. Conversations at the Edge (CATE)

Exploded States: War, Politics and National Identity

Posted by | Conversations at the Edge | Posted on | October 7, 2004

Thursday, October 7, 2004, 8pm

Shuji Terayama, Emperor Tomato Ketchup (1971).
Shuji Terayama, Emperor Tomato Ketchup (1971).

This program is part of the series “JPEX: Japanese Experimental Film and Video 1955-Now” that will screen at the University of Chicago later this fall. In Exploded States, the importance of political and social critique for postwar Japanese experimentation is made apparent.  These experimental films and videos draw from and contribute to experimental theater and avant-garde performance, happenings staged by avant-gardists in Hi Red Center (an intercontinental Fluxus movement), and Hijikata Tatsuni’s butoh dance.  Viewed together, these works exhibit a delightful irony and playful insubordination to state, collective and perspectival authority. Two triple-screen projections by Matsumoto Toshio and Terayama Shuji will also be screened. An Introduction to Cinema for Boys and Young Men (1974, Terayama Shuji); God Bless America (2002, Takamine Tadasu); X (Batsu) (1960, Tanikawa Shuntaro & Takemitsu Toru), Navel and A-Bomb (1960, Hosoe Eiko); White Hole (1976, Matsumoto Toshio); Switchback (1976, Kawanaka Nobuhiro); Yoshikei (1979, Tanaami Keiichi); Dear Photographer (1973, Takamine Go), Emperor Tomato Ketchup (1970, Terayama Shuji);  For My Crushed Right Eye (1968, Matsumoto Toshio). Full program information will be available at the screenings. “JPEX: Japanese Experimental Film and Video 1955-Now” has been made possible by the generous support of the Image Forum Archive, the University of California, Irvine and the University of Chicago (Jonathan M. Hall and Michelle Puetz). 1960-2004, various directors, Japan, ca.115 min, various formats.