Eiko Otake
Born and raised in Japan and a resident of New York since 1976, Eiko Otake (she/her) is a movement-based, interdisciplinary artist. She worked for more than 40 years as Eiko & Koma, but since 2014 has been working on her own projects. Eiko & Koma created numerous performance works, exhibitions, durational “living” installations, and media works commissioned by the American Dance Festival, BAM Next Wave Festival, the Whitney Museum, the Walker Art Center, and the Museum of Modern Art, among others. In addition to performing their own choreography, Eiko & Koma handcrafted their own sets, costumes, and sound.
The Retrospective Project (2009–2012) culminated in two exhibitions, screenings of media works, and a comprehensive monograph, Time is Not Even Space is Not Empty, published by the Walker Art Center. Eiko & Koma were the first collaborative pair to share a MacArthur Fellowship (1996) and the first Asian choreographers to receive both the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award (2004) and the Dance Magazine Award (2006). They were honored with the inaugural United States Artists Fellowship (2006) and the first Doris Duke Artist Awards (2012).
Eiko’s solo project, A Body in Places, began with a 12-hour performance at the 30th Street Station in Philadelphia in 2014. Since then, she has performed site-specific variations of A Body in Places at over 70 sites, including a month-long Danspace Project PLATFORM (2016) and three full-day performances at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2017). Collaboratively created with photographer and historian William Johnston, A Body in Fukushima (2014–) is a multifaceted project that records Eiko‘s solo performances in post-nuclear disaster Fukushima. It consists of photo exhibitions, video installations, mix-media performances, lectures, a book publication, and a feature-length film that has been screened at festivals internationally.
The Duet Project (2017–) is a series of experiments with artists of different disciplines, races, genders and generations. The project has produced performances and media works, including feature length documentary No Rule is Our Rule, collaboratively created with Wen Hui. Eiko is currently working on her 10-year project, I Invited Myself (2022–), a series of exhibitions and screenings of her media works. A recipient of an honorary degree from Colorado College (2020), she teaches a course that combines studies of atomic bombings and nuclear disaster with movement at Wesleyan University, New York University, and Colorado College.
