Osamu Shikichi — ur phantom eyes, our crystalized pains

ur phantom eyes, our crystallized pains (2020–) is an ongoing dance performance building on Shikichi’s choreographic practice over the years. Playing with wet (weird erotic tension) images or images of pain—such as a crucified body or the treatment of phantom limbs—the performance builds plural concepts of the body. Using their tongue to create and lick images, Shikichi imagines it as a screen and a third hand, praying and speaking to a new political eye which they cast on the human body. In doing so, the performance introduces doubts about our ideas of human bodies, remixing and hacking systems that determine what a body is in relation to the gaze. about Osamu Shikichi is a choreographer and dancer from Japan. Their practice questions the human body as something often taken for granted, challenging notions of bodily self-possession and identity. Shikichi explores the idea of the anonymous body through performance, video and mediated sculptures, blurring and remixing how bodies are recognised, gazed upon and politicised. Drawing on personal experiences of dissonance between body and mind, their work focuses on wet movements, ASMR-like sensations and the circulation of affects across human and non-human bodies. https://www.instagram.com/osamu_shikichi/ Bâtard is a Brussels-based performance festival presenting local and international emerging artists. https://www.instagram.com/batardbrussels — Choreography and performance Osamu Shikichi Past research supports Yuri Sakai, Kenta Kuroda, Ayaka Fujita, Chiho Utsugi, Emi Ogura, Ching Shu Huang, Géraldine Haas, Luis Garay, Stefa Govaart, and more Special thanks Pola Art foundation, P.A.R.T.S., and more. Image: a rose on the pain (2024), Brielle, ink on the tongue