The Invisible Dog (New York City) and BUoY Arts Center (Tokyo) are thrilled to present a participatory culinary experience by Kao Okada
《SHIT》 is a workshop in which participants experience a series of steps: excreting, carbonizing the excrement, cooking it, and transforming it into bread, then eating it.
It is an act of creating a cycle through one’s own body, and an attempt to blur the boundaries between self and others, filth and cleanliness, and the inside and the outside by sharing this process with others. When all boundaries are dissolved, how will our relationships with one another—and my relationship with the world—emerge?
このプロジェクトは、排泄をし、その排泄物を炭化、調理し、パンに仕立てて食べてみるという一連の流れを体験するワークショップです。これは自らの身体を通じて循環を生み出す行為であり、またこのプロセスを他者と共同することを通じて、自己と他者、汚穢と清潔、内側と外側といった境界線を攪拌する試みです。あらゆる境界線がぬるりと乗り越えられた時、私たち同士や、私たちと世界との関係はどのように立ち上がってくるのでしょうか。
Kao Okada's practice stems from the discomfort and constraints encountered in everyday life. Through her work, Kao Okada seeks to visualize and physically experience what has become invisible or obscured within contemporary society. These processes serve as a means of examining the fragments of a divided world, one by one, beginning with the immediate surroundings.
Since 2021, Kao Okada's experience working as a cleaner has led to an exploration of the relationships between cleanliness and filth, the body, labor, and social systems.
This exploration of excretion began with a university project based on the theme: "Consider 'food' not as something taken for granted." The prompt brought back the memory of a story shared by an Okinawa War survivor during Kao Okada's elementary school years. The survivor described staying alive by eating frogs and even their own excrement after food supplies had run out during the war. This powerful testimony revealed that, in extreme circumstances where ordinary assumptions collapse, excrement can become food.
Inspired by this account, Kao Okada undertook a collaborative attempt to "eat stool," which ultimately resulted in the work Art Student's and Goat's Shit, presented in a cookie tin. This practice seeks to redefine the most fundamental cycles of life and to affirm existence beyond the boundaries of social taboo.
Born in Tokyo and currently based in Osaka, Kao Okada eceived an M.F.A. in Intermedia Art from the Graduate School of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts in March 2026. Starting from the subtle discomforts and constraints experienced in daily life, Okada creates works and activities that visualize and embody that which remains hidden or unseen within contemporary society. Okada is also a radio DJ for "RIVERSIDE IN YOUR HEART," broadcasting Thursdays from 27:00 to 29:00 on FM802 in Osaka.
東京生まれ大阪在住。2026年3月東京藝術大学大学院美術研究科修士課程先端芸術表現専攻修了。日常の中で感じた違和感や不自由さを出発点に、現代社会の中で見えなくなっているもの、隠されているものを可視化、体感するための制作・活動を展開している。また、大阪のラジオ局 FM802 で放送中のプログラム「RIVERSIDE IN YOUR HEART」(木曜日 27:00 ~29:00)にてラジオ DJ を担当
IMPORTANT TO READ
The workshop in few steps:
Collection at home, outdoor carbonization (90mn), transfert to BUoY (10mn), processing, cooking, baking (60mn), tea time around 3pm.
For participant’s safety, we are providing lab test results after excrements are carbonized. All of the tested microorganisms were absent, with the exception of a very low general bacterial count (<300 CFU/g), which is considered an excellent result. No indicators of fecal contamination, pathogenic Staphylococcus contamination, or the presence of yeasts and molds were detected. Additional lab test are currently in process.
Download test result 1
Download test result 2
Location
Outdoor park and BUoY Arts Center
49-11, Senju-Nakacho, Adachi-ku,
Tokyo
Admission:
With reservation by email only. Email to be provided soon
Date
Sunday September 13, 2026
The workshop starts in an outdoor park at 1pm and end for a tea party at 3pm at BUoY
A detailed program will be sent to each participant detailing each step of the workshop.