Junko Wada: Chidori

Editor: Edition A·B·Fischer in cooperation with the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, 2004
With contributions in German and English by Bernd Schulz, Volker Straebel, Akio Suzuki and others
Illustrations by Akinbode Akonbiyi and Gerhard Kassner
Hardcover, 160 pages
Including Video-DVD and about 270 colour and Duotone illustrations
ISBN: 3-937434-04-6
Price: € 33

Out of print, possibly available in antiquarian bookshops. Book on zvab.com

Chidori is a small Japanese bird whose swaying flight resembles dancing. This book was published on the occasion of a series of performances that Junko Wada—a Japanese painter, performing artist, and dancer living in Berlin—staged together with another 20 artists: it is a documentation of these same performances, but also of some earlier works. A video-DVD, which highlights last year's activities, is included in the volume.

For about ten years now, Yunko Wada's work has been recorded by African photographer Akinbode Akonbiyi, who is living in Berlin, and Berlin-born Gerhard Kassner, each of them applying his individual point of view. In his foreword Bernd Schulz explains how painting/writing and dance merge. Volker Straebel contextualizes the work of Junko Wada. A very personal text by Akio Suzuki looks back at Wada's origins, and a description of the project as well as some texts about the two photographers complete the text section. The illustrations include some facsimiles of Japanese calligraphies taken from the diaries developed in the project.