Japan Society Presents 416 MINUTES June 2

As part of its Spring 2011 Performing Arts Season, Japan Society proudly presents a first look at a new work-in-progress, 416 MINUTES, from the visionary multimedia company WaxFactory. On Thursday, June 2, join 416 MINUTES creator and director Ivan Talijancic for a short film screening and Q&A session during which the audience is invited to share feedback as part of a collaborative developmental process, as video from this new multimedia theater work is revealed. This presentation gives audiences a behind-the-scenes look at WaxFactory's groundbreaking designs and its approach to a brand new piece inspired by the imagination of Haruki Murakami. Screening begins at 7:30 PM at Japan Society (333 East 47th Street) and is followed by a Meet the Artists reception. This event is FREE and open to the public.

416 MINUTES is a multimedia work for the stage, created collaboratively by artists from Japan and Eastern Europe. This compelling piece shadows an actress whose escape from a film studio sets her on a course of chance encounters in the unsettling hours of the night when everything takes on a particularly eerie glow.

WaxFactory is a New York-based multidisciplinary performance group dedicated to exploring a multiplicity of theatrical visions. Its founding members have developed and continue to nurture a hybrid approach based on unconventional narrative styles, original dramaturgy, visual and physical rigor, technological experimentation and site-specific work. The company is committed to ensemble creations and international collaborations. Since its formation in 1998, WaxFactory has remained one of the most internationally active multidisciplinary groups to emerge from the New York downtown scene, creating performance, installation, film and video works featuring a highly innovative blend of physical performance, audio-visual, architectural and fashion design, and an integrated use of new media and technology. The company is steadfast in its commitment to creating works that bring together artists from the company's core group in New York and abroad. WaxFactory's current artistic directors are its founding members Ivan Talijancic and Erika Latta.

Perhaps best known for site-specific works created for a variety of unconventional locations in New York - a former cannon factory in the Long Island City (former site of the New York Center for Media Arts), an abandoned storefront in Times Square, the 250,000 sq.ft. industrial property of the Old American Can Factory in Gowanus - WaxFactory has also presented work in venues committed to presenting innovative, boundary-pushing work, such as the Performance Space 122, HERE, Abrons Arts Center, Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, Soho Rep and New York Theatre Workshop and at festivals such as the undergroundzero, Prelude 08, Culturemart and NYC Fringe. The company's work has also been shown internationally at the ICA/Institute of Contemporary Arts (London), the Gulbenkian Foundation (Lisbon), SommerSzene (Salzburg), OLTRE90 (Milan), FIT/Festival Internacional de Teatro (Caracas), Bologna 2000 / Cultural Capital of Europe, MESS (Sarajevo), Adelaide Festival and Cankarjev Dom (Ljubljana), among others. The company's works to date include SILENCE OF SNOW (1998), LULU (1999/2000), THE BLIND GARDEN (1999), MOLIERE'S MONSTER (2001), LADYFROMTHESEA (2001-2003), QUARTET (2002), CLEANSED (2003), ...SHE SAID (2005), 39 FRAMES (2006), X (2007), DELIRIUM 27 (2008), BLIND.NESS (2008-2010) and QUARTET v4.0 (2010), along with several other collaborative projects created and developed by WaxFactory's founders and produced by other companies in the U.S. and abroad.