USAMI Nao

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USAMI Nao

Participating Project	Exchange Residency Program (Japan-based Creators sent abroad)
Activity Base	Tokyo
City / Place stayed	Berlin / Callie’ｓ
Period	2025.9 - 2025.11

Purpose of the residency

Based on research into Berlin’s underground, I create a video game and a performance. I research the experiences of people who dug tunnels beneath the Berlin Wall and the political situations of that time. Alongside the background of the city’s enduring “Underground” culture of techno music and fashion, I want to create narratives that connect the past and the present. A performance piece will be created with a dancer and choreographer, Moe Kobayashi.

Plan during the residency

• Research underground in Berlin: the nuclear bomb shelter, the escape tunnel, and the abandoned subway station at Berliner Unterwelten
• Research the historical and political situation in the Cold War era at the Mauer Museum, the DDR Museum, and the Allierten Museum.
• Research the Underground culture of music and fashion in techno clubs.
• Research the video game and board game in Germany at the Computer Spiele Museum.
• Do a workshop about performance with motion capture and a VR headset.

Activities during the residency

Usami researched oppressed bodies by visiting underground bunker tours that preserve traces of history of war, as well as concentration camps. Using a thermographic camera and computer graphics, she visualized the temperature of people and objects that had experienced the war, exploring bodily memory and its lingering traces. At the open studio, she presented a video game work that transitions between the future and the past. She also collaborated with choreographer and performer Moe Kobayashi to create a performance piece in which her vinyl-wrapped movements are matched with Naoʼs 3D-CG video projection.

Outcome of the residency

Visiting the underground tours in Berlin allowed me to experience perception such as the air, the temperature, the smells, and the many lingering traces of the past. Although I presented the video game at the open studio, I didnʼt have enough time to finish creating. I would continue developing and show them as a result in the exhibition at TOKAS next year. Also, it was a compelling experience to collaborate with a choreographer, Moe Kobayashi. Her perspectives and ideas inspired me. Our conversations about the similarities and differences between performances and video games were particularly thought-provoking.

Creator Information