Eiko Otake: An Interview

Born and raised in Japan and a resident of New York since 1976, Eiko Otake is a movement-based, interdisciplinary artist. She worked for more than 40 years as Eiko & Koma, but since 2014 has been working on her own projects. Her works often investigate themes of death and dying, history, and the persistence of collective memory. Eiko has also broadened her collaborative practice to create interdisciplinary work with artists from different backgrounds and disciplines, both alive and deceased. The outcomes of these creative encounters, which are never final, often result in various forms of presentation including music, performance, video, installation, and more. 

In this interview with Elise Butterfield, Eiko describes her upbringing and educational experiences, influences, and training in Japan and Europe. She talks about her performance career in the United States and how her partnership with Koma developed, the role of nature and natural phenomena in their performance pieces, and then about her shift to working as a solo artist and with different collaborators.