ABSTRACT

Given the endurance of militarized space in Okinawa, this chapter explores the role of artistic production in offering ways of understanding or disrupting the effects brought about by US bases. It discusses the analytic and interventionist strategies of performance. Based, in part, on authors' own experiences of Okinawa, the chapter identifies the performative aspects of US military space, examining how militarized space shapes movement in the everyday lives of Okinawans. It interrogates how artistic productions create resistance through strategies of performance to propose, model, and rehearse alternative ways of relating to US bases. The chapter focuses on work by two Okinawan artists: Chikako Yamashiro's video installation Asa Onna and Ikuko Hanashiro's installation Praying—Fleeting Visions. Both appear in the museum or gallery space, away from public protests, but, as it argues, both works engage their audiences to rehearse embodied interactions with militarized space that challenge the everyday oppressions of US bases.