Deshima

Deshima is a prismatic exploration of East-West contact from the arrival of Dutch traders in Japan in the 16th Century to the height of the Japanese “bubble” economy in the late 1980’s. Deshima is composed of a series of intersecting aural, visual and choreographic events inspired by historical incidents and archival documents in the often bloody legacy of contact between Europe, America, Japan and Asia. Deshima included spoken and projected text, European, Asian, American and contemporary dance, recorded sound and projections. Deshima marked a major departure for Ping Chong from allegory to poetic documentary.

Deshima was commissioned as part of the celebration marking the 100th anniversary of the death of painter Vincent Van Gogh. The audience entered an enclosed container with three rows of seats. The container then moved on air into position in front of the first set installation which was reminiscent of a Colonial era ballroom. Two-thirds of the way through the performance, the audience seating units moved again to reveal the second set installation, a recreation of Van Gogh’s painting Wheatfield with Crows. The moving container system was used for the premiere in Utrecht and the production at the City of Culture Festival in Glasgow both in 1990. The 1993 La MaMa production was reimagined for a proscenium stage as were all subsequent performances.

Deshima is the first work in Ping Chong’s East/West Quartet.