Eliana Gómez is an Argentinian butoh dancer, performance artist, dance movement therapist and psychopedagogue. Blending contemporary performance with somatic practices, her interdisciplinary work explores the thresholds between life and death, ritual and poetic consciousness, and liminal states and dreams. Her work has been recognized for its cultural and artistic contribution in Argentina, and she also facilitates transformative therapeutic processes for children, adults and older people, integrating collective experience.

Natividad Mine (Spain) is an interdisciplinary artist whose work encompasses fine art, performance, and dance. Having originally trained in classical ballet and contemporary dance, she will use her residency to develop a solo Butoh performance. She has studied and worked with influential artists such as Claudia Castellucci and Imre Thormann, and currently collaborates with the Luz Arcas – La Phármaco company on productions, providing artistic support and working on set design.

Ayumi Rahn is a Berlin-based artist. She studied Fine Art in Munich under Günther Förg and in Vienna under Amelie von Wulffen. Her work encompasses painting, drawing, text and installation, often combining image and narrative. She explores memory, transgenerational experience, and cultural connections. Since 2014, she has published the artist zine InterViews as a collaborative project. In 2025, she participated in the Shiro Oni Residency in Japan.

Bettina Mileta is an interdisciplinary artist whose work explores textiles as both a material and a metaphor. She creates site-specific textile installations in large formats in various contexts. She asks how material presence shapes perception and stimulates reflection on what public textiles beyond existing functional uses could look like. Her work has been presented at the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, the Alliance Française de Madras in Chennai, India, and other venues.

Vivien Tran is a fashion design student based in Germany with Vietnamese-Chinese roots. She specialises in screen printing and experimental materials such as glass, focusing on the interplay of atmosphere and draping. Through her work, she aims to stimulate curiosity and reflection on contemporary issues. Her designs have been showcased on the catwalk and featured in Vanilla Issue.

Songer Yang is a visual artist who works across painting, graphic design and narrative forms. She was born in China and now lives in the USA. Her work, 'Pray', is a silent meditation on grief, memory, and the invisible labour of care. It is a personal ritual of endurance and remembrance, and a quiet and sincere reaching towards faith.

Angelika Haak, a German artist, explores the construction and deconstruction of identities in her work. Video portraits are a key part of her artistic practice. In the video installation Exposed by the Mask, she explores the blurring of boundaries between face and mask. Images of 'No Masks' merge with the faces of real people of various genders, ages and ethnicities.

Lavinia Schulz (1896–1924) was a German expressionist actress and mask dancer. At the age of 16, she moved to Berlin to study academic drawing. Around 1917, she began studying acting under Lothar Schreyer, the director of the Sturm-Bühne theatre company in Berlin. In 1918, she caused a scandal with her nude performance in the play Sancta Susanna. In 1919, she met the actor Walter Holdt, whom she married in 1921.
From 1919 onwards, Schulz and Holdt collaborated on dance performances in full-body costumes designed specifically for the purpose.
On 18 June 1924, Lavinia shot her 25-year-old husband, alerted the neighbours and attempted to shoot herself. She died of her injuries the following day. The motive for the crime was never definitively established. One possible reason was financial difficulty, given that the artistic couple performed their dance shows for the public free of charge. Shortly afterwards, Lavinia Schulz and Walter Holdt faded into obscurity. It was not until 1988 that three crates containing around 20 full-body masks were rediscovered in a museum attic. The costumes were restored and displayed to the public for the first time in 2006.

Zwerver is an Amsterdam-based multi-disciplinary Dutch artist who studied at both the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten. He is best known for creating transient, gravity-defying spatial compositions out of everyday objects, a practice rooted in his acclaimed 1980s Living Room Sculptures photographic series. His contemporary work spans video art, photography, and performance sculpture, with pieces acquired by prestigious institutions such as the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.

Adelaide Cioni's work lies at the intersection of textiles, painting and performance. Drawing, the absence of narration and a feminist viewpoint are the constant elements at the core of her practice. Her work engages with space and takes the form of sculptures, costumes, large-scale installations, and performances. It is influenced by the concepts of impermanence and lightness in Japanese architecture, as well as by Japanese handbooks on how to draw the sea.

James Greer is a British sound recordist, designer-composer, and editor-mixer who explores how places sound and how we can actively listen to them. Through his reconstructive work with field recordings and natural sounds, he creates immersive, site-specific soundscapes.As Co-Director of MSCTY Studio, he develops "Sonic Architecture" for real and virtual spaces. He has also worked for over six years as a researcher for the University of Tokyo's Memu Open Research Campus in northern Japan. Alongside Nick Luscombe, he drives the collaborative Sonic Minds project, investigating the positive impact of sound on human well-being.

After graduating from the Faculty of Law at Chuo University, he moved to the United States to pursue his artistic career. His starring film was nominated for and received awards at international film festivals, including the Cannes Film Festival, and he also performed successfully at one of New York's legendary jazz clubs.Following the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, he developed the concept of "Chair Tap Dance" and has spent the past fifteen years supporting disaster-affected communities and contributing to community revitalization in the Tohoku region.Today, he provides artistic and technical direction for Africa's first tap dance company while also working as a contemporary artist who views tap dance as a protocol for social inclusion and dialogue. As a tap artist bridging tradition and innovation, he pursues a multidisciplinary practice that transcends artistic boundaries.

Hibiki Kanna is involved in instrument making and sound design. Over 30 years ago, he began a farming-oriented life deep in the mountains; inspired by nature, he envisioned and created the 'You-kin,' an original stringed instrument. Since then, he has engaged in a wide variety of creative activities. As the leader of the Kagura-kai, he plays the shinobue and ryuteki (traditional Japanese flutes) during dedicatory performances at shrines and temples.
Asako Kanna moved to Gunma 15 years ago, which inspired her to join the Kagura-kai (traditional Shinto music and dance group). She is deeply involved in preserving the region's traditional Kagura heritage, and during dedicatory performances at shrines and temples, she plays the shime-daiko (tied drum) and kagura-suzu (sacred bells).

Gaia Sound Artist | Vibrational Musician | Sound Therapist
Born in Kyoto Prefecture, raised in a land surrounded by mountains and water.
Ever since experiencing firsthand that music is a "Universal Language," they have aspired to create "vibrational spaces" where people resonate with nature, and people resonate with one another.
They have held live performances and workshops in over 30 countries worldwide.
Resonating with water, light, plants, and the stars, they weave a sonic experience through improvisation and sound healing that touches the listener's inner universe.

Marfa Vasilieva is an Amsterdam-based Ukrainian contemporary artist and photographer who specialises in phototherapy. In her video Breaking Fragility, sixty-three Ukrainian women of different ages and body types gather in one space. Filmed in Kyiv in 2019, the women are naked but covered in flour to symbolise blank pages. They are meeting for the first time.

Mad Paule is a New Delhi-based artist who works with photography, video, installations and narratives. He made his film while documenting the 19th Tsukuba Biennale and exploring the raw, spontaneous philosophy of Butoh through collaborations with dancers. This work is dedicated to Mitsuko Shinohara and Takashi Ikezawa, who passed away in 2024 and 2025 respectively.
Butoh - This film was made while documenting Tsukuba Biennale 19 and exploring the raw, spontaneous philosophy of Butoh through collaborations with dancers. I dedicate this work to Mitsuko Shinohara and Takashi Ikezawa, who passed away in 2024 and 2025 respectively.

Joanna Pawlik is a Polish visual artist and performer who primarily explores the concept of the non-normative body. She explores themes such as disability, femininity and corporeality.
In her performative video Stairs, Joanna Pawlik explores the relationship between the disabled body, architectural space, and social visibility. Filmed within a monumental staircase, the piece uses gestures, repetition, bodily tension and movement to challenge societal perceptions of femininity, disability, vulnerability and physical difference.

Huang Lan is an interdisciplinary artist from Taiwan who works primarily with Butoh dance, experimental film and ink painting. She views the body as a vessel through which to commune with the 'memories of the earth' and explores the circulation of consciousness.
The Hole - During the lockdown, a director is confined to a room filled with ghosts of the past and forced to confront long-evaded memories. As the empty days stretch on, these recollections manifest as an overwhelming web of inescapable threads. Caught in their grasp, where will these haunting memories lead?

Susana Malagón is a Spanish visual artist who creates ephemeral installations in natural environments.
The video features Susana Malagón's face, with snails slowly moving across her skin. It presents beauty treatments in their most natural form, using organic elements to explore the relationship between the body, nature and the concepts of care and transformation. By taking this concept of beauty into unfamiliar and unsettling territory, the work challenges accepted standards and confronts the limits of what is considered acceptable or desirable.

Iván-Daniel Espinosa and Corin Wiggins are butoh dancers and choreographers from the USA who engage with ecology, climate change, interspecies performance, and fungi and mushrooms. Their video, MycoMorphosis: Dancing with Fungi is a multimedia dance performance that engages with the vibrant materiality of mycelium fungi and fungal ecologies through sound and sensation. Exploring the intersection between mycology and performance, this piece integrates the sonification of amplified mycelial bio-data and fungal bioacoustics from diverse species of mushroom colonies, alongside Japanese Butoh dance.

Drawing on performance art and horror cinema, Melbourne-based experimental filmmaker Natasha Cantwell strikes a balance between humour and unease in her 16mm films. Her video A Teachers' Sauna is set in Finland and shows a place that, before modern hospitals existed, was used for childbirth and to wash and prepare the dead for burial — a vessel for accumulated gestures, rituals and time. It explores how spaces absorb human presence and what remains when those bodies are gone.

Akiyo Deto, who performs under the name Aki Yo, is a multidisciplinary avant-garde Japanese artist, butoh dancer and photographer based in Sapporo, Hokkaido. As well as performing, she designs intricate theatrical illustrations and co-organises the annual Sapporo International Butoh Festival.
The Box on the Anji River - It was June 2026, and the days were hot. I was gazing at the surface of the Anji River in Osaka when, suddenly, I noticed a box that had been abandoned there, its lid wide open as if welcoming me. Before I knew it, I was asleep inside that box, and I had a dream.

"Ken Ueno is a composer, vocalist, sound artist, and Professor of Music at the University of California, Berkeley. A recipient of the Rome Prize and the Berlin Prize, his work spans composition, improvisation, installation, and performance. His music has been presented by leading ensembles and festivals internationally, exploring the expressive possibilities of the voice, embodiment, experimental instruments, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Beate Martin is a multidisciplinary artist from Slovenia based in Berlin. They studied visual arts and trained in Butoh dance, which led to creating site-specific performances. Their work mainly focuses on urban metamorphosis and movement improvisation as a way of challenging the limiting structures of the contemporary world. Beate works through dance, sound, drawing and video media, and has presented their projects in dance institutions, residencies and galleries across Europe.

Yuki Jungesblut is a Berlin-based artist who uses photography, text, installation and film to explore the boundaries between fiction, imagination and reality. In her project, Kirin Quest, she searches for the legendary Kirin around the East China Sea. During her time in Onishi, she will be researching material for her next book.

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Samaneh Roghani is a Swedish artist of Iranian origin who incorporates personal experiences into her work, often using self-portraits to achieve authenticity and intimacy. She creates installation-based experiences that engage the audience on multiple sensory levels. These installations serve as a lens through which to explore the complexities of contemporary societies, offering insights into struggles for equality and human rights, particularly those faced by women.

Vilma Leino is a Finland-born, Berlin-based photographer who focuses on self-portraiture to explore themes of solitude and challenging psychological states. She creates female characters with untold stories in her work, experimenting with strong colour schemes, performance and the human body. Her photographs often strike a balance between beauty and horror, using humour to offset darker themes.

Julia Forrest is a Brooklyn-based artist working in analog film photography. Using mirrors and in- camera techniques, she creates illusionary landscapes that explore perception, transformation, and the relationship between body and environment. She has participated in international residencies and received support from NYFA, the Jerome Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Hailing from Singapore, Sarah Choo Jing is renowned for her interdisciplinary approach to photography, video and installation. Her work depicts recognisable moments and characters within contemporary urban society, suggesting a multitude of personal and frequently solitary narratives. She is interested in the gaze of the flâneur, voyeurism and the uncanny.

Based in Onishi, Fujioka City, Gunma Prefecture, artist Shinobu Kuroda engages in expressive work that spans multiple genres, including sculpture, costume design, character creation, and music. While running Aizawa Zoukei Kobo (Aizawa Sculpting Studio) to design and produce costumes and physical props, he also actively participates as a cosplayer and local hero. For the local project "Gokuyoki," he handles everything from creating the character designs to performing the role himself. Additionally, he is involved in band activities and music production, building his unique worldview not only through visual creations but also through sound and physical expression.

Tanya Varbanova is a Tokyo-based Bulgarian visual artist, researcher and leadership coach. Drawing on her diverse background as a former national rhythmic gymnast and her academic qualifications in Diplomacy (Malta) and Fine Arts (Brussels and Bergen), her interdisciplinary work explores migratory identity and the global hierarchy of values.
Drawing on postcolonial and capital theories, Varbanova explores how cultural value shifts across geopolitical landscapes. She has developed her work through notable Japanese artist residencies, including Sasama and GASBON METABOLISM.

"Nick Luscombe is a British radio producer, sound artist, and music collector based in London and Tokyo. He hosted BBC Radio 3’s renowned Late Junction for nearly a decade and served as Director of Music for iTunes Europe.
As co-founder of the sound agency MSCTY, he explores the interplay between sound, architecture, and well-being through global, site-specific soundscapes. A musical bridge builder between Europe and Japan, Luscombe has spent decades gathering field recordings and releasing acclaimed compilations of Japanese synth-pop, such as Tokyo Dreaming. Today, he produces radio formats and live podcasts directly from Tokyo."

Jeong Uisuk is a composer, sound artist, and sound designer working across dance, theatre, film, and exhibitions. Drawing on acoustic and analog sound and the legacy of pre-21st-century music, he explores how digital technologies and spatial audio reorganize perception from multiple listening positions. His work often stages the tension and distance produced by misaligned relations and discontinuous contexts through sound, across performances, installations, and immersive audio environments.
He has collaborated with institutions including the National Theater Company of Korea and the National Museum of Korea, among others. In 2026, he was selected for the Korea National Contemporary Dance Company’s Dance X Technology Creation Lab and continues to develop sound-based work in contemporary dance.

KNOB (ノブ) is a didgeridoo and stone flute (iwabue) player. He started dancing at the age of 13 and has a background in the entertainment industry. It was at the age of 25 that he visited Australia and encountered the didgeridoo, a traditional Aboriginal instrument. His unwavering worldview has gained widespread recognition, resulting in his appearance in director Hitoshi Tatsumura’s documentary film Gaia Symphony No. 6. In 2020, he was honoured with the 'Japan Culture Merit Award' by His Imperial Highness Prince Fushimi, in recognition of his achievements in integrating Japanese spirituality and culture deeply with traditional instruments from around the world. He continues to be very active, placing the utmost importance on offering prayer-filled performances (kenso) at shrines, temples, churches and all kinds of sacred sites in Japan and abroad.

He lives a nature-focused mountain lifestyle, hosts bonfire workshops, and creates handmade instruments using natural resources and participates in music sessions, festivals, and events around Onishi.

Philemon Mukarno is a performance artist and composer from Jakarta, now based in Rotterdam. He stages slow, ritualised performances that fuse butoh dance, sound and video, often featuring the vulnerable, often naked body.
Beras is a performance video in which a lone figure moves through a bare, post-human landscape. Driven by ecological crisis, the performer transitions from "detective" to "criminal", becoming complicit in global destruction. Scattered rice serves as a key metaphor and choreographic element, symbolising a fragile path through isolation, doubt and responsibility.

Curro Rodríguez is a visual artist and experimental musician from Spain, whose work combines flamenco, ritual, and sonic experimentation. Saeta is a video performance that uses the body and stone as both an altar and an executioner. Merging the voice of flamenco with ritual gestures and sonic tension, it creates an act of devotion and confrontation.

She began studying classical ballet at a young age and encountered Ankoku Butoh after moving to Tokyo. She primarily creates “video dance” works that weave narratives through the body and movement, and is interested in the relationship between the body and space.

Founded by Anjah Ki Hai and Leo Carreño, Teatro La Conspiración is a Colombian project dedicated to the exploration of hybrid languages between dance, film, performance, artistic social practice, and environmental activism. The video performance Descarbonización is set in a derelict public space, in which a figure carries a plant sculpture as an extension of their own body. Drawing inspiration from plant consciousness and theories of symbiosis, the piece views the body as an assemblage of different species. Plant memory emerges as an expanded sensitivity that reconnects the human body with the ancestral rhythms and transformations of living matter.

Belle Shafir, a multidisciplinary visual and performance artist with German and Israeli nationality, explores memory, transformation, identity, and the body as a site of history in her work.
Echoes of Transformation is a live performance and immersive installation exploring the body as a vessel for memory, vulnerability and continual change. Using horsehair as a central material — fragile yet resilient, intimate yet unfamiliar — the work evokes personal history while inviting broader reflections on identity, inheritance and survival.

Xue is a Butoh artist and the founder and facilitator of the Singapore Butoh Collective. Grace Song is a Singaporean artist and writer-director exploring dreams and neurodivergent cognition to unveil alternative forms of experimentation. The collective's work encompasses performance art, film and underground contexts.
body missing body - A castaway washes up on a strange island, unable to remember anything about their past. They wander around the intertidal zone, struggling to remember their violent separation from the city.

Yuki Ichikawa, who performs under the name Aseema, is a Japanese contemporary butoh dancer, choreographer and movement practitioner. Initially trained in Nihon Buyo, her artistic journey has taken her from her traditional roots to Western disciplines and esoteric spiritual practices.
Performed at the Grotowski Institute's Studio Na Grobli during Poland's Sakura Festival, Yuki Ichikawa Aseema’s solo Butoh piece, "No Boundary" ("Bez granicy"), explored physical liberation. Blending stillness with intense internal dynamics, this non-verbal, universal performance challenged spatial and bodily limits, presented alongside members of Daisuke Yoshimoto’s Space-Cradle company.

Rita Soma is a nomadic Spanish artist with a background in physical theatre, cinema and audiovisuals. She has been active in the performing arts since 2008 and has practised Butoh since 2016.
Her video The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, based on William Blake's visionary text, explores the tension between opposing forces. The descent from the summit is rocky and difficult, leading into the unknown and the transformation of the spirit within the shadows.

Masumi Saito and Guy Wigmore (Movement Diary) explore the intimate intersection of body, environment, and story through film, performance, and somatic practice. We document raw, expressive motion grounded in natural landscapes and quiet spaces, capturing transient moments of feeling that words often miss.