Eiko Otake
July 2018

Born and raised in Japan and a resident of New York since 1976, Eiko Otake is a movement–based, interdisciplinary artist. After working for more than 40 years as Eiko & Koma, she now performs as a soloist and directs her collaborative projects.

Eiko’s solo project, A Body in Places, began with a 12-hour performance at the 30th Street Station in Philadelphia in 2014. Since then, she has performed site-specific variations of A Body in Places at over 70 sites. In 2016, Eiko was the subject of the 10th annual Danspace Platform, a month-long curated program that brought her a special Bessies citation, an Art Matters grant, and the Anonymous Was a Woman Award. Battery Park City, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC,) and New York University’s Skirball Center co-commissioned Eiko’s monologue performance, Slow Turn, for the 20-year anniversary of 9/11.

Eiko’s multi-dimensional project, A Body in Fukushima, is a decade-long collaboration with historian/photographer William Johnston. Since 2014, they visited Fukushima, Japan five times to record Eiko performing alone for Johnston’s camera in irradiated landscapes affected by the 2011 nuclear meltdowns. Eiko has presented these photos in many exhibitions, lectures, memorial events, and performances. Their book of photography and essays, A Body in Fukushima, was published in 2021. A feature length film of the same title premiered in 2022 at the Museum of Modern Art’s Doc Fortnight Festival and was selected for the 2024 Yokohama Triennale.