New Essay: ARCHIVE OF ACTION: ZERO JIGEN’S MEDIA STRATEGY AND IMAGE AMPLIFICATION
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We are pleased to collaborate with art and media researcher, Shuhei Hosoya in our ongoing research on how to archive and present Japanese experimental moving image works. Hosoya has written a new essay on Zero Jigen (Zero Dimension), including the challenges and roles that archives, researchers, and curators face when dealing with works and archival materials produced by artists such as Zero Jigen and similarly anti-establishment, performance-based collectives.
Hosoya writes:
”Due to their idiosyncrasies, the activities of Zero Jigen and their fellow ritualists tend not to be categorized in any specific artistic genre or field of political activism. It is vital that we not only salvage and preserve their works and archival materials but also weigh in on how these should be publicly presented and analyzed so as to give them the scrupulous examination and reassessment they deserve. In terms of public presentation, there are obviously exhibitions and screenings in Japan and overseas, but it is important not merely to display but also to practically grasp the symbolism of materials and works in a manner only possible through properly curated exhibitions and screenings.
[…]
For some artists and works, systemic and physical limitations emerge if venues are limited to white cube-style art spaces or theaters, and it is crucial to consider appropriate venues for artists and works, and whether works and venues can contribute to one another’s value. With regard to archival materials, construction of a digital archive can link multiple materials and make it possible to grasp interpersonal connections and gain an overall picture of the era that would not be visible through any one document. However, we must acknowledge the impossibility of conveying the radical actions of a past era if limited to certain formats such as exhibitions and screenings. Research will be expected to play an essential role in accurately recognizing and responding to the challenges posed by the radical actions of the past. “
Read Hosoya’s essay here in English.
Read Hosoya’s essay here in Japanese.
Art and media researcher, Shuhei Hosoya, writes on the challenges and roles the art archive, particularly those in regards to Zero Jigen (Zero Dimension) group and similarly anti-establishment, avant-garde collectives face.
Shuhei Hosoya
Born in 1983, Shuhei Hosoya is a scholar on art and media, as well as a videographer. He is chief representatives of the Zero Jigen Katō Yoshihiro Archive, as well as the HM Archive which holds materials by Minoru Hirata. After he studied symbolic iconography, and book and film editing at university, Hosoya is engaged in art documentation through interviews and research of artists’ practices. His main research field is art and politics, as well as media in the 1960s, about which he has published videos and books, and organized symposia. After the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, Hosoya continues his thinking and practice on art and documentation. Further, he was responsible as the special researcher for the Zero Jigen Collection for the Performance Art Archive at Asia Culture Center in Gwangju, Korea. His co-authored works include: Shibusawa Tatsuhiko Again (Kawade Shobo Shinsha, 2017), Japanese Terror: Era of Bombs 60s-70s (Kawade Shobo Shinsha, 2017), Peninsula Theory (Kyobunsha, 2018).