“It’s like we’re bugs. That’s right. We are. Laborers are bugs. Once you say it, it becomes real.” OLTA’s latest work dives deep into the ideological currents that flow from modernity to the present.
OLTA’s latest work, Eternal Labor, poses deeper questions about the ideologies that connect the modern era with contemporary times, a topic the collective has explored since GHOST OF MODERN (2013), which traced negative legacies throughout the world. After wide-ranging research in the Japanese archipelago and the Korean Peninsula, this collective now portrays the divisions and continuity between the era of the Japanese Empire and today, and the labor and exploitation that took place behind the scenes during economic development, projected onto the bodies of contemporary women. Focusing on issues within society such as women who have been objectified, bodies that can become pregnant, sexual discrimination, and power structures, the collective zeros in on what is at the root of labor that is devoid of meaning and lifestyles of consumerism through both an exhibition and a performance, as well as through the timeless and universal multilayered perspective and humor that is OLTA’s hallmark.
 
World Premiere
Aichi Triennale 2025: A Time Between Ashes and Roses – Performing Arts Program
Venue: Aichi Arts Center, Small Hall Dates: October 10–19, 2025 (Closed on the 14th) Running Time: 120 minutes
 
https://aichitriennale.jp/artist/olta.html
 
Cast:Ando Tomoko, Chong Ami, Mikajiri Keigo, Ota Kei, Inoue Toru, Saito Takafumi, Meguninja
Script:Meguninja
Direction:Jang-Chi
Stage Design:Hasegawa Yoshiro
Costume & Illustration:Inoue Toru
Props:Saito Takafumi
Sound Design:Inoue Toru, Masuda Yoshiki
Game Development:Usami Nao, Shibata Kazuhide
Lighting:Fujimoto Takayuki (Kinsei R&D)
Sound:Masuda Yoshiki
Video:Shibata Kazuhide, Takebe Ludo
Stage Manager:Sato Megumi
Translation:Ota kei
Logo Design:Yoon Deokjun
Production Coordinator:Shimizu Satomi
Cooperated by precog Co., Ltd.
Resarch Support:Mojiko Art Platform, Tantan Village
Supported by The Saison Foundation
 

 
Related articles
・A Dialogue between OLTA and River Lin on movements and behavior in Eternal Labor (OLTA’s new play), and social issues
https://in-transit.org/en/knowledge/eternal-labor/

Having researched the history of coal mines and miners in Hitachi, Ibaraki Prefecture, OLTA with this game / playing installation work (the experience can be completed with either one alone, in any order) questions the “gods” believed in and the “labor” dedicated to them in the present Japan, which has passed from the world of mythology to the age of modernization, and has been swept up in the postponed Olympics and the normalized state of emergency after the nuclear accident in Fukushima.
 
Game:
This is a game work that takes as its theme the social groups that supported modernization in the harsh labor environment of mining, and reads modern and contemporary history from the life and customs there, or from the traditions of festivals rooted in the land. The audience can download the game themselves and experience it using their own PCs. Players meet nine residents who are trying to organize a festival. Using the “Hitachi Mine” (closed in 1981), which was one of the largest copper mines in Japan, the mining city of Hitachi (Ibaraki Prefecture), which developed from the Hitachi Mine, and the “Hitachi Furyu Mono,” a giant float and karakuri puppet show, as specific clues, the player walks around the terrestrial world, simulating a different world of “exploring life in a mine. Once the exploration is complete, the festival begins. The floats respond to the player’s voice and proceed into the darkness of the underground world.
 
Land of the Living GAME〈TRAILER〉

 
【Live talk①】Aida Family (Makoto Aida, Hiroko Okada, Torajiro Aida)
https://youtu.be/3K_v156Y_Ok
【Live talk②】Natsumi Aoyagi × Ryota Yamada

 
Playing Installation:
What kind of “mine” is the city in which we live? How do we use and are we made to use our bodies and words, where are we transported to, and what are we digging up and burying there as if that is what our lives are about? The audience inside the theater will be seated inside the installation, and the audience outside the theater will be looking inward through images, both experiencing a journey that opens up a new vision of nature/city/labor.
 
YPAM2021 Direction, KAAT Kanagawa Arts Theatre, Yokohama / Kobe Art Village Center, Hyogo / BUoY, Tokyo

Having researched the history of coal mines and miners in Hitachi, Ibaraki Prefecture, OLTA with this game / playing installation work (the experience can be completed with either one alone, in any order) questions the “gods” believed in and the “labor” dedicated to them in the present Japan, which has passed from the world of mythology to the age of modernization, and has been swept up in the postponed Olympics and the normalized state of emergency after the nuclear accident in Fukushima.
 
What kind of “mine” is the city in which we live? How do we use and are we made to use our bodies and words, where are we transported to, and what are we digging up and burying there as if that is what our lives are about? The audience inside the theater will be seated inside the installation, and the audience outside the theater will be looking inward through images, both experiencing a journey that opens up a new vision of nature/city/labor.
 
Date (UTC+9)
12.11 Sat 19:00
12.12 Sun 13:00
12.12 Sun 18:00
 
Venue
KAAT Kanagawa Arts Theatre, Middle Studio
281 Yamashita-cho, Naka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 231-0023
 
Language
Game: Japanese or English / Playing Installation: Japanese (English summary provided)
 
https://ypam.jp/program/detail/?id=land-of-the-living&lang=en

Exhibition: occultic yo soy
Curation: Maaru Hiyama
Artist: OLTA, Yuki Harada
Date: 10.29-12.12 2021
Venue: Decameron
http://decameron.jp/