“The Thin Place” started in 2020, the result of a meeting initiated by Stéphane Robert, artistic director of the Toulouse based cultural non-profit CRICAO, between the singer and electronic music producer FANEL from Toulouse and the photographer and visual artist  Joan Tomás from Barcelona. 

The two had completed artistic residencies in Okinawa during 2019.

“The Thin Place”, a video-concert, is a co-creation inspired by their experiences during their residencies in Okinawa.

Through music and images, “The Thin Place” invites us on a poetic journey to the island of Okinawa, with its lights and shadows, its past and its present. “The Thin Place” reveals its exuberant nature, the character of its people, its culture and its history.

FANEL's mesmerizing and energetic music, composed of layers of different rhythms and textures that overlap, express the complexities and paradoxes hidden in Okinawan society and culture. With her tracks, FANEL expresses her experiences in Okinawa, her encounters and work with Okinawan musicians and their traditional instruments, the sashin and the taiko drums which she incorporates into her compositions.

The visuals created by Joan Tomás, based on the photographic work carried out during his residency, merge and integrate, also in layers and fusions, with FANEL's compositions, creating a vibrant and magical story that envelops the viewer from beginning to end.

In its most complex version, the visuals are projected onto an 8 x 4 meter transparent screen in front of FANEL. In the screen, FANEL merges with the visuals, living and traveling within them. Ugo Culetto's lighting design, along with the videos shot, mixed and projected live onto the visuals by Sam Cheyns, add new layers, creating a unique performance every time.

It premiered on 14 April 2021 at the Alban Minville Auditorium in Toulouse, as part of the Made in Asia festival.

It has been performed in Toulouse, Paris, Carcassonne, Ginoza, Naha, Donneville, Kyoto, Tokyo and Fukuoka.