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Kinema Nippon - Vital Signals: Early Video Work from Japan

Kohei Ando, Oh! My Mother                                            Kawaguchi, Muraoka, Uematsu, Image of Image-Seeing

A benefit for the Japanese disaster relief

Doors 7:30pm, £5

Kinema Nippon is a series of fund-raising screenings that present curated programs of experimental films, video art, and Japanese classics, held in several international cities in collaboration with local film and art institutions. By presenting film and video work to celebrate the visionary cinema of Japan, Kinema Nippon mobilizes the moving image as a catalyst for cultural awareness and unity during this crucial time. All proceeds from the screenings will go to disaster relief efforts.

Many outstanding Japanese filmmakers have contributed work to the two-part experimental program, which is curated by Kinema Nippon. A program of early Japanese video work, excerpts from the Vital Signals program, is presented in collaboration with EAI (Electronic Arts Intermix) and Ann Adachi a program. Selected classic features are presented in collaboration with Janus Films. The contributors and distribution companies have all generously donated their work and the rights for charity use.

Excerpts from ‘Vital Signals: Early Video Work from Japan’is a survey of the vibrant, interdisciplinary video art scene in Japan in the 1960s and '70s. Produced by EAI, the DVD anthology features sixteen works by fifteen Japanese artists, among them key figures such as Takahiko Iimura, Mako Idemitsu and Toshio Matsumoto

In technical experiments, activist statements, and conceptual performances, Japanese artists of the 1960s and '70s transformed the intangible—time, gesture, the electronic signal—into rich art-making material.”

CTG (Computer Technique Group), Computer Movie No. 2, 1969, 8min, b&w, sound, 16mm film on video

Katsuhiro Yamaguchi, Image Modulator, 1969, 0:45min, colour, sound

Katsuhiro Yamaguchi, Ooi and Environs, 1977, 1:30min, colour, sound

Kohei Ando, Oh! My Mother, 1969, 14 min, colour, sound, 16mm film on video

Takahiko Iimura, Camera, Monitor, Frame, 1976, 7min, b&w, sound

Toshio Matsumoto, Magnetic Scramble, 1968, 0:30min, b&w, silent

Mako Idemitsu, What a Woman Made, 1973, 10:50min, b&w, sound

Katsuhiro Yamaguchi, Eat, 1972, 1:30min, b&w, sound

Tatsuo Kawaguchi, Saburo Muraoka, Keiji Uematsu, Image of Image-Seeing, 1973, 11:20min, b&w, sound

Shigeko Kubota, My Father, 1973-75, 15:24min, b&w, sound, video

Curated by Ann Adachi. These titles have been excerpted from Vital Signals produced by Electronic Arts Intermix, and organized by Ann Adachi and Hirofumi Sakamoto.

Earlier Event: 7 July
SCALA FOREVER: Thundercrack
Later Event: 12 July
CUT! Vol. 11