December 9th (EST) / December 10th (JST/CET)
Online Event, Closed-Door Workshop
12/9, 7:00pm–9:00pm EST
12/10. 9:00am-11:00am JST
12/10, 1:00am-3:00am CET
Organized in conjunction with the Interrogating Ecology: 1970s Media and Art in Japan Academic Panel (December 10th), this closed-door workshop includes presentations and a group discussion addressing the relationship between the processes of re-staging time-based media works and studying in the fields of research and curation.
In studying Japanese time-based media works of the 1970s, researchers and curators are often faced with the complexities that accompany time-based media works and archival materials: missing or unidentified materials, insufficient documentation, technological obsolescence, transformation of a particular work over time, among other issues. The process of historical research is often interrelated with the investigation of the materiality of the object. When the research requires digitization or re-staging a work, what are the processes that go into realizing such a project?
The following presentations will address this question, and will be followed by a discussion among the participants.
Peter Oleksik (Associate Media Conservator, The Museum of Modern Art) will discuss the structured process of recent re-staging Dumping Core (1984) by Gretchen Bender and Cinematic Illumination (1968-1969) by Shuzo Azuchi Gulliver.
Kenjin Miwa (Curator, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo) will present on the exhibition, Re:play 1972/2015: Restaging Expression in Film '72 (2015).
Erica Papernik-Shimizu (Associate Curator, Department of Media and Performance, MoMA), will discuss Duchampiana: Nude Descending a Staircase (1976) by Shigeko Kubota, acquired by MoMA in the 1980s and presented several times thereafter at MoMA, including Shigeko Kubota: Liquid Reality (August 21, 2021—January 2, 2022) organized by Papernik-Shimizu and currently on view.
Mihoko Nishikawa (Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo) will also discuss the history of Duchampiana: Nude Descending a Staircase (1975‒76/83), in the collection of Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and currently featured in the touring exhibition Viva Video! :The Art and Life of Shigeko Kubota (English press release), organized by Nishikawa, Mayumi Hamada (The Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art), Azusa Hashimoto (The National Museum of Art, Osaka), and Midori Yoshimoto (New Jersey City University).
Reid Ballard (Shigeko Kubota Video Art Foundation) will discuss the general concept of iteration as it relates to the work of Shigeko Kubota, as well as its relevance to Duchampiana: Nude Descending a Staircase.
The year-long Interrogating Ecology project is led by scholar Nina Horisaki-Christens, and supported by CCJ. It is made possible, in part, with a grant from the Asian Cultural Council. The project concludes in December with this workshop event, accompanying academic panel event, online screening program of works by Norio Imai, a video interview publication between Haeyun Park and Norio Imai, as well as new digitizations and preservation projects including works by Fujiko Nakaya, Norio Imai, and Takehisa Kosugi.
Interrogating Ecology is made possible in part with a grant from the Asian Cultural Council to advance international understanding through cultural exchange in the arts. The Asian Cultural Council advances international dialogue, understanding, and respect through cultural exchange activities that support individual artists, scholars, and arts professionals in Asia and the United States.
Image: Installation view of Re: play 1972/2015 - Restaging “Expression in Film ’72”, 2015, at The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. Photo: Keizo Kioku