[Definition: Kurogo]
Kurogo is afigure on the stage dressed completely ni black from head to toe in Japanese traditional theatre genres of Bunraku puppetry and Kabuki. In the Japanese theatrical code, Kurogo signifies "invisible"/ "non-existent", functioning to support
the on-stage characters. In Bunraku, Kurogo animates puppets and handles props/ set. In Kabuki, Kurogo mainly serves as a stagehand. In both of these 400-year-old Bunraku and Kabuki, women have not been permitted to perform professionally on the stage. Recently, Kurogo has been appropriated in the Western puppetry context as Kuroko in what
they call "Bunraku-style" puppet works. The term "Kurogo" means "black garment"; the costume functions as the signifier of the wearer who is perceived as "invisible"/ "non-existent".

[Performance Art "Kurogo Me, Together!"]
"Kurogo Me, Together!" is a participatory performance art. The audience is invited to make the performer "invisible" by putting the Kurogo costume pieces one by one until she is completely dressed in black. Following that act, 2 audiences are asked to come up to the stage, being transformed into "invisible" Kurogo by the fellow audience members. They are given a chance to see/ experience the world from the point of view of “invisible” Kurogo.

Following this embodied simulation experience, they are navigated to the discussion forum to analyze and exchange their experience. Prompted by the 3 questions, the audience members talk about their embodied experience of erasing a person by dressing/ being erased by being dressed by someone else.

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"Kurogo Me, Together!" challenges the conventional performance-for-performance-sake format, and redefines the performance as a vehicle for an embodied social practice—performance, participatory act, and discussion forum as a set of performance art practice.
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[Accompanying installation "Commodify Me!"]

“Commodify Me!” is an accompanying installation performance art piece displayed at the entrance hall of the performance. It is a mock merchandise booth that sells the products related to the theme of “Kurogo Me” performance in satirical mode; each item has both limited and unlimited editions, and the limited edition items are 100 times more expensive than the unlimited items, which are exactly the same product but without the artist’s signatures/ serial

numbers. It is a critical commentary on the commodification of the art. The items are not mean to be for commodification purpose.

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[Kurogo garment that makes Ashizawa invisible]​The Kurogo costume in the performance was originally owned/worn by the professional Japanese male Kurogo puppeteer/ actor who is a close friend of Ashizawa’s. She saved his worn-out costume before it was disposed, and mended and adjusted it with the fabric pieces cut from the century-old black Japanese kimono owned by Ashizawa’s grandmother. As the number of “Kurogo Me” performance progresses (version 1.1 to 1.2 to 1.3, etc), the costume naturally deteriorates; each time, the added fabric pieces from her grandmother’s kimono will spread throughout the costume—maintaining the original with respect while reshaping/ recoding it to more fitted to her body.

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[Story behind the performance]

The Kurogo character was first developed in Ashizawa’s duo performance “I Cried Because I Had No Shoes Until…” commissioned by Physical Fest and performed in Liverpool, the U.K. in 2019. Ashizawa played the “invisible” Kurogo woman, animating multiple shoes on the stage throughout the show. What was perceived “invisible” figure was spotlighted, and “invisibility” became the core. Her co-performer, a British white male actor Matthew Austin. interacted with 100+ pairs of shoes without bodies manipulated by the “invisible” Kurogo woman, against the backdrop of Liverpool, the former colonial slave trade epicenter. The juxtaposition of two characters evoked the identity and gender politics.

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Ashizawa later developed the character further and created the participatory performance art piece “Kurogo Me version 1.0”, which was premiered in Art + Tech: An Asian American Experience exhibition in Brooklyn in 2023. 

Between November, 2023-June, 2024, Ashizawa performed “Kurogo Me version 1.1” in the Staller Center for the Arts, NY, “Kurogo Me version 1.2” at Assemble Fest, London, U.K., “Kurogo Me version 1.3” at La Biennale di Venezia Venice Night, Italy, “Kurogo Me version 1.4” at the National Institute for Directing & Ensemble Creation, MN.

After these tours, she felt more urgency to include the audience on a deeper level. Thus, for the Marquis series at Coe, Ashizawa developed the piece even further to enhance the element of audience participation. She added the section where the audience also becomes ”invisible“ on stage, followed by the discussion forum as a part of the performance. 

Developing the concepts and characters in multiple stages over a long time span is the trademark of  Ashizawsa’ s works, and the evolution of the piece itself is her performance art. 

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