a way, everybody has their niche little worlds online, or on media platforms.”

It’s the idea of finding likeminded people online that makes way for fandoms to blossom.

“We have this sort of infinite seeming choice of what kind of media we consume. I think it makes a lot of sense that the communities that form around those choices become much more significant,” Cho says.

“Fandom helps people to find a form of collective identity that seems more open and expansive than the kinds of group identities that are ready-made like national identity or generational identity.”

While the stereotypes of fans haven’t changed much since the days of Beatlemania – think hysterical young women and geeky young men – Cho says K-pop fans are more diverse than you might think. And she says it’s even more surprising that they tend to be self-reflexive in a way that contradicts what’s been understood historically about fandom.

“Reflexive awareness is thought to make you less emotionally invested and more neutral,” says Cho. “So self-critical consumers of popular culture should be a completely different group than the fangirls and teens swooning at concerts, right? But they're not. They're the same group.

“I’m really interested in looking at how self-reflexivity makes fans more invested in their love object.”

Cho also looks at the types of media technologies that enable K-pop fans to communicate with others in their community, as well as feel a sense of intimacy with their idols – even if that intimacy doesn’t really exist.

Take, for instance, V Live.

It’s a popular app – and one that the members of BTS use regularly – that mimics Apple’s FaceTime or other livestreaming apps that create a kind of digital intimacy between users.

Except unlike FaceTime, there’s no back-and-forth conversation. It’s a way for K-pop stars to open their lives up to their fans in a way that makes them seem ordinary and approachable, even if they’re not.

The tactic is used outside the world of K-pop as well.

Cho says you can even see U.S. politicians following suit by using their social media channels to create a sense of intimacy with followers.

U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is one high-profile example. The young Democratic congresswoman – known for her progressive views – made headlines during her first months in Washington for talking directly to her 3.2 million followers on Instagram Live while assembling IKEA furniture, making chili and drinking wine.

It’s that direct-to-camera intimacy – feeling like you’re chatting with a friend – that Cho says K-pop stars have become known for when it comes to fan interaction.

As for whether we have K-pop stars like BTS to thank for Korea’s increased visibility in the North American zeitgeist, Cho says they certainly play a part.

“I think that the rising interest in Korean language, culture and history – and just Korean studies in general – is coming from the increased visibility of Korean pop culture,” said Cho. “When I was growing up in the U.S., and even in college, a lot of people didn't actually know that Korea was a separate country from Japan or China, which is hard to believe now.

“But that just says something about Korea’s visibility. And the fact that it's in people's consciousness, whether or not they have anything to do with Asia or know any Koreans. It has a lot to do with media representation.”

While Cho’s research into K-pop fandom will continue, this year she’s returning to her research roots by teaching a course on Korean cinema, as well as a first-year foundation seminar that explores how media producers and fans engage with media worlds in East Asia.