In April 2015, I invited photographer Daisuke Yokota and musician Aki Onda to combine their talents to produce a performance, which we did inside the New York Public Library. Onda created an improvisational soundscape using the auditorium’s acoustics and the massive amplifiers we rented. Yokota projected his images across three screens, using two 35mm slide projectors and a digital monitor. Even though Onda’s sound was improvisational, Yokota’s images were pre-programmed. I produced a second performance in October 2015 with photographer Kenta Cobayashi with sound by Yuuki Takada and curated by Newfave’s Kohei Oyama. I won’t describe too much of what’s happening but the idea here was to go beyond treating the audio as background music or a soundtrack. I am looking to make two more performances that explore this porous relationship between sound and image. Perhaps these will turn into a suite of four performances? I’m not exactly sure what I am searching for but there seems to be plenty more room for exploration.
SHASHIN: PHOTOGRAPHY FROM JAPAN
DATE: April 18 - May 2 2015
VENUE: Various
FESTIVAL PROGRAM:
Main Event:
Symposium
Dates: April 24 - 25
Venue: The New York Public Library
Selected Satellite Events:
Ryuichi Kaneko Lecture on The Japanese Photobook
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Pop-up Bookshop
Date: April 26
Venue: International Center of Photography School
Lecture & Slideshow on Contemporary Japanese Photography
Hosted by The Harvard Business School Club of New York
Date: April 28
Camera Obscura Workshop
with Takashi Homma
Date: May 2
Venue: The Hilton Hotel
Daisuke Yokota Performance of UNTITLED
Date: May 2
Venue: Dashwood Books
For the full program details, visit the microsite:
http://www.photographyfromjapan.com/
SHASHIN: PHOTOGRAPHY FROM JAPAN is a multi-institution program aimed to raise awareness of photography from Japan in New York, foster an exchange, and stimulate discussion in multiple segments: Academics, students, art collectors, researchers, artists, photographers, Japanophiles, and the general public of New York City. The dynamic and diverse activities in photography found in Japan today connect to the field’s long history and the SHASHIN festival is dedicated to bringing that work and its discourse to an international audience on an ongoing basis by prompting research and discussion on a wide range of subjects that includes photography, the photobook, performance, and the literary culture associated with photography from Japan.
The 2015 inaugural Festival program will include slideshows, film screenings, lectures, salon-type engagements, publications, and exhibitions. The entirety of the program is open to the general public and free of charge. (Some partner institutions will charge nominal attendance fees to cover incidental expenses.) The Festival will center around a symposium organized by The Council for Photography from Japan along with the New York Public Library and the International Center of Photography (ICP).
The Symposium program included a collaborative performance by photographer Daisuke Yokota and musician Aki Onda. Onda created an improvisational soundscape using the auditorium’s acoustics and massive rental amplifiers. Yokota projected his images across three screens, using two 35mm slide projectors and a digital monitor. Even though Onda’s sound was improvisational, Yokota’s images were pre-programmed.
Daido Moriyama COLOR @ ICP (May 2012)
May 3rd, 2012
International Center of Photography, New York
To commemorate Daido Moriyama's receipt of the 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award as part of the International Center of Photography Infinity Awards, an special edition of his photobook COLOR was available exclusively at the ICP Bookshop on May 3rd. Each buyer of the special edition chose one 3.5" x 5" c-print that I inserted by hand into the book's front cover. I then stamped the book's title using a rubber stamp and then passed the book to Moriyama who then signed each copy.
The trade edition of COLOR was published by Getsuyosha.
Event Images © Ben Jarosch, Courtesy of the International Center of Photography, New York
The line stretched around the corner.
Before the doors opened, Daido inspected the line-up of 20 different cover options.
Participants selected one of 20 different prints embedded into the book's front cover.
At the front of the line, participants had their book stamped with the title "COLOR" and then signed by Daido.
200 copies were stamped by hand on the spine as well. (My hands were numb afterwards.)
During the event, the front cover was also stamped with the title.
NHK World: Japanology Plus, Jan 15 (Thursday)
Japanophiles: Ivan Vartanian
This time, another installment of our special talk-show series Japanophiles, featuring lively interviews with foreigners living in Japan. Ivan Vartanian, a photobook producer from the US, has won the trust of Japan's leading photographers. In Japan, photobooks are artworks in their own right. Vartanian collaborates with photographers, turning their visions into photobooks - which often go beyond the conventional book format. We'll see how he's continually seeking out new modes of expression.
Daisuke Yokota's performance of UNTITLED @ Unseen
Photos by David in den Bosch
David Favrod: Six Shots in Kobe
Over a couple of intermittently raining days in Kobe, Japan, David Favrod and I collaborated on a shoot that was part of the Cardinal Points, a project produced by Festival Images, Vevey.
The six shots we did in various parts of Kobe were based on David's "Hikari" series, which addresses ideas of being a gaijin (Japanese for "foreigner" or "outsider"), personal history, and recollection.
http://www.davidfavrod.com/HIKARI.html
As this project was a return to Kobe for David, the his ideas about Japan and the reality of being here came together in this project. In this sense, the six shots we did in Kobe were an installation as well as a performance of David's work. Initially, we thought of having the acrylic panels set into position and then shot with a tripod. But it became immediately apparent that David needed to be in the shots to underscore his return to Kobe and also to serve as a counterpoint to the HIKARI series.
The several of the graphic motifs are katakana words lifted from manga. People who watched us do the shoots were very curious about what we were doing. Some people, when they saw the katakana for "dokaaan!!" acted out the sound. The sounds that David incorporated into his photography have a very strong and visceral power for the Japanese. Grown men were all of a sudden transformed into little kids acting out the sound effects.