My name is Kimiko Watanabe.I was manager of Ko Murobushi and now working for his Archive.

At first I want to say thank you to National Arts center, Jonathan, Ricardo, Antonio and Christina to collaborate with us to realize this research project about Ko Murobushi.And also thank you for all of you to coming this Seminar to join with us.Actually I don’t know what will be happened for future for this research project but it is sure that we step forwarded.

So I want to explain about Archive a little bit, may be 10 min. Then I want to pass my microphone to young researcher who has individual connection with Ko.

After Ko was passed away at 2015 on June at Mexico, I started to organize his materials to establish Archive very soon.The purpose of this Archive is to pass information that Ko left to the next generation as a base of research.To refuse any kind of power and hierarchy, and also to protect Ko’s rights as artist, we are planning to open his information as much as possible on Internet and this digital archive will be open at the end of this year 2016.

There is many photos, videos, texts, critics, fliers, so on from 1967.After open this Archive, we wish that more materials would be brought to this archive from all over the world and we will be able to know more correctly what he tried to do in his life.This Archive is not to establish any kind of legend of Ko Murobushi.We want to try to organize this archive like his dance.It will be open as totally free space for everybody with surprise like his dance, continue to inspire us, help our creation, and find our own way to getting new era.

I think recently Archive became a kind of mode in the world and it seems also a kind of war to give more value and power to own culture.But this archive is far from this kind of game.We refuse any kind of community, any kind of hierarchy, and any kind of believe and any kind of power.

So、I want to talk about Ko Murobushi a little bit to explain about our activities.

If I can tell my opinion, and I think also many people will agree with my opinion through their own experience, Ko was very honesty person as well as his performance.
For example, at the Airport in Mexico he fall down completely same position that he gave to his students in his WS and also his heart was stopped with completely same position with his performance on the stage. In his WS, he used to tell and gave practice about Zero position.He said that it is impossible to get zero position in our real life. But our life include our death, zero position in every instance, it means that our life is supported by our own death.Then, as he told to us, I saw his zero position; his real death at hospital in Mexico and it was strong moment for me.

His face was calm and he seemed satisfied. It was very short time from his heart attack to his real death, but I am sure that he recognized whole process toward his death by himself on the edge of life, at the gap between death and life ,as usual when he perform.

In Japan his body was burn with completely same noise sound that he loved to use in his performance. It was the sound of fire of furnace.I feel that his life was completely and strongly organized by himself as an experiment.

It is memo of Ko that was written in the Metro three years before.

Alcohol allows my thoughts to speed up.
Up and up…
And it allows an “incapacity of thought” (keywords from Artaud) to be reached at,

but  when incapacity reaches incapacity,
then it becomes a real “zero = death.”

Will you really die?
Or will you survive until the end    and try to live an extension of life?

At the close “brink”
just in front of on the “verge”, on the “edge.”
to be bordered    

To be bordered?      is that my desire?

That is not my real “desire” either.

Not to the border, not to the edge, not to outside or inside,

Trying to reach to “impossible to reach”,

Impossible to reach

My desire is to become this impossible thing.

 

Outside           Outside

        Outside

Whose cry is it?

Someone, whose name is unknown                        (Mararume?)

The voice with a non-name,

without place, at a non-place,

CRY…. c-r-y 

 

C-ra-ck

Can you hear it?

You,           are you listening?

Ko Murobushi, in the Tokyo Metro Tozai Line, May 2013

I hope that this archive will be a kind of extension of his life and continue to inspire people who are trying to continue their own experiment.

 Thank you.