VillaTokyo

Screening

Zbigniew Libera

Zbigniew Libera, Hommage to Gawron, 1985, photograph.

There’s still room for experimentation in art, it’s one of a handful of fields of reality where experimentation is still allowed. The only reason I became an artist was that in art my rebellion can find suitable ground to develop and be accepted. I can legally develop my rebellion under this label. In order to tackle art, people need to diffuse it, like a bomb. And how does one do this? By claiming that artists are freaks or geniuses. That they’re not normal humans. Normal humans don’t think. Madness or genius are as efficient smokescreens as saying: it’s just art. Just Art. That’s why it is allowed. In art, you can even ‘shit on the desk of the president of the U.S’ as Janiak once said – let me add that, of course, he didn’t mean it literally. But does that mean that people are not allowed to speak out? Does it take being an artist to do it? I remember a statement by a right-wing politician: ‘Criminals and artists...’. That’s exactly how it looks – we can be grouped along with criminals, on the margin. And in fact, that’s just how I feel. And that’s what my material status is like. We’re sensitive, educated criminals. The worst kind. When I was a political prisoner, everywhere I was transported – always handcuffed – they’d say this about me: ‘the contagious one is here’

Screening

John Smith

John Smith, fragment of Om, 1986, 16mm, color, sound ; 4 minutes, édition of 5 + 2AP. Courtesy the artist and Tanya Leighton Gallery, Berlin

The popularity of John Smith’s film and video work can be explained by his wry sense of humour, his play on language and the elegance of his visual style. Strongly influenced by the Structural Materialist ideas, which dominated British artists’ filmmaking during his formative years, but also fascinated by the immersive power of narrative and the spoken word, he has developed a body of work that deftly subverts the perceived boundaries between documentary and fiction, representation and abstraction. Drawing upon the raw material of everyday life, Smith’s meticulously crafted films rework and transform reality, playfully exploring and exposing the language of cinema. ‘One of the most talented filmmakers of the post-war generation, he has attracted admirers from way beyond the narrow confines of the Avant Garde. His reputation rests on a quite unique sensibility that has successfully married three traits - humour, documentary and formal ingenuity - into an indissoluble whole’.

Michael O’Pray, Art Monthly

Screening

NEW TOKYO CONTEMPORARIES

A selection of films jointly curated by the members of the young gallery association, New Tokyo Contemporaries.Japanese and artists from abroad from the same generation sharing a similar sensibility present films divided into two interrelated categories - fact and fiction.

Aoyama l Meguro
Euan Macdonald
"9,000 Pieces" 2011 9 mins

MISAKO & ROSEN
Hurray (Rich Aldrich, Josh Brand, Zak Prekop, Pete Mandradjieff）
"Wake Up Josh, Now Go To Sleep" 2011 Documentary

Yuka Ssahara Gallery
Mami Kosemura
"Priming Water" 2006 8min.(endless repeat),color,sound
"Batterfly -short version" 2008 3min.(endless repeat),color,silent
"Decaying" 2001 6.15min.(endless repeat),color,sound
"episode Ⅲ" 2002 8.30min.(endless repeat),color,sound
"Flowering Plants of the Four Seasons-detail" 2004 - 2006 5min.(endless repeat),color,sound

ZENSHI
Toshiyuki Kimura
"2012：full contact" 2011 1.27 min
"LULLABY" 2000 - 2011 3.30min

Take Ninagawa
Aki Sasamoto
"remembering/modifying/developing" (video loop)　2010　6 mins

Arataniurano
Hiroyuki Oki
"Matsubara's red public pants film" 111102 mix　7mins

Mujin-to Production
Chim↑Pom
"REAL TIMES" 2011