Ritual III

The quietest cry will be met with a blow, which is impossible to ignore. The two Japanese performances harness the same energy with two extreme strategies — an almost silent gesture and a physical explosion.

Post-war Japanese experimental culture often developed radical strategies of expression in tension against social discipline and the pressures of conformism — from the reduction and almost invisible gesture to noise and the physical attack of sound. Art became a space for revealing emotions and energies subject to strong control in everyday life. Tomoko Hojo and Ryosuke Kiyasu represent the two extreme poles of this tension.

Whispered Screaming grows out of Yoko Ono's wordless screams. Hojo chose them from the artist's discography and recorded them again in her own voice as whispered, almost silent cries. By superimposing them, she created a gesture of resistance to violence: instead of focusing on one voice drowning out the others, she allowed many silent voices to coexist. In 2025, she developed a new, completely unamplified version of the performance, transferring all the tension to the body, breath and gesture. This is what he will present in Krakow.

After the intervention of Jakub Ziółkowski, the energy will change direction. Kiyasu will not perform the 2018 album Ritual Offerings, but will create a new improvisation under this title. One snare drum, table and body are enough for him to build a complete performance — from precise rhythmic figures to beats, friction and abrupt movement of the instrument. The snare drum and table will be amplified so that any surface contact can become sound and rhythm a physical event taking place right in the middle of the audience.

In Hojo, the energy is stopped just before the sound; in Kiyasu it goes into a violent movement and impact. They are not opposites, but two outlets of the same stream of emotions.

The concert is co-organised by Cricoteka.

Availability:

The event will last about 50 minutes and will take place without interruption. Two twenty-minute performances will be joined by the intervention of Jakub Ziółkowski.

Tomoko Hojo's performance will be unamplified and very quiet. Its components will be whispered, almost silent screams and, expressed in the language of the performance, references to violence, danger and the experience of being unheard. Ryosuke Kiyasu's performance will be amplified, physically intense and may include sudden, loud beats and the sounds of the snare rubbing against the table.

The audience will sit around the central stage on cushions, poufs and carpet. Several chairs will also be available.

It is possible to leave the room during the event, but there will be no possibility to return.