Registration REQUIRED by 4pm on March 3, 2026 in order to attend this event.
The East Central European Center at the Harriman Institute presents its Spring 2026 film screening and lecture series: After 2020: New Directions in Polish Cinema, exploring how Polish artists, filmmakers, and cultural initiatives have responded to sociopolitical issues in Poland and beyond. This series is organized by Chrisopher Caes and Cindy Sang.
Nina Fukuoka's composition, "Zansei," (2020) serves as a focal point for the collaboration-oriented practice that has defined her artistic output over the past eight years. Central to this journey is her ongoing partnership with filmmaker and animator Izumi Yoshida, with whom she has realized multiple projects. While no formal blueprint exists for such interdisciplinary work, their process is rooted in a unique synthesis of professional expertise, deep-seated friendship, and shared artistic intuition. In this talk, Fukuoka examines the creation of "Zansei" within a non-hierarchical, non-commercial collaborative structure. She explores how this process not only shapes the work itself but also reflects the intersecting creative identities within the contemporary Polish music and film landscape.
Program Note:
残生 (zansei) (2020)
In creating my piece “Zansei,” I collaborated with Izumi Yoshida, who made the video component. “Zansei” is a subjective collection of impressions, gestures, spaces, and rituals that make up a journey through memories. “Zansei” creates a fictional journey through an undiscovered dimension of the world. The hidden dimension is available to everyone who wants to plunge into space and try to understand the message behind the image and sound. “Zansei” is also a piece about facing the reality that nothing happens by chance and that we build our lives based on decisions. This is obviously a universal truth, but especially as a woman living in the present day, I feel that I live in a reality that differs from what is natural for me. I must cope with an imposed reality that I found and can only modify. I cannot really change it or model it; I can only build on it through my choices. This realization and awakening make me want to live the “rest of my life” (Japanese: “Zansei”) in harmony with my true nature.
