Photo credit: Kidows Kim, High Gear. © Hubert Crabière
Extramural Performance | Club SAW | 67 Nicholas St, Ottawa, ON
High Gear
Kidows Kim
- Extramural Performance
The 45-minute performance will begin at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, October 21, 2026, at the SAW Club.
Kidows Kim's performance High Gear is presented as part of a Canadian tour presented by L'Écart (Rouyn-Noranda), in partnership with Filles électriques / Festival Phénomena (Montreal), SAW Centre (Ottawa), Théâtre du Trillium (Ottawa) and AXENÉO7 (Gatineau), and in collaboration with Actoral (Marseilles). This tour was made possible thanks to financial support from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec's Accueil d'œuvres de l'extérieur program.
High Gear questions the unending cycle of production, consumption, and rebirth.
Inspired from the narative structure of yonkoma manga, often used in political press, the performance travels through four fondamental themes; 1起) to be born, 2承) to eat, 3轉) to work, and 4結) to die, in a closed circuit where representations are perpetually absorbed, (de)constructed and (re)formed. Instead of repeating these patterns, Kidows Kim seeks to subvert their mechanisms, break their cycle, and free himself from their grip. He explores a physical collection of figures drawn from distorted, intimate memories, intertwined with manga imagery.
From this cluster of sounds and glances emerges a ghostly, fragmented body that tries to force its way through. High Gear becomes a space where the body exposes itself and disintegrates in the quest for an elusive exterior.
Born in South Korea, Kidows Kim is an artist based in Paris. His works form an intimate cosmogony in the form of a “Dictionary of Fantastic Creatures,” the first three chapters of which were unveiled during previous performances. His work is steeped in “Monstrarchology,” a method that involves excavating an ambiguous organic form—one that straddles the figurative and the abstract—from collective memories, intimate experiences, and social and political contexts.
Credits
Concept, choreography, performance: Kidows Kim;
Sound design and live music: Samir Kennedy;
Photography and dramaturgy: Hubert Crabières;
Textile and costume design: Josiane Martinho;
Metal sculpture design: Célia Boulesteix;
Light design: Marie-Sol Kim;
Text analysis: Lucille Belland;
Outside Perspective: Kazuki Fujita;
Executive production: cohue;
Coproduction : La Ménagerie de verre, CCN Ballet national de Marseille direction (LA)HORDE,ICI-CCN Montpellier Occitanie direction Christian Rizzo, La Place de la danse CDCN Toulouse Occitanie.
With support from DRAC Île-de-France as part of support for creative projects, The Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan in Fiscal Year 2023.
Artist residencies : La Bellone Bruxelles, Kunstencentrum Buda Courtrai, CND Centre national de la danse, The Saison Foundation Japon (invitation as “Visiting fellow” in 2023), Workspacebrussels.
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