Jikken Kōbō
Jikken Kōbō [Experimental Workshop] was a cross-disciplinary, intermedia art collective active in 1951-57 in Tokyo. For many, the group signaled the rebirth of avant-garde art in postwar Japan.
Jikken Kōbō consisted of fourteen members: the painters Shōzō Kitadai (1923–2001), Hideko Fukushima (1927–1997), and Katsuhiro Yamaguchi (b. 1928); the printmaker Tetsurō Komai (1920–1976); the composers Kazuo Fukushima (b. 1930), Keijirō Satō (1927–2009), Hiroyoshi Suzuki (1931–2006), Tōru Takemitsu (1930–1996), and Jōji Yuasa (b. 1927); the poet and critic Kuniharu Akiyama (1929–1996); the photographer Kiyoji Ōtsuji (1923–2001); the lighting designer Naoji Imai (b. 1928); the pianist Takahiro Sonoda (1928–2004); and the engineer Hideo Yamazaki (1920–1979).
From 1951 to late 1957 Jikken Kōbō created a series of works in collaboration with people outside the group and from a variety of creative fields, including the acclaimed modern dancers Takashi Masuda and Momoko Tani, the avant-garde film director Toshio Matsumoto, and the actress Kyōko Kishida. The group also created audiovisual work using a slide projector synchronized with a magnetic tape recorder, with the help of technicians who later named their company Sony. (Source)
Recent exhibitions[edit]
- Experimental Workshop: Japan 1951–58, Annely Juda Fine Art, London, Oct-Dec 2009.
- Jikken Kōbō, Bétonsalon, Paris, Sep-Oct 2011. Curated by Mélanie Mermod. [1]
- Door to Modernity: Jikken Kobo, Museum of Modern Art, Kanagawa, Jan-Mar 2013. [2]
Literature[edit]
- Kitadai Shōzō, Jihitsu nenpu, 1921–1959 [Autobiography], unpublished manuscript, c1990, The Kitadai Shōzō Archive at Taro Okamoto Museum of Art, Kawasaki. Contains detailed timeline of Jikken Kōbō. (Japanese)
- Jikken Kōbō to Takiguchi Shūzō/Experimental Workshop, Dai 11-kai om ̄aju Takiguchi Shūzō ten / The Eleventh Exhibition Homage to Shuzo Takiguchi, trans. Lewis Cook, Stanley N. Anderson, and Tom Spilliaert, Tokyo: Satani Gallery, 1991. (Japanese)/(English)
- 1953-nen raito appu: Atarashii sengo bijutsuzō ga mietekita / 1953: Shedding Light on Art in Japan, trans. Reiko Tomii, Tokyo: Meguro Museum of Art, with Tama Art University, 1996. Catalogue. (Japanese)/(English)
- Satani Kazuhiko, "Takiguchi Shūzō to Jikken Kōbō no shigoto" [Takiguchi Shūzō and the Works of Experimental Workshop], Kokubungaku (Japanese Literature), Aug 1999, pp 104-111. (Japanese)
- Sonoda Takahiro, "Jikken Kōbō nitsuite" [On Experimental Workshop], 1999. Lecture delivered at Alban Berg Gesellschaft, Tokyo, 12 Dec 1999. (Japanese)
- Miwako Tezuka, Jikken Kōbō (Experimental Workshop): Avant-Garde Experiments in Japanese Art of the 1950s, Columbia University, 2005. PhD dissertation. [3] [4]
- Experimental Workshop: Japan 1951-58, London: Annely Juda Fine Art, 2009, 96 pp. Catalogue. Essays by Jasia Reichardt, Shuzo Takiguchi, Katsuhiro Yamaguchi, Kinichi Obinata and Shogo Otani
- Jikken kõbõ: atelier experimental / Experimental Workshop, Paris: Bétonsalon, 2011, 20 pp. Exh. brochure. (French)/(English)
- Miwako Tezuka, "Experimentation and Tradition: The Avant-Garde Play: Pierrot Lunaire by Jikken Kōbō and Takechi Tetsuji", Art Journal 70:3 (Fall 2011), pp 64-85.
- Jikken Kōbō―Experimental Workshop, The Yomiuri Shimbun, 2012, 352 pp. Catalogue. [5]
- Doryun Chong, "The Dawn of Cross-Genre: Jikken Kōbō and Gutai", in Tokyo 1955-1970: A New Avant-Garde, ed. Diana C. Stoll, New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2012, pp 46-57.
- Midori Matsui, "Jikken Kōbō—Experimental Workshop", Artforum, May 2013. [6]
- On individual members
- Yamaguchi Katsuhiro, Sakuhinshū: Yamaguchi Katsuhiro 360-do [Selected Works: Yamaguchi Katsuhiro 360 Degrees], Tokyo: Rikuyōsha, 1981. (Japanese)
- Omuka Toshiharu, "Yamaguchi Katsuhiro intabyū: Oitachi, gakusei jidai, Vitorı ̄nu, Jikken Kōbō, hinshi no geijutsukan" [Interview with Yamaguchi Katsuhiro: His Background, School Years, Vitrine, Experimental Workshop, and the View on Moribund Art], Sōgō zōkei [Total Art] 1 (1992), pp 47-84. (Japanese)
- Tachibana Takashi, "Takemitsu Tōru: Ongaku sōzō eno tabi" [Takemitsu Tōru: The Journey to the Creation of Music], pts. 1-18, Bungakukai [Literary World], Jun 1992-Dec 1993.
- Ōtsuji Kiyoji: Shashin Jikken-shitsu / Kiyoji Ohtsuji Retrospective: Experimental Workshop of Photography, Tokyo: National Museum of Modern Art, 1999. (Japanese)/(English)
- Yuasa Jōji, Jinsei no nakaba: Ongaku no hirakareta chihei e [Midway through My Life: Toward the Open Horizon of Music], Tokyo: Keiō Gijuku Daigaku Shuppansha, 1999. (Japanese)
- Peter Burt, "Experimental Workshop: The Years of Jikken Kōbō", ch 3 in Burt, The Music of Tōru Takemitsu, Cambridge University Press, 2001, pp 39-49.
- Kaze no mokei: Kitadai Shōzō to Jikken Kōbō / Shozo Kitadai and Experimental Workshop, Kawasaki: Taro Okamoto Museum of Art, Kawasaki, 2003. (Japanese)/(English)
- Andrew Maerkle, Natsuko Odate, "Every Future Leads to Its Own Past. Katsuhiro Yamaguchi: Interview", Art iT, c2010.
See also[edit]
Links[edit]
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