Encounter history and transform the future
二度と(NI DO TO): an XR pilgrimage is a transformative lobby experience of shared connection that journeys through ancestral joy, historical trauma, and community resilience with the narrative of Japanese American incarceration.
Experience this exhibit through mixed-reality, classical and digital interactive technology, dance film, and visual art and let its reflective activities help you explore current and future solidarities with communities facing the violence of xenophobic and racist policies.
NI DO TO, which in Japanese means “Never Again,” is an opportunity to intimately encounter the creative process of a live performance through investigating, examining, and experiencing history.
Four distinctive works of art, ranging from XR (extended reality) installations to Origami, have been created by Atlanta- and California-based creative partners in collaboration with Georgia Tech faculty, staff, and students.
NI DO TO will be free and open to the public in the lobby of the Ferst Center for the Arts on the Georgia Tech campus.
Open Tuesday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m., from October 3 through October 27 (closed Oct. 21 for home football game).
COLLABORATORS
Lead Conceptual Artist
Yayoi Kambara
Creative Producers
Courtney Ozaki (Japanese Arts Network) & Onur Topal-Sümer
Artists/Technologists
John Crawford, Jerushia Graham, Dana Kawano, Courtney Ozaki, Kris Pilcher, Daniel Schmidt, Shirley Su, Onur Topal-Sümer, Milka Trajkova, Max Woo, and Ida Yoshinaga
Commissioned by Georgia Tech Arts
NI DO TO is presented by Georgia Tech Arts in collaboration with KAMBARA+ and the participating artists, with support from the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival Seed Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, the George and Sakaye Aratani "Community Advancement Research Endowment" Awards, California Nonprofit Performing Arts Grant Program, Metalmark Partners, the Fulton County Public Art Futures Lab, and Full Radius Dance
Special thanks to CRUX, Nathalie Matychak, Brian Magerko and the Expressive Machinery Lab at Georgia Tech, Noah Posner and the Interactive Product Design Lab at Georgia Tech, Tiffany Schmidt, Douglas Scott, Aaron Shackelford, and Michaela Ternasky-Holland
The Spirit of Obon with Nobuko Miyamoto
Nobuko Miyamoto is an icon of Asian American music and activism. Through this hologram, join folk dancer, Chie Saito, and KAMBARA+ dancer, Lani Yamanaka, in learning Nobuko’s Bon Odori dance Kangie (Gathering of Joy).
Janice Mirikitani Poetry Machine
Former incarceree of the Rohwer, Arizona concentration camp, San Francisco’s poet laureate, and culture bearer Janice Mirikitani offered up words of wisdom through her writings, poetry, and activism.
Card illustration by Shirley Su.
Packing and Unpacking: A Virtual Suitcase
How would you pack your belongings with dignity, bringing only what you can carry, without knowing your destination or how long you would be there?
With this virtual guided experience in collective memory, designed by digital artist Max Woo, you will participate in the scenario that over 125,284 Japanese Americans encountered during World War II.
NI-DO-TO (Never Again): A Creative Reflection
Ni Do To translated from Japanese to English means “Never Again.” Reflect on all that you have experienced and taken in from your journey through this exhibition on the lived experiences of Japanese Americans during World War II. Write your reflection on a tag and hang it on the art installation wall as a symbol of your commitment to ensure that these tragedies and injustices will NI-DO-TO “Never Again” happen.
Photos, videos, and illustrations courtesy of the project participants and Georgia Tech Arts.