APAF2020 will be held online under the theme “Anti-Body Experiment.”

In light of the current situation, many artists in the performing arts have already started to take action online, streaming footage of past performances or performing conversational theater works on Zoom. These efforts, coming from a love for this art form, have been captivating audiences through their screens. But this conversion of performing arts into online content is ultimately a simulated theater experience for riding out the present situation. We must instead transform online content into performing art, by creating work specially for the online platform or devising new ways of communication where the online environment itself sparks new discoveries. Having the intelligence and resilience to persevere until the spread of the coronavirus subsides is essential, but intelligence and resilience that come into play in keeping the performing arts alive in the current circumstances, is one of the “antibodies” that will be developed in our exposure to the coronavirus, an antibody against “not being able to gather.” Whatever the circumstances may be in October (when the presentations of the programs will be held), in Tokyo and across Asia, we will earnestly confront this reality of “not being able to gather” at APAF2020, as well as carefully consider the tragedies brought about by the pandemic, and the ruptures that it has exposed.
     APAF2020: “Anti-Body Experiment” involves developing resistance, or “antibodies,” that allow us to engage in the performing arts even during future pandemics; it is also an experiment in transforming the online world, in other words the realm of the non-physical (anti-body), into performing art. The choice to hold APAF online is not pessimistic in the least. Through a combination of the strengths of online formats, which overcome distance to create connections, and the performing arts, which help us become aware of what is happening in the here and now, we will work towards creating a future post-coronavirus, where we can coexist with the virus.