Urandâ in Ryukyu and the dream of Baku by Mio Hanaoka
Urandâ was the term used to describe Western foreigners in the Ryukyu Kingdom (Okinawa). The word comes from “Holland.”
Okinawa has been part of Japan since 1879, but it was once an independent kingdom. Even after its incorporation into Japan, Okinawan people are still often treated as aliens in Japanese society.
At the same time, there is a belief of Marebito in Okinawa, a spiritual or divine being that visits from the “other world” at specific times.
By combining elements related to the notion of foreignness in the history of the Ryukyu Kingdom and juxtaposing them with the mythological creature Baku—along with its introduction and transformation in Japan—the video attempts to construct a narrative of historical science fiction based on artistic research.
The episode will be broadcast Sunday March 29th, 10pm on the local Amsterdam television channel SALTO1 and is afterwards available on Vimeo.
About the Artist:
Mio Hanaoka was born in Okinawa, currently based in Tokyo. After studying psychology at Waseda University, she graduated from the Fine Arts department of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in 2011, and completed her postgrad degree at the University of Paris 8 in 2018. She is an artist and an art coordinator of an artist-in-residence in Tokyo. Through various media such as installations, performative actions, guided tours, and sleeping events, she continues to explore how de-individualized experiences can be expressed in relation to durational time and eroticism, and attempts to create vehicles that capture ever-changing existence as “duration.” www.miohanaoka.com
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This Episode is part of the 2025/2026 season of RietveldTV: A DATE WITH THE FUTURE, curated by the current curatorial team: Taša Grujić (VAV), Netta Simola (VAV), Luca Deutinger (DOGtime Expanded Painting) and Herkules Jansson (VAV).
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