Expanded Cinema
Culminating to an exhibition, print publication, preservation projects, and interviews and essays, the Japanese Expanded Cinema research began in January 2017 with co-researchers Go Hirasawa and Julian Ross.
japanese expanded cinema research
Image: Films for Shuzo Azuchi Gulliver, Cinematic illumination, 1968–69, 16mm films on paper. ©SAGYO, Tokyo
In January 2017, CCJ was awarded a Andy Warhol Foundation research grant to study Japanese Expanded Cinema of 1960s and 1970s, with co-researchers Go Hirasawa (Meiji-Gakuin University) and Julian Ross (Westminster University / Int'l Film Festival Rotterdam).
The two overarching themes in the project are:
1) the historical study of Japanese expanded cinema and its context within the contemporary international Expanded Cinema movement.
2) technical study of conserving, restaging, and preserving obsolete media art works as they relate to this project.
The purposes of these studies are supporting the preservation and interpretation of the works, as well as communicating our findings for further study. In addition to the deliverables displayed below, with further funding the project will take a form of an exhibition.
Expanded cinema is moving image works that are not intended to be shown in a traditional, sit-in screenings, but take various forms such as multi-media installations or performances, and may include media formats such as slide projectors, transparencies, film, the projector equipment, light, and shadow, etc. Expanded cinema has been a subject of curatorial and academic attention in the past few years. While the recent activities are necessary and welcome, there has been a tendency for museums and collections to focus on European and North American case studies. Our project aims to contribute to this renewal of interest while attempting to internationalize the field.
projects
Collection surveys
interviews
Artist and moving image archivist Andrew Lampert has been working through the challenges that face presentation and preservation of moving image works. In this interview, Lampert gave great feedback to our Expanded Cinema research team about various aspects of presenting and preserving complex media art: digital vs. analog, performance vs. installation, iterative life of works, presentation and archival material, and the importance of documentation. Julian Ross, Ann Adachi-Tasch, and Go Hirasawa conducted the interview, at New York University, on March 9, 2017.
During the 2018 CCJ Collection Survey of Keiichi Tanaami collection, researcher Julian Ross conducted an interview with the artist to learn about his expanded cinema works, the context for creating those works, and his views on presenting them today.
2018年に行った田名網敬一氏の映像コレクション・サーベー調査の際、研究者ジュリアン・ロス氏インタビューを行いました。現在ロス氏が進めているエクスパンデッド・シネマに関して、当時の様子や今日の展覧についてなど伺いました。
During the 2018 CCJ Collection Survey of Keiichi Tanaami collection, researcher Julian Ross conducted an interview with the artist to learn about his expanded cinema works, the context for creating those works, and his views on presenting them today.
2018年に行った田名網敬一氏の映像コレクション・サーベー調査の際、研究者ジュリアン・ロス氏インタビューを行いました。現在ロス氏が進めているエクスパンデッド・シネマに関して、当時の様子や今日の展覧についてなど伺いました。
essay
preservation projects
アーティストであり、映像のアーキビストでもあるアンドリュー・ランパートは、映像作品をいかに呈示するか、それをいかに保存するかという課題に正面から取り組んできた。複合的な構造を持つメディア・アート作品の呈示と保存には、デジタル対アナログ、パフォーマンス対インスタレーション、イテレーション〔同じ作品を展示のたびに別の形で展開すること〕による作品の生の更新、作品の呈示とアーカイバルな素材、記録の重要性といった多様な側面があるが、今回のインタビューを通じてランパートは、そのそれぞれについて、エクスパンデッド・シネマのリサーチを進める私たちのチームに素晴らしいフィードバックを提供してくれた。このインタビューは、ジュリアン・ロス、足立アン、平沢剛によって、ニューヨーク大学で2017年3月9日に実施されたものである。
As part of the Japanese Expanded Cinema research thread, CCJ partners Go Hirasawa and Hiroko Tasaka interviewed artist Shuzo Azuchi Gulliver in 2017. Hiroko Tasaka organized the exhibition Japanese Expanded Cinema Revisited at Tokyo Photographic Art Museum in 2017, which included Gulliver’s Cinematic Illumination (1968-1969). Go Hirasawa was a major contributor to the exhibition.
As part of the Japanese Expanded Cinema research thread, CCJ partners Go Hirasawa and Hiroko Tasaka interviewed filmmaker Masanori Oe in 2017. Hiroko Tasaka organized the exhibition Japanese Expanded Cinema Revisited at Tokyo Photographic Art Museum in 2017, which included Oe’s Loop Siki No.1 / No.2 / No.3 (1966). Go Hirasawa was the curatorial adviser in the exhibition.
Artist and moving image archivist Andrew Lampert has been working through the challenges that face presentation and preservation of moving image works. In this interview, Lampert gave great feedback to our Expanded Cinema research team about various aspects of presenting and preserving complex media art: digital vs. analog, performance vs. installation, iterative life of works, presentation and archival material, and the importance of documentation. Julian Ross, Ann Adachi-Tasch, and Go Hirasawa conducted the interview, at New York University, on March 9, 2017.
exhibition & Public Events
Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, many events were cancelled. The More Than Cinema exhibition will reopen in summer 2020 through September. Cancelled events include the book launch, the performance event with artists Katsu Kanai and Shuzo Azuchi Gulliver, as well as the symposium that was planned at Columbia University.
SHUZO AZUCHI GULLIVER’S CINEMATIC ILLUMINATION AT MOMA
publication
Japanese Expanded Cinema and Intermedia: Critical Texts of the 1960s
PRESS COVERAGE OF OUR PROJECTS
For Japanese Expanded Cinema and Intermedia: Critical Texts of the 1960s
Gomez, Edward M. “When Japan Reinvented Filmmaking.” Hyperallergic (October 2020): 1. https://hyperallergic.com/595126/japanese-expanded-cinema-and-intermedia/.
Macfarlane, Steve. “Destination Out: Cinematic Illumination, More Than Cinema and Japanese Expanded Cinema and Intermedia.” The Brooklyn Rail (December 2020 - January 2021). https://brooklynrail.org/2020/12/film/Destination-Out-Cinematic-Illumination-More-Than-Cinema-and-Japanese-Expanded-Cinema-and-Intermedia
Noé, Amber. “Japanese Expanded Cinema and Intermedia: Critical Texts of the 1960s.” Millennium Film Journal 73 (April 2021).
Pires, Jesse. “Japanese Expanded Cinema and Intermedia: Critical Texts of the 1960s.” CAA Reviews (June 4, 2021). 10.3202/caa.reviews.2021.48
For Cinematic Illuminations
Farago, Jason. “A Countercultural Dreamland From Tokyo Flickers at MoMA.” The New York Times (October 1, 2020). https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/01/arts/design/expanded-cinema-gulliver-moma.html.
For More Than Cinema
Watlington, Emily. “A Show of Japanese ‘Expanded’ Cinema Neglects to Include the Works' Expansive Parts.” ARTnews.com (June 4, 2020). https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/aia-reviews/motoharu-jonouchi-keiichi-tanaami-more-than-cinema-pioneer-works-1202689779/
This project series has been made possible by a grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation, Japan US Friendship Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, and The Japan Cultural Institute in Cologne (The Japan Foundation).
CCJ, with its core researchers Go Hirasawa, Julian Ross, and Hiroko Tasaka, is very pleased to be part of the 2020 restaging of Shuzo Azuchi Gulliver’s Cinematic Illumination at The Museum of Modern Art, the first presentation outside of Japan. The exhibition will be on view from March 28th through April 26th, 2020 at The Museum of Modern Art.