MoCA Museum of Contemporary Art

Video Art from Japan

18 Apr - 23 May 2007

Makoto AIDA
The video of a man calling himself Bin Laden staying in Japan
2005
DVD
8\'14\"
Courtesy Mizuma Art Gallery
Makoto AIDA
OUT OF THE ORDINARY: NEW VIDEO FROM JAPAN

RADICAL COMMUNICATION: JAPANESE VIDEO ART,1968-1988

04.18.07 - 05.23.07

The exhibition Out of the Ordinary: New Video from Japan, organized by MOCA Curatorial Assistant Gabriel Ritter, will present three nights of single-channel video screenings by 12 established and emerging Japanese artists. The screenings will showcase works created after 2000 with the aim of capturing the current state of video art from Japan. Featuring works that voice a more realistic and sometimes critical response to the contemporary Japanese condition, the exhibition seeks to provide audiences with a timely alternative to the fanciful anime and manga-inspired work that has become internationally synonymous with contemporary Japanese art. The selected videos are characterized by the use of inexpensive materials and do-it-yourself production techniques that form an 3everyday3 aesthetic that is deeply rooted in the artists1 experience of daily life in Japan.

Developed in partnership with Getty Research Institute Senior Project Specialist and Consulting Curator Glenn Phillips and GRI Research Assistant Rika Iezumi Hiro, Out of the Ordinary will be presented as a counterpart to a concurrent program at the Getty Center titled, Radical Communication: Japanese Video Art, 1968-1988, that will survey early Japanese video art. As part of this collaboration between MOCA and the Getty, each venue will present portions of both programs for a total of six nights.

SCREENING SCHEDULE:

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18
Radical Communication:
Japanese Video Art, 1968-1988
7:30pm, (80 min.)
Getty Center, Harold M. Williams Auditorium

This eighty-minute program showcases the dizzying array of techniques employed by the first three generations of video artists working in Japan features rare examples of artists1s earliest experiments with video in Japan, including several works whichthat have never been screened in the United States.S. Featured artists include: And Khei, Computer Technology Group (CTG)/Kohmura Masao, Takahiko Iimura, Imai Norio, Kawaguchi Mao, Kwak Duck Jun, Nagata Osamu, Nakai Tsuneo, Nakajima K, Nakaya Fujiko, Radical TV, Sait Makoto, Sasaki Naruaki, Shimano Yoshitaka, Tabata Kichi, and Yamamoto Keigo.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25
Out of the Ordinary: New Video from Japan
7:30pm, (80 min.)
MOCA Grand Avenue, Ahmanson Auditorium

Organized around the theme of cynical humor, this eighty-minute screening showcases recent video works by established and emerging Japanese artists. The selected videos highlight a domestic “everyday“ aesthetic that is deeply rooted in the artists’ experiences of daily life in Japan. Featured artists include Aida Makoto, Izumi Taro, K. K., Okada Hiroko, Takamine Tadasu, and Tanaka Koki.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 2
Radical Communication:
Japanese Video Art, 1968-1988
7:30pm, (80 min.)
Getty Center, Harold M. Williams Auditorium

This eighty-minute program features additional selections of the most important visual experiments by video artists in Japanearly Japanese video art,, including important rare examples of early video activism.works which have never been screened in the U.S. Featured artists include: Echigoya Takashi, Idemitsu Mako, Kobayashi Hakud, Matsumoto Toshio, Sakurai Hiroya, Ina Shinsuke, Uematsu Keiji, Murakami Sabur, and Kawaguchi Tatsuo; Video Hiroba (Nakaya Fujiko Nakaya Nakaya Fujiko and Kobayashi Hakud), Visual Brains, and Yamaguchi Yoshiomi, as well as Uematsu Keiji, Murakami Sabur, and Kawaguchi Tatsuo.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 9
Out of the Ordinary: New Video from Japan
7:30pm, (60 min.)
MOCA Grand Avenue, Ahmanson Auditorium

This sixty-minute screening examines the role of sound in recent Japanese video art, with an emphasis on animated works. Characterized by the use of inexpensive materials and do-it-yourself production techniques, the selected videos aim to provide an alternative to the anime-inspired work that has become synonymous with contemporary Japanese art. Featured artists include Aoki Ryoko + Ito Zon, Kakitani Tomoki, Koganezawa Takehito, Matsumoto Chikara, and Tabaimo.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16
Out of the Ordinary: New Video from Japan
7:30pm, (70 min.)
MOCA Grand Avenue, Ahmanson Auditorium

The latest work of internationally acclaimed filmmaker Hiroyuki Oki Hiroyuki, this seventy-minute video collage chronicles the artist1s travels from the southern Japanese island of Shikoku to Israel and Tibet. Shot and edited over the course of three years, NA-MU employs a complex structuring of time and layering of images to create a poetic vision of personal epiphany and a contemplative exploration of modern religious faith.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 23
Radical Communication:
Japanese Video Art, 1968-1988
7:30pm, (74 min., English subtitles)
MOCA Grand Avenue, Ahmanson Auditorium

One of the most well-known pieces of early video art from Japan, this seventy-four-minute video features a poignant, philosophical, and often comical exchange of 3video letters3 between poet Tanikawa Shuntar and playwright and filmmaker Terayama Shji, in the months leading up to Terayama1s death. This presentation is the premiere of a new English-subtitled version of this video, produced especially for this event.
 

Tags: Okada Hiroko, Aida Makoto, Tabaimo, Ai Yamaguchi