Founded in Tokyo, Japan, in 1984, the performance ensemble dumb type consists of diverse artists from various backgrounds in the visual arts, architecture, music composition, computer programming and the performing arts.
The multimedia collective combines sophisticated technology with nontraditional dance-theater to convey visually stimulating and philosophically provocative content. Known for its cynical portrayals of a world dominated and controlled by technology, the group tackles global issues such as AIDS and depression.
Dumb type's latest work, "memorandum," playing at On the Boards/Behnke Center for Contemporary Performance from March 7-10, delves into the decreasing authenticity of human memories in the wake of computer-generated replications. The piece explores the shift in people's subconscious since the advent of photography, emphasizing the constant barrage of images that selectively define a person's identity. "memorandum" sheds considerable doubt on the value of replacing experiences with effigies.
Using technology as its medium as well as its message, dumb type inundates the viewer with incessant high-speed visual flashes and electronic noise juxtaposed against the quiet choreography of silhouetted dancers and the haunting voices of a fragmented narrative.
The set is simple and bare, waiting and wanting to be filled. But it too becomes oversaturated with information, much like the lives that "memorandum" reflects.
The performers in "memorandum" move through what is referred to as a "forest of memory," a likely reference to the notion that we can't see the forest because of the trees. Even the group's name, dumb type, refers to a lack of words rather than the more obvious deficiency of intelligence.
Although there is a clear and powerful intent behind its creations, dumb type is aware, and possibly relishes, the fact that the irony of its work may be lost in the translation. The same piece that attributes great downfalls of human existence to technology is itself dependent on the technology used to create and perform it.
The creative and subtle messaging of dumb type, attributable to its roots in Japanese culture, distinguishes the group from other technologically adept artists. The members, who originally met while students at the Kyoto University of The Arts, spent most of their time discussing social issues rather than art.
They shared a need to create something substantial and meaningful with their talents - a challenging goal in a country known for political apathy. In describing dumb type's political nature, the late Teiji Furuhashi, one of dumb type's leading members, said, "Japanese audiences don't want to see [political commentary]. They want to avoid it. They just want to get some entertainment."
Despite, or perhaps because of, their dissenting cultural views, dumb type rose to critical acclaim in Japan and throughout the world, bringing its highly intellectual and exciting performances to avid fans of dance, art and "audiovisual architectonics."
Dumb type's "memorandum" will be performed at the On the Boards/Behnke Center for Contemporary Performance, 100 W. Roy St., from March 7-10 at 8 p.m. Tickets: $26. Information/ticket purchase: 217-9888.
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