New York—Fou Gallery cordially invites you to a special closing event, the Japanese Tea and Ritual Room, on August 3rd. This unique experience, designed and guided by artist Maho Ogawa, promises a participatory performance installation unlike any other.

The Japanese Tea and Ritual Room offers participants a personalized journey of contemplation and serenity. Each guest will select an envelope containing messages that guide them through a customized ritual set within our tranquil space. Under Maho's guidance, attendees will engage in activities that explore the therapeutic potential of daily activities, transforming them from routines into personal rituals. 

Following this introspective journey, guests will gather over Japanese Tea, immersing themselves in the peaceful ambiance and the beauty of our surroundings—the intimate exhibition space, the gentle breeze, and the comforting warmth of the Tea.

Join us for a moment dedicated to discovering the essence of ritual in a serene and welcoming environment.

Artist: Maho Ogawa

Maho Ogawa is a Japanese-born multidisciplinary movement artist working in NYC. Her work has delved into building a choreographic language based on nuances and isolated body movements, and she has built a database, "Minimum Movement Catalog" (https://minimum-movement-demo.web.app/movements). Maho Ogawa uses body, video, text, computer programming, and audience-participatory methods to discover how relationships and the environment affect individual bodies consciously and subconsciously.

Her recent works partly decontextualize and research the minimum movement in Japanese tea culture and cinema. She's working on public events inspired by Japanese tea rituals to build new thinking methods about "silence," providing a quiet but active mindset to heal and unite the community.  The aim is to empower the erased cultures by dismantling oppressed body gestures and their context as an archive and audience-participating event, fighting for cultural equality in nonviolent ways. 

Maho's works have been shown in Asia (Seoul, Tokyo, Kyoto, Yamaguchi) and in the U.S., including Princeton University, Invisible Dog Art Center, JACK, Movement Research at the Judson Church, and Emily Harvey Foundation, to name a few. Ogawa received grants from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant and creation support at LMCC, Culture Push, Emily Harvey Foundation, LEIMAY, and New Dance Alliance. She is a 2023 Associated Artist at the Culture Push. 

I.G.@suisomaho

Website: https://www.suisoco.com >>

Event Photos

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