INTO THE FLOW: COLLECTIVE IMPROVISATION 

WITH CONTACT GONZO & MASAMITSU ARAKI 

 Event information

When Bodies Collide: Japanese Performance Rebels Come to Saigon

Ho Chi Minh City – July 2025 – For the first time, The Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam and Project Đẩy Sàn, in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut Ho Chi Minh City, MORUA, and venue partner Ho Chi Minh City Dance School, are honored to introduce the acclaimed performance art collective contact Gonzo and sound artist Masamitsu Araki from Japan to Vietnam.

This significant collaboration will feature the performance “untitled movements with a sound artist Araki staring and playing with it” taking place on July 15, 2025, at Nina Next Space, 180/1 Nguyen Tat Thanh Street, Ward 13, District 4, Ho Chi Minh City. Additionally, the “the storm/saigon” workshop will be conducted from July 16-18, 2025, culminating in a public performance on July 19, 2025, at Ho Chi Minh City Dance School, 155 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, Ward 6, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City.

This initiative represents a dedicated effort by Japan Foundation, Project Đẩy Sàn, and other co-organizing partners to introduce novel performance styles to Vietnam, aiming to foster new possibilities within the local performance practice.

“untitled movements with a sound artist Araki staring and playing with it” presents an experimental experience, an invitation to feel and reflect on the nature of improvisation in performance. Combining references from contact improvisation with the “gonzo” techniques of legendary journalist Hunter S. Thompson, contact Gonzo will lead audiences through bold movements that emerge in the moment of contact between bodies and bodies, bodies and space. Their performances, thus, are site specific, always seeking out and responding to new forms of physical contacts. Accompanied by a live soundscape recorded and broadcasted on-site by artist Masamitsu Araki, the piece contemplates the origin of movements entangled between bodies, rhythm, sound, space, and time instead of isolated and rehearsed choreography.

Infused with the spirit of street art and skateboarding culture, contact Gonzo does not merely perform. Punching, slamming, grappling, scuffling, staggering – they explore human body limits and invite audiences to experience the performance with all their senses while reflecting on their corporeal presence and connection in everyday context.

■ Credits                                                                                             

Organizers: The Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam, Project Đẩy Sàn, Goethe-Institut Ho Chi Minh City

Collaboration: MORUA, Ho Chi Minh City Dance School

■ About the performers                                                                         

1. The performance collective: contact Gonzo

contact Gonzo is a collective from Osaka, Japan, that combines contact improvisation references with legendary journalist Hunter S. Thompson’s “gonzo” aesthetics. They work in public sites, mountains, rivers, galleries, museums, theaters, and alleys around the world, with performances that may seem either a street mosh or a sophisticated dance. Besides being a company, contact Gonzo is also the name of a method they have developed by Masaru Kakio and Yuya Tsukahara starting in 2006.

Besides urban interventions, they also work on creation of installations, videos, and photography, editing magazines, even catering and creating performance pieces for theaters and international dance festivals. In recent years, contact Gonzo became the focus of increasing attention in both the performing arts and contemporary art scenes. Currently, contact Gonzo consists of four members with different backgrounds, including Masakazu Kobayashi, Takuya Matsumi, Keigo Mikajiri, and Yuya Tsukahara. The group has been Saison Foundation’s granted artists since 2011.

2. Sound artist: Masamitsu Araki

Masamitsu Araki is a Kyoto-based artist, composer, and sound designer. His practice is both music-centered and located on the fringes of music, pursuing the creativity of listening through humorous approaches and prompting us to rethink contexts and effects by reconnecting that creativity with music.

He constructs sound fields via unique interpretations and processes, which he presents in a wide range of formats, including theater pieces, installations, performances, tours, and recordings. His recent work includes Vacant TT (2024), a performance created with workshop participants, and the outdoor concert Soundtrack for Midnight TAMURO (2021), featuring an “orchestra” of custom cars. Araki is also a member of the music group NEW MANUKE.

■ Workshop and public showcase “the storm/saigon”                                              

At the beginning of 2025, contact Gonzo collaborated with dot architects, a collective of architects based in Osaka (Japan) to make “the storm”, a performance reimagining waves offshore on stage. Centered on improvisation and interaction, the performers wove together their unique vocal expressions into a soundscape of waves rising, falling and converging. When reaching the climax of surging waves before the storm, they shifted the harmony of sounds into a cacophony of screams, shouts and gasps, pushing the piece beyond mere sonic representation toward something raw and visceral: a streetwise storm, waves by urban kids.

Building on that experiment, “the storm/saigon” is an open invitation for those curious about movement practices to join and co-create a performance that reimagines waves before the storm strikes. Co-led by contact Gonzo and sound artist Masamitsu Araki, this workshop will guide participants through simple yet “gonzo” movement and vocal exercises to explore rhythms within our bodies and sense others’ movements. This will be a playground for experimentation, exploration, and fun. At the end of the workshop, on July 19, 2025, participants will present a public performance showcasing the results of their collective exploration.

■ Images for PR and references                                                                     

the storm archive 2024 by Inouye Yosikazu

Premiere of Wooden Vandal by contact Gonzo_ Photo by Didzis Grodzs

Vacant TT_Photos (courtesy of Masamitsu Araki)

■ For inquiries on the program, please contact at 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
Ms. Bao Ngoc 024-3944-7419 (máy lẻ. 113) | Mr. Osuka (076-606-0858)
The Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam
27 Quang Trung, Cua Nam ward, Hanoi, Vietnam (27 Quang Trung, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi, Vietnam)
TEL 024-3944-7419