"Dancer in MocoMoco" is a collaborative art project directed by Jaiseok Kang,
combining the efforts of artists across disciplines and genres to capture a fleeting
moment that all artists endeavor for.
As the dancers perform in MocoMoco installation and costumes, Jaiseok
Kang's favorite photography theme of "Dancer" and Natsuko Hattori's sculpture
series "MocoMoco" combine and harmonize to become a single artform.
"MocoMoco" is a Japanese word that refers to a soft or puffy surface
and the comforting feeling, which is the framework behind Natsuko's sculptures
that allows her to express her philosophy and experiences on themes such as
broken love, friendship, grandmother's essence, earthquake sadness, joy of making,
marriage bittersweet, and cherry blossom.
These two seemingly unrelated motifs somehow align perfectly to ultimately reveal
that nothing is perpetual in life. Rather, we see that the main components of this
project are essentially identical in their roles of expressing constant transformation
and rebirth. Just as the costume art can return back to being a part of her sculptures
-- which will consequently change the shape and significance of the sculptures -- the
dancers also change as they become the part of MocoMoco and vice versa.
From the visions of these two artists' came about a partnership that brought together
an installation artist, a photographer, video artists, dancers, musicians, and a
makeup artist, who helped to create this project collaboratively, adding a very
unique dimension to this performance. The different talents unite to create a single
performance, which will be featured for the first time in a premiere art event held in
September of 2014 at The Local NY in Long Island City, NY.
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