Learning from Randori

March 16, 2019 performance at the Orange County Museum of Art

This performance, conceived and directed by Soto-Díaz, took place within Everyday Grappling Operations. Four judokas from Bunasawakai dojo practiced randori simultaneously, within the space of the installation, in an interplay with eight art performers designated as the spiral time-keepers. The performance centered on repeated falling and rising, as a way to understand the role of affect and contingency in power relations.

The performance takes its title from Learning from Las Vegas, which re-imagined how we understand the architecture of the everyday, here interpreted as affective architecture. Judo founder Jigoro Kano described randori as a free-form, random exercise of combat practiced with agreed-upon rules. Combatants may use any judo technique, including throwing, choking and holding an opponent down, provided they do not hurt each other and operate within the framework of judo practice.