MAIKO KIKUCHI
Maiko Kikuchi is a Brooklyn based artist, who received her B.A. in Theatre Arts from Musashino Art University, Japan in 2008, and her M.F.A. in Sculpture from Pratt Institute in 2012. She has extensive multifaceted professional experience in the areas of illustration, painting, drawing, collages, sculpture, animation, and puppetry/performance. Her recent self direction object theatre piece Daydream Tutorial has shown at LaMaMa as part of their 57th Puppet Festival program and theatres across NYC including St. Ann’s Warehouse, Japan Society, Dixon Place, FiveMyles, JACK, Wild Project, among others. As a visual artist, Kikuchi has been committed to different musicians/bands and created their music videos. Her art works has been exhibited at Ca’d’ Oro Gallery, HERE, Parasol Project, Jamestown Art Center (RI), Gallery HANA (Tokyo), Clown Heights Film Festival. She is currently an Artist in Residence at HERE, collaborating with artist/writer Spencer Lott.
Our creative team is interested in creating a theatrical event inspired by traditional Japanese ghost stories. We feel this is the most dynamic genre to explores themes of fear, vulnerability, hysteria and cultural isolation that led to that led to President Roosevelt’s executive order authorizing the internment of American citizens. Within our ghost story we believe puppetry provides the greatest opportunity to explore scale, rhythm, and magic. By embarking on this new project we are seeking proactive ways to tell stories that speak to our current political and social climate. For our creative team, a cross-cultural examination of a shared history was the perfect place to start.