Breathing Training Pools
As part of the second phase program of “Park × Art: A New Form of Park Life Beginning in Hibiya”, titled “’Play’ing Catch – Practicing Ways of Gathering”, Kumiko Ueda, miu, and Mikiko Kawamura will present “A Training Pool for Breathing – Imperial Moat Edition”.
This event is part of Hibiya Art Park 2025 – A Month of Encounters with Art, held in Hibiya Park and organized by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
The first outdoor version of PNEUMA—a project imagining a world where the breathing of plants, animals, and humans interweaves and permeates one another—is born along the edge of the Imperial Palace moat. This is a work-in-progress iteration of a participatory project first initiated in the summer of 2024 at Kinosaki International Arts Center.
In this version, participants (performers) selected through an open call will join artists miu and Mikiko Kawamura for a guided morning tour through the woods and hills of Hibiya Park. Together, they will breathe, drift, and fantasize as “non-human small creatures.” The tour culminates in a scene inspired by Ophelia’s drowning in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, where participants embody floating, barely-visible lifeforms in the water.
Meanwhile, another group—participants as spectators—are invited to become “humans” strolling the park, quietly observing the strange, invisible creatures that now populate the space.
Why do most plays feature only human characters?
Does theatre only hold space for human time?
These questions have been on my mind lately.
You might know Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
In it, Ophelia—heartbroken—dies in a brook. The scene has moved audiences to tears for centuries, and inspired countless paintings.
But I wonder—how did the plants, the fish, the bacteria in that water perceive her death?
Were they frightened?
Were they delighted by a feast falling from above?
By tuning into “breath” and “sound,” we attempt to imagine what it might feel like to exist as something other than human. Perhaps this process might alter how we move, how we carry ourselves, how we sense the world. In this piece, you will become a non-human presence in Ophelia’s scene—drifting, breathing, and fantasizing within a site-specific “stage” shaped by the terrain of Hibiya Park.
A Training Pool for Breathing is a rehearsal space for learning how to swim together—humans and other beings—within the shared atmosphere we call pneuma.
— Kumiko Ueda
Schedule
May 21–24, 2025
- May 21 (Wed) 8:00
- May 22 (Thu) 8:00 / 11:30
- May 23 (Fri) 8:00 / 11:30
- May 24 (Sat) 10:30
Duration: approx. 75 min
A short workshop for audience members will be held after the performance.
Venue
Hibiya Park (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo)
Area: Tsutsujiyama – Mikasa-yama
Details on the meeting point will be provided after reservation.
Call for Participants (as Performers)
We are seeking participants to perform as “small, non-human creatures.” No acting experience or rehearsal is necessary—artists Mikiko Kawamura and miu will guide you through gentle physical and sound-based exercises. Come explore a new version of yourself in a familiar park, before work or on a weekend morning.
Click here for details and to register (Japanese)
Application deadline: Wednesday, May 7 at 23:59 (JST)
Audience Reservation
A limited number of audience members will be accepted through advance reservation. As a spectator, you are invited to wander freely through the park, observing the subtle transformations of the performers as they shift from humans into non-human beings. Take deep breaths of the morning air, witness quiet metamorphoses, and at the end, enjoy a mini-workshop open to all viewers.
We do have one important request: the performers are embodying small, invisible lifeforms that cannot be perceived by humans. Therefore, as “humans,” audience members are asked to watch without being noticed—perhaps by hiding in the bushes, pretending to be on a morning walk, peeking through a hole in a newspaper, or blending in as a commuter on their way to work.
We look forward to seeing you there.
Free admission / Advance reservation required
Reserve via Peatix
Credits
Direction: Kumiko Ueda
Sound: miu
Movement Navigation: Mikiko Kawamura
Technical Direction: Yutaka Endo (LUFTZUG)
Main Visual: Aiko Koike
Cooperation: Kinosaki International Arts Center (Toyooka City)
Artist Profiles
miu
Originally from Shimane, Japan. Studied Sonology and electronic music at Kunitachi College of Music (Japan, uncompleted) and the Royal Conservatory in The Hague (Netherlands). Her practice spans stage works, sound performances, and installation-based pieces. miu’s work often centers on miscommunication, transformation, and virtualized memory—phenomena that arise across cultures, languages, and time periods. She draws inspiration from observing people or moments that seem out of place—those who are physically present but don’t quite belong. Since moving to the Netherlands in 1998, she has lived and worked in London, Bochum, and Ulm, and has been based in Düsseldorf since 2014. Her relationship with Japan is not one of “returning,” but of “visiting.”
Website: milch-labor.com (in German)
Mikiko Kawamura
Born in 1990. Described as “the enfant terrible of the dance world, as if fallen from a distant planet” (Tatsuro Ishii, Dance New Air 2014), Kawamura creates performances that range from theatre-based works to outdoor site-specific pieces. A graduate in dance from Japan Women’s College of Physical Education, she has toured 33 cities in 16 countries and presented over 20 original choreographies. Her many accolades include the Jury Prize and French Embassy Prize for Young Choreographers at Yokohama Dance Collection EX 2015, as well as the Next Generation Choreographer Award and Audience Prize at the Toyota Choreography Awards 2014. In addition to writing essays and creating original songs, she launched her own shop Kawamura Sangyo in 2024, selling custom knits and accessories.
She joined the 2024 open studio of A Training Pool for Breathing vol.1 – Ophelia’s River (Kinosaki International Arts Center) as a research artist.
Website: kawamuramikiko.com
