The National Art Center and Meeting Itsuo Sakane

It’s my last day in Japan and after breakfast at my hotel I took the subway to Roppongi to visit the National Art Center- an imposing and spacious building designed by Kisho Kurokawa. I viewed an exhibition entitled Shadows, which featured works from the collections of the Japanese national museums by Japanese, European and American […]

A Visit to the ICC and meeting with Michael Goldberg

This morning I visited NTT’s InterCommunication Center (ICC) in Shinjuku to see the exhibition Open Space 2010, which featured a number of stunning new works by Japanese media artists. I was particularly impressed by The Tenth Sentiment, a beautiful and engaging  (although unfortunately unphotographable!) installation by Ryota Kuwakubo,  Morel’s Panorama, by Masaki Fujihata and a […]

Last Night in Kyoto and on the Shinkansen to Tokyo

After a day at Kyoto Seika looking at video work in the University’s Media Center Collection, that evening I had dinner with Prof Ina and Kyoto-based media artists Akiko Takahashi and Chie Hirano. The following morning Shinsuke and I took the train to Tokyo, working on the the book translation en route.

Media Center at Kyoto Seika

My morning session viewing work at the media center at Kyoto Seika was enjoyable and fruitful, and I was able to see a number of works by Japanese moving image artists relevant to my research. The highlights of the morning viewing include two pieces by Takahiko Iimura- Ayers Rock (1985) and Ma: Space-Time in the […]

Nishi Hongan-Ji and Nishiki Market

I took shelter from the rain this morning in the vast hall at Nishi Hongan-Ji, and it will be my last temple visit this trip, as tomorrow I will spend the day at Kyoto Seika University, viewing tapes in the media centre in the morning and working with Shinsuke and Oha on details of the […]

Kiyomizu-Dera, Kodai-Ji and Entouku-In

There are so many extraordinary temples to visit in Kyoto. Today I visited three more in the Southern  Higashiyama area of the city- Kiyomizu-Dera, Entouku-in and Kodai-Ji, with a side-trip to a little ceramics shop in between. On the way home it began to rain heavily, and peddling slowly along on my bicycle in this […]

At the Kyoto International Manga Museum

This afternoon I spent a couple of hours at the Kyoto International Manga Museum in the centre of the city, which is run as a partnership project between the City of Kyoto and Kyoto Seika university. For the next three Saturdays the museum is hosting The Inter College Animation Festival showing the best work produced […]

Presentation at the National Film Center in Tokyo Next Week

I will be making a presentation about my early video work at the National Film Center at the Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo next Weds, Oct 6th from 4:00-6:00 PM, so I must leave Kyoto on Weds morning. This will give me a couple of days in Tokyo in which to interview Michael Goldberg […]

To-Ji and Tofuku-Ji

Its hot again today, and my pace along the Kamo-gawa was definitely slower as a result. I cycled north, down beyond Kyoto train station to the Temple at To-Ji. There is a five-storey pagoda there- the tallest in Japan! After lunch I crossed the river to see the Zen temple at Tofuku-Ji. This temple complex […]