Lunar New Year

  • Japanese-Brazilian textile and performance artist Kiyoshi Yamamoto (b. 1983) was born in Japan but grew up in Rio, Brazil. Yamamoto attended Escola de Belas Artes in Rio de Janeiro and Saint Martin’s School of Arts and Design in London, before he moved to Bergen to attend the Master’s programme at Bergen Academy of Art and Design, which he completed in 2013.

    Highly influenced by the work of textile artist and printmaker Annie Albers, Yamamoto’s own artistic practice is centred around weaving, printing and pigments. His oftentimes large-scale works, and sometimes wearable ones, are consistently colourful. Moreover, they dissolve the lines between art and design; accordingly, to the artist, the materials are autonomous, which makes Yamamoto’s artistic practice multifaceted.

    Kiyoshi Yamamoto has had several solo exhibitions at, among others, Soft Galleri (2014), Galleri Norske Grafikere (2015), Buskerud Kunstsenter (2017) and Kunstnerforbundet (2022). His work is represented in the collections of Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum in Trondheim, KODE in Bergen and the Embassy of Norway in Brasília.

  • (b. 1978) is a Vietnamese-Norwegian visual artist, illustrator, graphic designer, and author.

    Nhu Diep is from Vietnam and educated in visual communication and illustration. She debuted as a picture book author with the children's books about Lille Ting in 2010. In addition, she has written poetry for children and short prose for adults. In 2023, she published her first novel for adults, which NRK's reviewer called "A brave and good debut novel." The book is based on the author's own life story; she came to Norway as an infant with her family, who were boat refugees from Vietnam. Nhu Diep has also been the editor of the family magazine Barn i Byen, as well as a writer for various newspapers and magazines. She has contributed to the decorations at the Literature House in Bergen, which opened in 2013. She has taught at Kristiania University College.

  • is an interdisciplinary artist based in Norway,. Originally from South Korea, she works in the fields of choreography, dance, performance art, theatre, writing, and installation.

    She has a holistic approach to dance, seeing dance as a way of living and learning the deeper values/meanings of life. She holds a Master’s degree in choreography at Oslo National Academy of the Arts (Kunsthøgskolen i Oslo). She also studied theatre/acting/stage art/creative writing in various institutions such as Nordic Black Express in Oslo, Norwegian Theater Academy in Østfold University-Collage in Fredrikstad, and Korean National University of Arts in Seoul, Korea.

    She practices various holistic and spiritual dances and practices such as Butoh dance, Salpuri dance, Contact Improvisation(CI), Zen practice, Yoga, Meditation, Mindfulness, Energy Reading and Healing, and more.

    Kyuja Bae is a member of PAB (Performance Art in Bergen) and a former member of the International Dance Council CID, UNESCO, Norsk Dansekunstnere (Norwegian Dance Artists’ Organization) and PAO (Performance Art in Oslo).

Litteraturhuset i Bergen

10th February / 12:00

Lunar New Year, also known as Chinese New Year, is the first new moon in a lunar calendar or in a lunar calendar year. Although the best-known celebration of the lunar new year is the Chinese Spring Festival, the date is celebrated in numerous cultures worldwide.

Since Lunar New Year’s Day follows the lunar cycle, the date varies from year to year. In 2024 it was 10 February, in the middle of LitFestBergen. Northing Space and LitFestBergen, therefore, invited author Nhu Diep, artist Kiyoshi Yamamoto and dancer Kyuja Bae, all with backgrounds in cultures that traditionally celebrate the Lunar New Year, to share their experiences and insights.

The conversation was moderated by Ben Wenhou Yu.