The Invisible Dog (New York City) and BUoY Arts Center (Tokyo) are thrilled to present a performance by Mizuumi as part of NAFAS TOKYO
In an age where words are constantly produced, consumed, and forgotten—where endless streams of information and artificial intelligence threaten to overwhelm our own voices, Words Eat Café Mizuumi invites visitors to slow down and savor language, one word at a time.
Mizuumi bakes handmade cookies in the shape of words using only the simplest ingredients. By transforming language into something edible, each word becomes tangible, intimate, and memorable. Just as identical ingredients can create infinitely different flavors, the meaning of a word changes with every person who encounters it. The Japanese word for "taste" (aji) echoes the idea of meaning itself: language is something to be experienced with the senses, not only understood by the mind.
Through this simple gesture of eating words, visitors are encouraged to reconnect with their own forgotten language, memories, and bodies.
"Mizuumi," meaning "lake," also serves as the artist's alter ego. Like a reflection on the surface of water, Mizuumi accompanies visitors into an imagined landscape where forgotten words lie buried like fossils within the geological layers of memory. Together, artist and audience excavate these fragments, discovering new meanings through conversation, imagination, and shared experience.
if we could truly eat words, would we still need a café?
Location
BUoY Arts Center / Basement
49-11, Senju-Nakacho, Adachi-ku,
Tokyo
Admission:
$1000
Date
Wednesday September 23, 2026
from 3 to 5PM