Reviews
of Takahiko iimuraFilm, Video,
Multimedia (1978-2001)
by Kazuyo Yasuda, Editor
Takahiko iimura Media Institute, Tokyo,
Japan, 2001
68 pp., illus.
Reviewed by Andrea Dahlberg
dahlberg@bakernet.com
Film and installation art is now more
popular than ever. All four artists listed
for the 2004 British Turner Prize exhibited
video work. The Tate Modern (UK) recently
held its first show of entirely video
work. There are also numerous less high
profile shows. Visiting a corporate headquarters
in London recently, I noticed that video
art is now part of the firm's art collection
and is displayed in reception areas and
in corridors just as one would expect
to see paintings and more traditional
art displayed. On a recent trip to Australia
I was struck by these same trends and
the growing visibility of this art in
the mainstream press. But, overall, there
seems to be a common view that much of
this work is of a low standard. Certainly
the quality of the work on show at Tate
Modern and the recent exhibition of the
Turner Prize artists' work confirms this.
It is against this background that Takahiro
iimuras work takes on added significance.
iimura has been making experimental films,
videos, and installations since the 1960s
and has, over the past five decades and
produced an outstanding body of truly
interesting and challenging work. He is
not only one of the pioneers of this art
but is now one of its Old Masters whose
work towers over so much that is produced
today.
Carl Linder has best described the essence
of what iimura does when he wrote, "My
evaluation of what happens in iimura's
films is that a mystical reality emerges
from exploring a subject . . . in great
detail" (Filmmaking, 1976). In
Film Strips II for example, iimura
filmed from the television the race riot
in Detroit in 1967. Using a complex process
he re-photographed an 80 frame section
of the film, slowing it down and speeding
it up to produce a 12 minute film that
shows violent images but ones the viewer
cannot easily identify or link to a specific
social or historical situation. A flickering
effect produced by re-photographing the
projected film is speeded up at the end
of the film. iimura seems to be warning
viewers that, unless something is done,
the conflicts revealed by the individual
images can only end in a catastrophic
nuclear war" and, at end of the film,
the flicker effect produces an image "reminiscent
of the spherical cloud which occurs at
the moment of nuclear destruction" (Scott
MacDonald in Yasuda, 2001). iimura
has generalised a specific act of violence
to make a larger statement about human
actions in the world. The film is also
interesting to watch and is the product
of an innovative technique (the re-photographing
at different speeds according to a mathematical
formula) that enables iimura to analyse
his subject and penetrate its conceptual
core. Where mainstream films race across
the surface of events propelled by a narrative
impulse, those by iimura extend or compress
time in order to sink deep beneath the
surface of what is seen and reveal something
of universal significance.
iimura has described his own conception
of cinema as "reflected picture," which
is a literal translation of the Japanese
word eiga. He contrasts this term
with the English "motion picture" and
states that his conception of cinema is
one that reveals a state rather than a
series of actions. Gerhard Richter has
said (in The Daily Practice of Painting)
that, "The photograph has an abstraction
of its own which is not easy to see through".
The same can be said of film. iimura is
able to reveal this abstraction and rework
it to his own ends.
iimura's work is also reminiscent of Hokusai.
Some of Hokusai's most famous images from
his "36 Views of Mount Fuji," such as
the "Sudden Gust of Wind" and the "Great
Wave" that combine Japanese and Western
artistic traditions to reveal the universal
in a very particular moment. In these
works Hokusai depicts the chaos and danger
that can result from unexpectedly encountering
a force of nature.
This small book of collected reviews of
iimura's work between 1978 and 2001 brings
together 15 reviews, a comprehensive listing
of iimura's film, video and installation
works available on laser disc and CD,
and a list of distributors of his work.
Some of the reviews are more like essays
and provide significant insights into
iimura's work and how it is made. The
essays by Scott MacDonald, Malcolm Le
Grice, Bruno di Marino, and Daryl Chin
are particularly good. Unfortunately,
two essays translated from the French
by Daniel Charles are almost incomprehensible
and the general standard of editing is
not as professional as it could be. Overall
the book is a good starting point for
anyone wanting to explore iimura's work
as it provides not only insights into
his work but practical advice on how to
see it.
iimura is a major artist who deserves
significant study both from scholars and
artists. Those who currently aspire to
make photographic, film, video, and installation
art today would do well to study his work.