The Ikigai Machine Experience art installation meets live-action role-playing with a lens on disability inclusion.
Myles de Bastion, artistic director and musician, whose work enables sound to be experienced as light and vibration partners with Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA) to host The Ikigai Machine Experience. This experimental project is a continuation of works recently developed at N M Bodecker Foundation.
Set to a science-fiction story of an inventor born in a world without sound. The work centers upon audience-participation through puzzle-solving, role-playing and sensory immersion with sound substituted with non-verbal communication, light, and tactile phenomena. The narrative is inspired by de Bastion’s own perceptual experiences as a Deaf musician and features imaginative environments including a Crystal Cave Mine, Doctors Lab, Neon City and more. Project collaborators include musician/producer Chris Funk (The Decemberists), lighting and scenic designer Jeremy Roth (Wilco), Vibrotextile wearables lab Music: Not Impossible & Cinco Design, and filmmaker Andre Gray (Beyond Tone).
The experience empathizes disability inclusion, with an all Deaf cast who communicate with guests via non-verbal means. Accessibility features such as captioning and audio description are incorporated as key components of the science fiction narrative providing access through universal design and a unique theatrical experience for both disabled and non-disabled.
Myles de Bastion is indebted to support from Regional Arts & Culture Council, Oregon Arts Commission, Art Matters Foundation, N M Bodecker Foundation and Portland Institute for Contemporary Arts.
The Ikigai Machine Experience will take place at PICA, 15 NE Hancock Street, where de Bastion is currently in residence.
Friday, February 28, 2020 – 11:00-2:00PM (Private showings for Press & Community Groups, contact Roya Amirsoleymani at or 503-242-1419 x18).
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