Tsu-tsu has developed a practice called “Documentary Acting,” a process of interviewing real individuals and embodying their lives through performance, originating from the bodily awareness of “tsutsu” (a tube) cultivated through training in classical Japanese dance. Tsu-tsu views this method as an attempt to create a space for dialogue with others within their own body. 
During this fellowship, they aim to critically examine this practice within the context of American society and propose new models of multicultural coexistence. In collaboration with public policy researchers and practitioners of Therapeutic Community approaches, they will investigate the extent to which the ideal of “crossing borders through imagination” can engage with real-world social challenges, centering on projects such as identifying and portraying individuals who share the same date of birth.
Photo by Ryu Ika

Profile Tsu-tsu 
Tsu-tsu is an artist whose practice centers on performance and community-based projects. Since relocating to Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, in 2022, they have directed the artist-run residency 6okken. Their recent work includes a performance in Doris Uhlich’s Habitat / Halle E (2019) and the solo exhibition On the Land at Towada Art Center (2023). They founded the alternative art space F/Actory in Tokyo in 2018 and conducted cultural research across Europe and North America with support from Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 2019. They are a fifth-term recipient of the Kuma Foundation Creator Scholarship and a recipient of the 28th Student CG Contest Grand Prize and the Yamanashi Prefecture Award at the Yamanashi Media Arts Award 2023–24.