Future Ideations Camp Vol. 7 Super Sober Shamanism: Exploring Synchronization, Co-presence, and Mimesis through Theatre and Technology

A short, intensive workshop hosted by Civic Creative Base Tokyo [CCBT], a hub for developing people’s creativity in ways that meaningfully engage with society through art and digital technology, and Performing Arts Festival: Autumn Meteorite 2025 Tokyo. It aims to provide a space for learning about the use of technology in theater, as well as creating networking opportunities for professional explorations of the medium and proposing new frameworks for the theater of the future.

The curriculum will be designed by three program directors: media artist God Scorpion, theatermaker and director Chiharu Shinoda, and performance researcher Masato Eguchi. The guest lecturers hold various titles such as XR artist, contemporary witch, novelist, and musician, all of them engaged in widely interdisciplinary activities. Participants will attend lectures and workshops over the course of five days, followed by a one-week creation period to present their final results and exhibit their works.

The final presentations and results exhibition is expected to take many forms, such as performances, talks, and VR artworks. Whether the participants are interested in technology or performance, they will use tools and ways of thinking that are new and unfamiliar to them. This camp will surely bring a sense of unknown creative expression to the participants, lecturers, and audience members alike.

: Cooking a meal while listening to the radiko app. Drinking a beer while waiting for a live stream to begin. Checking the predicted location of rain clouds thirty minutes from now on the forecast map. Our everyday landscape today emerges from such multiplex layers of time, space, and physicality.
We, the directors of this program, have developed a concept of what constitutes technology and theatre as the superimposing of many phenomena: different entities superimposing their own temporalities and spatialities while retaining their respective differences of rhythm and desire (that is, a state of synchronization and co-presence); and superimposing onto a body or personality another (or many other) bodies and personalities through the act of mimesis. By further superimposing the effects of superimposition that forms the basis of technology and theatre, how can we redefine, expand, or multiply the two?
In order to explore technology and theatre, it is vital first to try moving your hands and body. This camp will feature various intuitive tools, such as a peeler, a blacklight for detecting Anisakis parasites, and a smart and versatile built-in stove called Pipitto Konro. The participants will learn how to use them with instructors well versed in various technologies related to performance, including forms of digital embodiment like AI and extended reality, sound design, and text manipulation. They will then divide into teams and develop a performance and exhibit over the creative phase of the camp.
The somehow spellbinding aura that surrounds new technology re-summons the ritualistic character of theatre and the shamanistic nature of acting—though it will be a super sober shamanism that coolly and calmly circumvents ecstatic frenzy.

Masato Eguchi, God Scorpion, Chiharu Shinoda

: Masato Eguchi (researcher)
God Scorpion (media artist)
Chiharu Shinoda (theatre maker and director, after-school instructor, tour guide)

: JACKSON kaki (artist, DJ, VJ, video artist, graphic designer)
Yuma Kishi (artist)
Madoka (modern witch, artist)
You Nakai (Side Effects Lab of the University of Tokyo)
Tomohito Wakui (visual artist, music artist, Director and Curator / WHITEHOUSE)
Hiroki Yamamoto (novelist, designer, critic, editor / director, Inu no Senaka-za)

Masato Eguchi

Masato Eguchi is a researcher specializing in theatre, performance, and culture and representation. Following periods as a visiting scholar at New York University Tisch School of the Arts, an assistant professor at the Rikkyo University College of Contemporary Psychology, and working for syuz’gen LLC, he currently teaches at the Rikkyo University College of Contemporary Psychology and Atomi University Faculty of Literature. His main research interest is to investigate, from historical and theoretical perspectives, how the performative turn has influenced artistic practices and society at large in postwar United States. As an actor, Masato’s credits include the original production of chelfitsch’s “Five Days in March” (2004) and a revival of the play in 2018 for the In da House Projects series.

God Scorpion

The media artist God Scorpion’s work explores metaphysics, the philosophy of religion, and technology, and themes of changing temporal and spatial frames. His interdisciplinary and multimedia work utilizes extended reality technology and unfolds in various spaces, from the city to outdoors, indoors, and the body. God Scorpion is a founding member and senior art director at STYLY, Inc., which provides the extended reality platform STYLY.

Chiharu Shinoda

Chiharu Shinoda excels at distinguishing between multiple environments, placing them in a space, and arranging them without closing them off. In 2004, she founded FAIFAI with fellow students at Tama Art University, serving as the core member of the company directing, writing, and planning its productions until her departure in 2012. She then moved to Bangkok and launched a solo practice. In March 2020, she returned to Japan and based herself in Nerima, Tokyo. In 2020, Chiharu produced the online performance “The 5×5×5 Legged Stool” in partnership with the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media. In 2022, she directed “no plan in duty”, which was performed at a house in Tokyo. At Bigakko, Shinoda teaches a course called How to Quit Acting.

Civic Creative Base Tokyo [CCBT]

Civic Creative Base Tokyo (CCBT) is a hub for developing your creativity in ways that meaningfully engage with society through art and digital technology. Equipped with creative spaces and studios, CCBT organizes a wide-ranging program of events and projects to serve as a driving force for making Tokyo better through creativity and technology.

CCBT Website

Camp

Dates: Wed Oct 1 – Sun Oct 12, 11:00am – 7:00pm

Pre-orientation (online) for participants (Day 0) will be held on Tue Sep 9.

How to apply for Camp

Application Period: Wed Jul 23 – Sun Aug 31, 2025
Capacity: Approximately 20 participants *subject to selection based on application content
Participation Fee: Free of charge
For details on the curriculum and application guidelines, please visit the CCBT website

Final Presentation and Results Exhibition

Final Presentations: Sun Oct 12, 2:00pm – 5:00pm
Results Exhibition: Wed Oct 15, – Sun, Oct 19, 1:00pm – 7:00pm

Closes at 5:00pm on the final day

Venue: Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre │Atelier West
Price: Free Admission
Reservation: TBA

: Free Admission (Reservation Required)

Program Direction: Takayuki Ito (CCBT)
Dramaturg: Yoshiro Hatori (Autumn Meteorite), Yusuke Kimura (&Co.)
Program Management: Hirohiko Hanzawa (Autumn Meteorite), Haruka Ito (CCBT), Moeko Kashima, Rin Terada (Autumn Meteorite)
Technical Direction: Daiki Miura (arsaffix)
Technical Staff: Miki Hirase (arsaffix), Shunpei Inada (CCBT), Yuya Ito (arsaffix), Masashi Otsuto (CCBT)

For general inquiries

お問合せ先

Tokyo Festival Executive Committee Office

+81-3-6812-1663

- Weekdays (except venue holidays) 11:00am - 5:00pm

For Camp inquiries