Eiko Otake — No Rule Is Our Rule
Date/Time
Location
Mass MoCA (1040 Mass MoCA Way, North Adams, MA 01247, North Adams MA)
Eiko Otake and Wen Hui tell a story on film of friendship between two independent women, powerful artists, and the body memories they each carry.
In January 2020, New York-based interdisciplinary performing artist Eiko Otake arrived in Beijing to visit Wen Hui, a Chinese choreographer and filmmaker.
Eight years apart, Eiko grew up in postwar Japan and Wen during the Cultural Revolution. They had planned to visit each other for a month to converse and collaborate, but the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic cut short Eiko’s visit and paused Wen’s trip to the U.S., but they have continued to work together.
Looking back on the video diaries they shot without a script, Eiko and Wen say, they continued to talk on Zoom, sharing past works that form a deeper understanding of their circumstantial differences and characteristic similarities. Chinese film director Yiru Chen, once Eiko’s student, joined the team as a co-editor.
No Rule Is Our Rule has been selected by Sans Souci Festival of Dance Cinema, Munich New Wave Film Festival, WRPN Women’s International Film Festival, and Kalakari Film Festival, and the film won Best Feature Documentary at the Japan International Film Festival. The film has also been screened at Asia Society New York, Asian Arts Initiative, and several universities, including Wesleyan University, Yale University, Duke University, and Cornell University.
Looking back on the video diaries they had filmed without a script, Eiko and Wen continued their dialogue on Zoom, sharing past works that form a deeper understanding of their circumstantial differences and characteristic similarities. The pair will be in residence at Mass MoCA developing a new collaborative work.