Artistic Research and Kendo

“As a scenographer and visual artist, I am highly inspired by the martial arts practice of Kendo (Japanese fencing) and its philosophy that is based on Zen Buddhism. Kendo suggests a lifelong pursue of the cultivation of the character in order to become a better person. As a result of that, to make the world a better place with peace, respect, responsibility and awareness… Practising Kendo is quite confronting and challenging. Particularly, on accepting fears, embracing failure, gaining perseverance, endurance and striving for continuous self-improvement.

“I see this way of practising very similar to my artistic research practice. While Kendo is teaching me how to become a better person, the artistic research is teaching me how to become a better artist. One pushes me to discover my own character, the other, my artistic identity. Both are practice based. Therefore, I have to learn from experiences by doing, making, thinking, reading, writing, asking questions and reflecting on them.”