Andy Cavatorta

The Microcosm Projectors are my first purely visual pieces. Both contain tiny cut paper worlds in motion. They were created for the performance Simulacrum, which tells the mythical-feeling life story of its principal dancer — 77-year-old, Japanese-born Flamenco legend Shōji Kojima.

(from Winter Guests' description) Simulacrum is a visceral, multi-disciplinary performance incorporating the familial formality of Kabuki; the prideful energy of Flamenco, and the instinctive physical language of Contemporary dance.

Shōji (b. 1939) is a Japanese flamenco dancer famous in both Spain and Japan for his skills and his invention of new styles.

Simulacrum tells the story of his childhood in which his biological father and uncle were his legal uncle and father (respectively) and lived in two identical houses at the edge of a silent forest.

He developed a passion for opera that he felt must be kept a secret. Eventually, he fled his home and took the Trans-Siberian Railway to Spain.

Intending to study opera in Madrid, he found himself more and more fascinated with flamenco. He was soon accepted into legendary flamenco studios and founded new groups, becoming a star of the flamenco world.

Simulacrum was a production of Winter Guests, with director and choreographer Alan Lucien Øyen and writer Andrew Wale.

I collaborated with Åsmund Færavaag, their longtime set designer, on concepts, designs, and prototypes.

Train Window Projector sets the backdrop for the story of the train journey that separates his repressive childhood from his first experiences reinventing himself in Europe.

These featured tiny cut paper worlds made by illustrator Nicole Skibola.

Shōji spent much of his childhood in the forest, pondering his own identity and future. The forest images are full of portent and mystery. I wanted a forest that was still and ever-moving at the same time. I came up with a technique using layers of cut-out forest and optical tricks with refraction and focus.