o-loqu-san
おloquさん
2026 / Performance / Collaboration with Mayo Koide, Kumiko Takahashi
“お(o)loquさん(san)” started through encounters between three artists. おloquさん is neither human nor object. If it must be described, it is a situation that the three mutter together. Kansai dialect speakers often add the polite prefix “お(o)” and/or the honorific suffix “さん(san)” to non-human things, especially in Kyoto. This is said to have originated from the gosho kotoba (imperial court dialect) spoken by nobles, with warm, welcoming expressions such as “o-mame-san” (beans), “o-inari-san” (inari), “o-hi-san” (sun) still commonly heard today. This pairs interestingly with the ability of the Japanese language to both integrate and delineate foreign things, incorporating all words into its three different writing systems—kanji, hiragana, and katakana—while using them to distinguish these words’ origins. “おloquさん” places “お(o)” and “さん(san)” on either side of the word “loqu” (originating from the Latin word for “to speak”), creating an unintuitive combination. This represents an attempt by Mayo Koide, hayate kobayashi, and Kumiko Takahashi to peer into what emerges at the borders demarcated by words, as well as at the points where they merge.

おloquさん is a collaborative performance by Mayo Koide and Kumiko Takahashi. Both artists work with words. In this performance, their different approaches to using language sometimes blend together and at other times drift apart.

My part consists of a radio-tower apparatus (white one) and “poetry-riding” with a bicycle radio station apparatus. Each viewer receives a radio. From the former apparatus, voices of Asian transborderers to Kansai are broadcast on FM waves. The voices include those of the chief priest at the Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Kobe, a literature researcher from Pusan, a Taiwanese literature researcher from Miaoli, and the chef in a Nepalese/Indian restaurant in Osaka. The transborderers’ dilemma, driven by visa requirements, is depicted through the voices.


Photo by Toshiaki Nakatani. Courtesy of Kyoto Experiment.

My part consists of a radio-tower apparatus (white one) and “poetry-riding” with a bicycle radio station apparatus. Each viewer receives a radio. From the former apparatus, the voices of Asian transborderers to Kansai are broadcast on FM waves. The voices include those of the chief priest at the Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Kobe, a literature researcher from Pusan, a Taiwanese literature researcher from Miaoli, and the chef in a Nepalese/Indian restaurant in Osaka. The transborderers’ dilemma, driven by visa requirements, is depicted through the voices.


Photo by Toshiaki Nakatani. Courtesy of Kyoto Experiment.

 

Photo by Kim Song Gi (slide//show). Courtesy of Kyoto Experiment.

Playwrights and Directors: Mayo Koide, hayate kobayashi, Kumiko Takahashi
Performers: Mayo Koide, hayate kobayashi, Kumiko Takahashi, HABURI
Voice and Performance: Kumiko Takahashi
Art and Moving Images: Mayo Koide, hayate Kobayashi
Translation: hayate Kobayashi, Kei Ota,Jeliet Reiko Knapp
Setup：Tadaya Miyashita
Interviewee：Seungyeon Kim, Makito Shindo, Hinako Chikashige, Thich Duc Tri, Makoto Matsushita, Marilou Ramos Kinomoto, Ariel Ling-chun Liu, Asian Izakaya Lotus
In co-operation with HAPS, Gallery PARC
Supported by Arts Support Kansai

“Echoes Now“ Performance Credits
Stage Management:Yohei Sogo
Assistant Stage Managers : Koutarou Tategami, Kazunari Uchida
Lighting: Chisako Yasutake(RYU)
Sound:Kota Uematsu
Video:Yoshitaka Shimada, Richi Owaki
Surtitles Operator:Shohei Maeda
Stage Technician:Yuhi Kobayashi, Mao Sakai
Production Management :Hiroshi Watanabe, Yoshimi Toyoyama
Flyer Design:Atsuko Takeuchi
Intern:Karen Ito, Rina Kono, Keisuke Yoroz