{"id":28176,"date":"2012-12-09T12:01:17","date_gmt":"2012-12-09T16:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/?p=28176"},"modified":"2012-12-10T10:01:44","modified_gmt":"2012-12-10T14:01:44","slug":"wit-life-221-momas-avant-garde-tokyo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/2012\/12\/09\/wit-life-221-momas-avant-garde-tokyo\/","title":{"rendered":"WIT Life #221: MoMA’s Avant-Garde Tokyo"},"content":{"rendered":"

WIT Life<\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/a> is <\/strong><\/em>a periodic series written<\/strong><\/em> by professional Writer\/Interpreter\/Translator <\/strong><\/em>Stacy Smith<\/strong><\/a> <\/em>(Kumamo<\/a><\/strong><\/em>to-ken<\/a> CIR, 2000-<\/strong><\/em>03). She starts<\/strong><\/em> her day by watching Fujisankei\u2019s newscast in Japanese, and here she sha<\/strong><\/em>r<\/strong><\/em>es s<\/strong><\/em>ome of the interesting<\/strong><\/em> tidb<\/strong><\/em>its and t<\/strong><\/em>r<\/strong><\/em>ends together with her own observations.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Last month MoMA introduced an exhibition called Tokyo 1955-1970: A New Avant-Garde<\/a>, which looks at the creations that emerged\u00a0from this tumultuous period.\u00a0 It features around 200 works of various media, such as paintings from Yayoi Kusama and photographs from Daido Moriyama, as well as pieces from lesser known artists.\u00a0 They all offer social commentary and many are confrontational, some via explicitly sexual themes such as Tetsumi Kudo’s “Philosophy of Impotence” installation, which occupies a large section of the exhibit.\"\"<\/p>\n

Another interesting work is Hiroshi Nakamura’s “Circular Train A,” which features uniformed schoolgirls as cyclops, further fetishizing this symbol of sexuality in Japanese society.\u00a0 In this painting and others, the influence on modern manga and anime is undeniable.\u00a0 Fun fact is that Yomiuri Shimbun had served as the sponsor of a Tokyo exhibition of post-war artwork, but withdrew the following year as the content had become too controversial.\u00a0 The exhibition will run through February 25 and various lectures and gallery talks are offered, so make sure to check it out.<\/p>\n

In conjunction with this exhibition, a film series called Art Theater Guild and Japanese Underground Cinema: 1960-1986<\/a> is taking place.\u00a0 On Friday night I had the honor of interpreting for director Nobuhiko Obayashi in his introduction to the screening of his film The Deserted City (\u5ec3\u5e02<\/a>).\u00a0 In his comments he revealed that this film based on Takehiko Fukunaga’s novel had been made over a two-week vacation, during a prolific period in which he was making four movies per year.\u00a0 It is set in the canal city of Yanagawa in Fukuoka Prefecture, and it tells the story of a college student who spends a summer there with relatives and discovers a love triangle.\u00a0 As Obayashi shared during his pre-screening comments, it is a typical Japanese movie that is slow in its pacing but can be enjoyed by viewers willing to be drawn in by its calm rhythm.\u00a0 You can catch The Deserted City on Saturday, December 15 at 5 p.m., as well as Obayashi’s Exchange Students (\u8ee2\u6821\u751f<\/a>) preceding it at 2 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WIT Life is a periodic series written by professional Writer\/Interpreter\/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei\u2019s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations. Last month MoMA introduced an exhibition called Tokyo 1955-1970: A New Avant-Garde, which looks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[53,263,18,36,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events","category-film","category-translatinginterpreting","category-wit-life","category-writers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t