ko nakajima part 4
Still from Shadow / 影 (from NAK1384)
We are so excited to continue our deep dive with Ko Nakajima this winter through spring, wrapping up with the final study selections in April. CCJ Monthly Members Viewing has focused on Ko Nakajima’s recently digitized titles, offered in partnership with Keio University Art Center.
We are in for a treat this final month with three titles that showcase Nakajima’s varied interests in the early 1970s, from film experiments, his work with students of the Tokyo College of Photography, and collective video making. We are grateful to have access to ask Nakajima directly about these works.
CCJ’s research on Nakajima’s works began with the 2018 Collection Survey, and will continue on this year and next in relation to CCJ’s most recent project, about Japanese moving image artists’ connection to the US. CCJ is pleased to collaborate with Keio University Art Center to present works and video materials that were identified during the survey. We express our gratitude to Hitoshi Kubo of KUAC for making these available for viewing by CCJ members, Fusako Matsu for her assistance, and Ko Nakajima.
January - My Life Study
The Rooms in the Photographs—Ko Nakajima’s Rooms (2019)
My Life (1971-2014)
February - Technical Experiments
Animaker, Aniputer, Scanimate experiments
March - Documentary
Rolling Coconut (1977)
Snail No. 2 “Stand on Mount Fuji!!” / カタツムリ２世号「富士に立つ！！」(1978)
Kikuji Yamashita / 山下菊二
Yoko Ono 1974 One Step Music Festival / オノ・ヨーコ 1974年 ワンステップミュージックフェス (1974)
April - Deeper Still
Film Scramble / フィルムスクランブル （NAK3009)
Shadow / 影 (from NAK1384)
Under the Tree / ちょっと木の下で。。。(Production of Inu no kintama; from NAK1384)
The programs will be available for viewing on CCJ’s viewing platform.
April: Deeper Still
Film Scramble / フィルムスクランブル, 1973 （NAK3009)
Shadow / 影, circa 1975 (from NAK1384)
Wanting to take advantage of the crane Nakajima rented (for 150,000 yen) to film the Biological Cycle, Nakajima made another work, Shadow, about opposing the Vietnam War. The men in the crane’s cage are the students of the Tokyo College of Photography.
Under the Tree / ちょっと木の下で。。。, circa 1971 (Production of Inu no kintama; from NAK1384)
In a course at the Tokyo College of Photography, Nakajima asked his students what they thought film and video making is. To investigate, his students made this work, with Nakajima as the producer. Established in 1969, Nakajima gathered students at the College to form Video Earth Tokyo, a video art collective.
Hitoshi Kubo
A man who was born in Tokyo, 1977 and now lives in Kanagawa. An archivist at Keio University Art Center, among other activities. Departing from certain archives or specific referential materials and montaging various spatiotemporal perspectives that they encompass, many of his projects shed light on not only events that occurred but also those that could have occurred, fundamentally as a way for him to explore possibilities to redesign conditions of human experiences as variable circuits by means of observation, analysis, and construction of montages employed in films and other artistic works, driven by his trust to the world, which in his eyes essentially stands as a process of self-generation and flickering. Recent writings include Montaging Penumbra: on a Motif of Archive (report for JSPS Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research 26580029 | 2017) and “A Case of a Studio: Shuzo Takiguchi and a
Laboratory,” NACT Review, no. 5 (2018 | National Art Center Tokyo). At Keio University Art Center, he has directed a project to reconsider archives, called Pleating Machine (2018–).
久保仁志：
1977年に東京で生まれ現在神奈川で暮らす。慶應義塾大学アート・センター・アーキヴィスト他。プロジェクトの多くはあるアーカイヴおよび具体的諸資料から出発し、それらが包含する様々な時空間的パースペクティヴを編集（モンタージュ）することで起こった出来事だけでなく起こりえた出来事を照射してみせるのだが、その根底にあるのは映画をはじめとした芸術作品における編集の観察・分析・構築を通して人間の経験の諸条件を可変的回路として設計し直す可能性の探求であり生成明滅しつつも過程としてあるこの世界への信にほ
かならない。近著に『〈半影〉のモンタージュ：アーカイヴの一つのモチーフについて』（「JSPS 科研費 26580029」レポート｜2017年）、「ある書斎の事件記録——瀧口修造と実験室について」『NACT Review 国立新美術館研究紀要』5号（2018｜国立新美術館）慶應義塾大学アート・センターにてアーカイヴを考えるための企画『プリーツ・マシーン』（2018-）を行っている。
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