“When I Grow Up, I Will be an Artist.” Japanese Avant-garde’s Experimental Sandpit
Keywords:
Sōgetsu Art Center (SAC), Sōgetsu Music Inn, Sōgetsu Contemporary Series, Sōgetsu Cinematheque, Cinema 57, ATG, John Cage’s shock
Abstract
Sōgetsu Art Center, one of the most important venues for the avant-garde in 1960s Japan, could be defined as an artistic “experimental sandpit”. Its activities brought new musical expressions to the world of Japanese art, and lead to the independent film production. Japanese artists could play in this sandpit with a group of interdisciplinary peers and thus search for their most suitable artistic styles. Good examples are film director Hiroshi Teshigahara (1927–2001), playwright Kōbō Abe (1924–1993) and musician Tōru Takemitsu (1930–1996).
The article gives an insight into the artistic associations and events, which took place under the roof of the Sōgetsu Art Center in the period from September 1958 to March 1971. The emphasis will be put on the main associations; activities related to the fields of jazz music, contemporary music, experimental film and animation. We will look for the common ground among these, and note the innovations which were brought about by the main participants at the Center in the fields of music and film.
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References
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Sōgetsu Āto Sentā: Insatsubutsu toiu ‘hanei’ 草月アートセンター：印刷物という「半影」(Into the Penumbra of Printed Matter: Sōgetsu Art Center, 1958-1971). 2009. Tokyo: MARM in Keio University Art Center.
Sōgetsu Ikebana 草月生け花. “Sōgetsu o shiru: Nenpyō de miru Sōgetsu no Rekishi 草月を知る: 年表で見る草月の歴史 (O Sōgetsu: Zgodovinska časovnica delovanja Sōgetsu).” Sōgetsu Ikebana. Dostop 19. maj, 2011. http://www.sogetsu.or.jp/know/successive/artcenter/activity.html
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Akiyama, Kuniharu. 1980. “60nendai Zenei Geijutsu no Shigenchidatta 60 年代前衛芸術の震源地だった (Žarišče avantgardne umetnosti v 60ih letih), Sengo Bunka: Sono Jiba to Tōshizu 29, Sōgetsu Āto Sentā (I) 戦後文化–その磁場と透視図 連載29、草月アートセンタ―（Ｉ） (Povojna kultura: Njena središča in perspektive (Umetniški center Sōgetsu, 1)). ” TBS Chōsajōhō 11: 14–22.
–––. 1980a. “Zenei toshite no Animēshon Eiga: 1960 nen·Animēshon San nin no Kai 前衛としてのアニメーション映画、１９６０年·アニメーション３人の会 (Avantgardna animacija: 1960. leta, Krog treh animatorjev), Sengo
Bunka: Sono Jiba to Tōshizu 30, Sōgetsu Āto Sentā (II) 戦後文化–その磁場と透視図 連載30、草月アートセンタ―（ＩＩ） (Povojna kultura: Njena središča in perspektive (Umetniški center Sōgetsu, 2)).” TBS Chōsajōhō 12: 18–25.
–––. 1981. “Nanikaittekure, ima, sagasu: Jikken Eigasai kara Kaisan made 実験映画祭から解散まで (Reci že nekaj, saj poskušam: Od Festivala eksperimentalnega filma do razpusta delovanja), Sengo Bunka: Sono Jiba no
Tōshizu 33, Sōgetsu Āto Sentā (V) 戦後文化–その磁場と透視図 連載33、草月アートセンタ―（V）(Povojna kultura: Njena središča in perspektive (Umetniški center Sōgetsu, 5)).” TBS Chōsajōhō 1: 22–29.
Ashiya Shiritsu Bijutsu Hakubutsukan in Chibashi Bijutsukan, ed. 1998. Sōgetsu to Sono Jidai 1945–1970 草月とその時代 1945–1970 (Sōgetsu in njegovo obdobje, 1945–1970). Katalog razstave. Sōgetsu to Sono Jidaiten Jikkō Iinkai.
Cope, Julijan. 2007. Japrocksampler: How the post-war Japanese blew their minds on rock’n’roll, Book one: Experimental Japan (1961–69). London: Bloomsbury publishing Plc.
Everett, Yayoi O. 2009. “Scream Against the Sky: Japanese Avant-garde Music in the Sixties. ” V Sound Commitments, Avant-garde Music and the Sixties, uredil Robert Adlington, 187–209. New York: Oxford University Press.
–––. 2013. “Toshi Ichiyanagi and the Art of Indeterminacy.” Moma post, 15. februar. Dostop 15. januar, 2015. http://post.at.moma.org/content_items/90-toshi-ichiyanagi-and-the-art-of-indeterminacy.
Galliano, Luciana. 2002. Yōgaku: Japanese Music in the Twentieth Century. Lanham MD: Scarecrow Press.
Goodwin, D. Jeremy. 2012. “Lenox’s Music Inn Was Jazz’s Secret Hotspot.” The Boston Globe 8. julij. Dostop 15. julij, 2016. https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2012/07/07/lenox-music-inn-was-jazz-secret-hotspot/faPfekeIc40u2VKQ2xkCVN/story.html.
Hrvatin, Klara. 2004. “Dvojna glasbena struktura Tōruja Takemitsuja.” Diplomsko delo, Univerza v Ljubljani.
–––. 2016. “‘Sanjski grad vsakega umetnika’ – Japonski avantgardni center v 60. letih 20. stoletja.” Azijske študije 4 (2): 183–201.
Japanese Art, 1960s: Events Planned and Produced by Concert Hall ATM. 1997. “Essay by Toshi Ichiyanagi.” Dostop 21. november, 2012. http://www.arttowermito.or.jp/1960/music-e.html.
Masuda, Miki. 2015. “The Dawn of Art Films in Japan, Art Theatre Guild (ATG): Ushering in Innovative Forms.” Makion Collection Blog: Archiving East Asian Film Studies at Starr Library, 12 maj. Dostop 3. avgust, 2016. https://blogs.cul.columbia.edu/makino/2015/05/12/the-dawn-of-art-films-in-japan-art--theatre-guild-atg-ushering-in-innovative-forms/.
Matson, Yuji. 2007. “The Word and the Image: Collaborations between Abe Kobo and Teshigahara Hiroshi”. Magistrsko delo. University of British Columbia.
Nara, Yoshimi, Noriko Nomura, Kaoruko Ōtani, in Haruo Fukuzumi, ur. 2002. Kagayake 60-nendai: Sōgetsu Āto Sentā no Zenkiroku 輝け60年代 ― 草月アートセンターの全記録 (Zlata 60. leta: Celotni arhiv Umetniškega centra Sōgetsu). Tokyo: Filmart-Sha.
Nomura, Noriko, ur. 2007. Purodakushon nōto: Teshigahara Hiroshi, Eiga kotohajime プロダクションノート：勅使河原宏·映画事始 (Produkcijski zapiski: Hiroshi Teshigahara, filmski začetki). Tokyo: studio 240.
post (Notes on modern & contemporary art around the globe). 2013. “Sogetsu Art Center (arhival materials).” Dostop 13. september 2016. http://post.at.moma.org/themes/4-sogetsu-art-center.
Sakkyokuka shūdan reikai sukejūru 作曲家集団例会スケジュール (Spored Skladateljskega sestava, brošura). 1960. Tokyo: Hiroshi Teshigahara.
Sōgetsu Āto Sentā 草月アート·センター (Umetniški center Sōgetsu). 1958. Tokyo: Hiroshi Teshigahara.
Sōgetsu Āto Sentā: Insatsubutsu toiu ‘hanei’ 草月アートセンター：印刷物という「半影」(Into the Penumbra of Printed Matter: Sōgetsu Art Center, 1958-1971). 2009. Tokyo: MARM in Keio University Art Center.
Sōgetsu Ikebana 草月生け花. “Sōgetsu o shiru: Nenpyō de miru Sōgetsu no Rekishi 草月を知る: 年表で見る草月の歴史 (O Sōgetsu: Zgodovinska časovnica delovanja Sōgetsu).” Sōgetsu Ikebana. Dostop 19. maj, 2011. http://www.sogetsu.or.jp/know/successive/artcenter/activity.html
Ueno, Masaaki. 1998. “Kēji to Nihon ケージと日本 (Cage in Japonska).” Doktorska naloga, Univerza v Osaki.
Watanabe, Miho. 2009. “Nihon no Modan Jazu, Gendai Ongaku, Furī Jazu no Setten – Sōgetsu Āto Sentā to Shinseiki Kenkyūjo no Katsudō o reini 日本のモダンジャズ、現代音楽、フリージャズの接点 ― 草月アートセンターと新世紀音楽研究所の活動を例に ― (Stičišče japonskega modernega jazza, sodobne glasbe in svobodnega jazza – Primer Umetniškega centra Sōgetsu in glasbenega inštituta Shin seiki).” Tōkyō geidai daigaku ongaku gakubu kiyō 34: 189–203.
Published
2017-01-30
How to Cite
HRVATIN, K. (2017). “When I Grow Up, I Will be an Artist.” Japanese Avant-garde’s Experimental Sandpit. Asian Studies, 5(1), 243-269. https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2017.5.1.243-269
Section
ASIAN STUDIES IN SLOVENIA
Copyright (c) 2017 klara / hrvatin
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