MUJO - 無常 (Japanese for impermanence), is a dance performance using the sandy desert as the stage, with visuals projected on a large dune in which the dance takes place. Dancers, visuals, and sounds constantly assemble and disassemble in various forms, in a struggle of emotions and change. We build and achieve some shape, but there is nothing to hold onto as everything eventually falls apart like sand. We explore this question: “How do we accept the fact of impermanence in our life?” through a repetitive pattern. There are two final outcomes: an immersive multi-channel film installation, and a live performance in the desert.

Live Performance: In the desert, sand particles come together to create dunes. Continuously shaped by the wind, their forms constantly appear and disappear. It’s a process that’s very similar to that of ocean waves, but with different time spans for assembly and disassembly. Likewise, when we calmly observe our body and mind, we feel that they are formed by particles. For the body - bones, blood, muscles, organs, hairs…these particles come together in different ways, and will eventually disassemble and disappear. For the mind - images, letters, words, thoughts, feelings…these particles are also forming and disappearing. The body moves together with the mind, but both only have momentary assembly and disassembly. How are our body and mind different from ocean waves, or from sand dunes? Whatever we create, identify, or build, it’s all impermanent - 無常 (MUJO). The projected visuals on the dunes mimic this process by drawing abstract digital dunes on the real dunes. These visuals repeatedly disassemble as the dancers move, struggle, and flow with this constant change, climbing up and falling down the real dune, immersed in the projected visuals. Live musicians augment this ebb and flow with music that coalesces and fractures into textural elements.

Installation: MUJO Installation is a multi-channel video/sound installation that is both an extension of the live performance and its own interpretation of the performance piece. The installation seeks to deconstruct and re-imagine the body and its response to, and impact on, the elements (sand, water, wind). The multiple instances of video and sound allow the possibility of repetition, working with and against stillness/movement, creating intimacy/distance. This fractured sense of a contiguous landscape allows an intervention into Kiori Kawai’s meditative choreography.

Credits for MUJO Live Performance:
Art direction, choreography: Kiori Kawai
Art direction, visuals, music/sound composition, technical direction: Aaron Sherwood
Dance: Bettina Schober, Lillian Castillo-Müller, Leen ElMobaddr, Marwan Ali Ghunaim, Shruthi Rameshan
Percussion: Berke Õzcan
Flute: Cristina Ione
Audio mixing and mastering: Matteo Marciano
Coding: Aaron Sherwood
Commissioned by New York University Abu Dhabi Art Center and Al Katim Art Hub/Ahmed Saleh Al Yafei

Credits for MUJO Installation:
Art direction, choreography: Kiori Kawai
Art direction, visuals, music/sound composition, technical direction: Aaron Sherwood
Film direction: Surabhi Sharma
Dance: Mary Chase, Bettina Schober, Lillian Castillo-Müller, Leen ElMobaddr, Kiori Kawai
Cinematography: Talha Muneer, Nathan Jia, Surabhi Sharma
Film editing: Diksha Sharma
Editing assistant: Xiaozao Wang
Color Grading: Malay Ray
Audio mixing and mastering: Matteo Marciano
Percussion: Berke Õzcan
Flute: Cristina Ione
Coding: Aaron Sherwood
3D rendering: Pi Ko
Exhibition production: Mary Chase
Supported by New York University Abu Dhabi, Liwa Art Hub/Ahmed Saleh Al Yafei, Manarat Al Saadiyat