Katsuhiro Yamaguchi Imaginarium
11 September - 26 October 2013
Annely Juda Fine Art 23 Dering Street (off New Bond Street) London W1S 1AW ajfa@annelyjudafineart.co.uk www.annelyjudafineart.co.uk Tel 020 7629 7578 Fax 020 7491 2139 Monday - Friday 10 - 6 Saturday 11 - 5 Cover: Light sculpture ‘Flash’ 1968 acrylic, wood and light 220 x 110 x 35 cm
Katsuhiro Yamaguchi, 2012
In 2009 we made the exhibition Experimental Workshop: Japan 1951-1958, which brought me closer to Katsuhiro Yamaguchi’s work. I soon realised the importance he has, not just in Japan. It is therefore a great honour that we are able to make this first one-person exhibition here in London. My special thanks go to Jasia Reichardt for all her help and her brilliant essay, and to Shigeru Yokota and his gallery staff, especially Reiko Fukasawa. I would also like to thank Kyoko Ando here in London. Finally and most of all, a special Thank You to Katsuhiro Yamaguchi for giving us this wonderful exhibition. David Juda, August 2013
Exhibition, Katsuhiro Yamaguchi From Vitrine to Video, Kanagawa Prefectural Gallery, 1981
Katsuhiro Yamaguchi — Imaginarium Yamaguchi’s ‘Imaginarium’ was a project he developed gradually from the 1950s. It is an updated version of Malraux’s Le Musée Imaginaire (1947), a museum of an infinite number of reproductions. What Yamaguchi wanted to achieve with his ‘Imaginarium’ was to enable the visitor not only to see all the works in the world, but also to interact with them. He wanted art to be seen very much like everything else in our natural environment, something that can be touched moved, addressed, and changed. Like Malraux, Yamaguchi was in advance of his time.
The 21 works in this exhibition represent the early period of Katsuhiro Yamaguchi's creative life. They belong to the 1950s and 1960s, an important moment for experiment in the history of Japanese art. For Yamaguchi this was the beginning of his progress from illusionistic Vitrines, light sculptures, constructions with stretched sacking, structures with fluorescent plastics and photographs, to video, to installations and finally to multimedia works. Since the 1950s, using whatever technology was available, his work has concentrated on two specific ideas: the spectator's intentional or unintentional interaction with the works, and a fluid exchange between the past and the present. By the 1970s, Yamaguchi was already known in Japan as the father of video and media art, gradually becoming one of the most admired and influential artists in the country. The 1950s was a significant period of experimental art in Japan that left the conventional concerns of painting and sculpture behind. The new art set out to embrace movement, music, dance, unconventional materials, lighting effects, photographic collages and synchronised audio-visual presentations with multiple screens. Leading this departure from convention was a group of young artists and composers, who belonged to Experimental Workshop (Jikken Kobo) so named by the poet and critic, Shuzo Takiguchi. Yamaguchi was one of its 14 members. Among them were: Kuniharu Akiyama, Shozo Kitadai, Toru Takemitsu, Hideko Fukushima, Hiroyoshi Suzuki and Joji Yuasa. Like the other members of Experimental Workshop, Yamaguchi had no conventional art education. He had trained as a lawyer and when he joined the group in 1951, he was 23. The group had neither an office nor a studio — during the seven years of its existence, the Experimental Workshop was portable, and its members worked where they could, individually or in small teams. They were responsible for some memorable exhibitions, animated environments and experimental stage designs for ballets. Yamaguchi's works of that period, 1950s and 1960s, anticipate his later development because they already deal with ideas he continued to develop throughout his career. What are they?
First of all, he emphasises that any single three-dimensional work, can be seen in several different ways. 'When I took pictures of my work,' — wrote Yamaguchi — 'I would light it with Kiyoji Otsuji and others, and then shoot a certain part of the work. Things look completely different depending on the way you light them.' His Trial Objects (cat. nos. 9-11), for instance, yellow forms in fluorescent acrylic, when suspended from above under a rotating light, perhaps even an ultraviolet light, will change their appearance for each of the visitors looking at them. The same is true of the Magnetic Reliefs (cat. no. 12) that look different every time someone changes the positions of the coloured pieces on the vertical black surface. When we look at the work we see what was done last time, we don't see, we don't know, the history of the movements of the magnetic pieces that had taken place before. The past has gone, what we see is just the present. What had been seen once becomes virtual, a memory. And that is central to Yamaguchi’s thinking. That is what he wants to capture — the history of the piece, the history of what it looked like at different times. Time, movement and transformations are the themes Yamaguchi tackles in the Vitrines (cat. nos. 4, 14, 15), which he started making during the years of the Experimental Workshop. These are paintings covered with layers of patterned and/or opaque glass, which impose a texture on the painted surface. The texture, in turn, becomes affected by whatever is reflected in the glass such as the fragmented faces of the viewers. As one walks in front of one of the Vitrines so one experiences an illusion of the painting in motion. Their appearance changes. No photograph taken of the work from a given angle, however carefully positioned, will be quite the same as others. Artists like Soto and Agam, have used a similar principle of walking in front of the work to see it change, often quite radically, as one continues to move. With the Vitrines, however, especially the large ones, the changes tend to be subtle, small, but sometimes quite unexpected however many times one undertakes the journey in front of the picture. The Vitrines are the beginning of Yamaguchi's journey following the moment he first marveled at making something that defies our grasp. How to combine the past and the present? How can a work of art absorb all that is going on around it? It doesn't matter if the visitors to the gallery do not stop to contemplate the objects on display — their presence casts a shadow, and the work is affected by their presence. These thoughts led Yamaguchi towards several significant works, which placed him right in the centre of the art and technology movement in Japan. One particular work intended to combine the past and the present is called Reflection 1958,1994. It was exhibited at Satani Gallery in 1994. On one side of
Still for the auto-slide projection "Adventure of the Eyes of Mr.W.S., a Test-Pilot�, Composition by Katsuhiro Yamaguchi, Music by Hiroyoshi Suzuki, 1953
Still for the auto-slide projection "Adventure of the Eyes of Mr.W.S., a Test-Pilot�, Composition by Katsuhiro Yamaguchi, Music by Hiroyoshi Suzuki, 1953
the gallery hung Vitrine — Landscape, 1958. Opposite this was installed Video Passage, 1994, a construction of transparent acrylic columns with eight video monitors. A hand-held camera, in the shape of a small sphere could be held by a visitor and pointed at any detail on the Vitrine. That detail then became transferred to the Video Passage and combined with other reflections. In that exhibition the viewers' attention was directed towards reflections in the Video Passage, some of which they could control. The physical reality of the work faded as the viewers themselves joined the images gathered inside the work. Yamaguchi’s inspiration for the works that combine the old and the new, the past and the present was the story by Adolfo Bioy Casares, The Invention of Morel. In it, Morel creates a machine that replays ad infinitum scenes from the life of a group of characters. Whoever is watching cannot participate because the sequences replicated by the machine are locked into the moments when they were recorded. And so, in the book, the world consists of those virtual lifelike images going about their business, and the viewer, a young man who tries, but cannot, join them. The Vitrines are not the only works through which the ethos of Experimental Workshop has continued in Yamaguchi's work. Jikken Kobo was a collective enterprise in which composers, photographers, and lighting designers collaborated, improvising with whatever means were available. Yamaguchi has continued to work with groups of artists, musicians, architects, dancers, students, and has continued to invent means to realise their common ideas. He organised performances, teams working with video, displays, exhibitions, and operas. The ethos of Experimental Workshop was never far away, but in the 1990s the ideas underlying experimental art in Japan found their new home on Awaji Island in the Art Village organised by Yamaguchi. This too was intended to tread unorthodox paths of combining and redefining ideas outside the current mainstream. Today, Yamaguchi is not able to undertake and organise big projects, but he continues to work. He now paints vibrant animated gouaches that continue to reflect his view of the changing world unfolding before him. One of his most moving recent exhibitions was his Sanriku Requiem at Tamagawa University in Tokyo. This was a requiem in memory of the devastation inflicted by the tsunami on Sanriku, the beautiful northeastern Tohoku region, in 2011. Yamaguchi’s work continues to emphasise Shuzo Takiguchi’s dictum for the Experimental Workshop, that in experiment nothing can be, or should even attempt to be, fixed and made permanent. Jasia Reichardt, August 2013
3 Yamaguchi’s diagram charting the development of his work concept (appeared in the magazine Japan Interior Design, 1981)
1
Photography for APN 1953 Composition: Katsuhiro Yamaguchi Photography: Kiyoji Otsuji gelatin silver print 14.5 x 18.8 cm
2
Photography for APN 1953 Composition: Katsuhiro Yamaguchi Photography: Katsuhiro Yamaguchi gelatin silver print 21.7 x 14.6 cm
3
Photography for APN 1953 Composition: Katsuhiro Yamaguchi Photography: Kiyoji Otsuji gelatin silver print 14.1 x 9 cm
4
Vitrine ‘Distorted Mirror’ 1956 aluminium leaf, glass, synthetic resin, paint, paper on wood panel 43.2 x 31.1 x 7.7 cm
Cloth Sculptures, 1962-63
5
Untitled (cloth sculpture) 1960s metal and cloth 70 x 90 x 47 cm
6
Untitled (cloth sculpture) 1960s metal and cloth 96 x 46.5 x 34.5 cm
7
Untitled (cloth sculpture) c.1960 metal and cloth 52 x 51 x 31 cm
8
Mesh Sculpture 1961 painted wire mesh 46 x 34 x 27 cm
9
Trial object in acrylic plastic 1960s acrylic plastic 90 x 90 x 25 cm
10 Trial object in acrylic plastic 1960s acrylic plastic 45 x 38 x 25 cm
11 Trial object in acrylic plastic 1960s acrylic plastic 57 x 38 x 19.5 cm
12 Magnetic relief 1963 painted wood, magnet and metal (variable configurations) 100 x 100 x 5.5 cm
13 Light sculpture ‘Flash’ 1968 acrylic, wood and light 220 x 110 x 35 cm
14 Light sculpture ‘Vitrine’ 1990s acrylic, wood and light 28 x 33.3 x 13.5 cm
15 Light sculpture ‘Vitrine’ 1990s acrylic, wood and light 43 x 53.5 x 13.5 cm
16 Untitled c.1950 crayon on paper 24.8 x 35 cm
17 Untitled c.1950 crayon and watercolour on paper 24.5 x 33 cm
18 Untitled c.1950 graphite on paper 26.8 x 34.7 cm
19 Untitled c.1950 crayon and ink on paper 18.1 x 25.6 cm
20 Untitled c. 1950 crayon and watercolour on paper 25.9 x 35 cm
21 Conception: Universe c.1950 crayon on paper 25.8 x 34.3 cm
Katsuhiro Yamaguchi and Hiroyoshi Suzuki editing their auto-slide projection piece, 1953
BIOGRAPHY 1928 1945
Born in Tokyo Enters preparatory course at the Department of Engineering, Nihon University 1948 Forms Shichiyokai with Shozo Kitadai, Hideko Fukushima and others 1951 Graduates from the Deparment of Law, Nihon University Forms Jikken Kobo (Experimental Workshop) with Shozo Kitadai, Hideko Fukushima, Toru Takemitsu, Kuniharu Akiyama and others 1961-62 First trip to Europe and America Meets Yoko Ono and Fluxus artists in New York Visits Frederick Kiesler’s studio 1962 Presents his first stretched-fabric sculpture 1966 Presents his first light sculpture made of acrylic Forms Enbairamento no Kai (Environment Group) 1968 Selected as Japan’s representative for the Venice Biennale 1970 Art Director, Mitsui Pavilion, Expo ‘70, Osaka 1972 Forms Video Hiroba (Video Plaza) aimed to promote video art 1977 Launches the concept of Imaginarium 1977-92 Professor at the Institute of Art and Design, Tsukuba University 1978 Publishes Kankyo Geijutsuka Frederick Kiesler (Environmental Artist Frederick Kiesler) 1981 Art Director, Theme Pavilion, Portopia ‘81, Kobe
1982
Participates in the formation of Aru Juni (Arts Unis), a group promoting high technology art in Japan 1990 Participates in the plans to create the Awajishima Art Village 1992Professor Emeritus, Tsukuba University 1992-97 Director, Artec, International Biennale, Nagoya 1992-99 Professor, Department of Visual Information Design, Kobe Design University 1999Professor Emeritus, Kobe Design University 2000-02 President, Institute of Environmental Art and Design 2001Visiting Professor, Joshibi University of Art and Design AWARDS 1967
1968
1969
1975 1985
Grand Prix, 4th Nagaoka Contemporary Art Museum Award Exhibition, Nagaoka Contemporary Art Museum National Museum of Modern Art Award, 8th Contemporary Japanese Art Exhibition, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum Award of Merit, 1st International Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition, Hakone Open-Air Museum Premio Industria Villares, 13th São Paolo Biennale Laser d’Or, 6th International Video Art Festival, Locarno
1993
2001
Conseil de l’Europe Prize for the contribution to Video Art, 14th International Video Art Festival, Locarno Grand Prix de la ville de Locarno for Metabolism in Locarno, joint production with Opera, 14th International Video Art Festival, Locarno 42nd Mainichi Art Award
1978
1981
SELECTED SOLO ExHIBITIONS 1952 1953 1955 1956
1958 1959 1961
1964 1977
Matsushima Gallery, Tokyo Vitrines, Takemiya Gallery, Tokyo Vitrines, Wako Gallery, Tokyo American Cultural Centre, Yokohama Katsuhiro Yamaguchi / Kiyoshi Seike: Decorative Space, Wako Gallery, Tokyo Katsuhiro Yamaguchi: Works with Light and Glass, Wako Gallery, Tokyo Sato Gallery, Tokyo 3rd Contemporary Vision Series: Space and Form / Works of Katsuhiro Yamaguchi, Sato Gallery, Tokyo Katsuhiro Yamaguchi: ThreeDimensional Works, Akiyama Gallery, Tokyo Katsuhiro Yamaguchi: Videorama, Minami Gallery, Tokyo / Sony Tower, Osaka Katsuhiro Yamaguchi: Video Performance, École Sociologique Interrogative, Paris Katsuhiro Yamaguchi: Experimental Drawings, Ao Gallery, Tokyo
1984
1986
1987
1988
1992
1994
Katsuhiro Yamaguchi: Video Art Presentation, CAYC, Buenos Aires Katsuhiro Yamaguchi: Environmental Video Art, Anthology Film Archives, New York Katsuhiro Yamaguchi: From Vitrine to Video, Kanagawa Prefectural Hall Gallery, Yokohama Katsuhiro Yamaguchi: Anthological Print, Gallery Hosun, Tokyo Katsuhiro Yamaguchi: InfoEnvironmental Sculpture, Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo 4th Homage to Shuzo Takiguchi: Katsuhiro Yamaguchi Video Spectacle Future Garden, Satani Gallery, Tokyo Katsuhiro Yamaguchi: Video Spectacle Galaxy Garden, Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Kobe / Laforet Museum Espace, Tokyo Katsuhiro Yamaguchi: Video Installation, Gatodo Gallery, Tokyo Festival Arte Elettronica, Camerino Katsuhiro Yamaguchi: Video Image and Architecture – Arch, Pillar, Zambini, Satani Gallery, Tokyo Another Katsuhiro Yamaguchi, Tsukuba Museum of Art, Ibaragi Katsuhiro Yamaguchi: Media Circus, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Nagoya Katsuhiro Yamaguchi, CAYC, Buenos Aires Katsuhiro Yamaguchi: Reflection 1958:1994, Satani Gallery, Tokyo Yamakatsu Kojo Open Factory, Yamakatsu Kojo, Awajishima
Exhibition, Katsuhiro Yamaguchi: Vitrines, Wako Gallery, 1955
Exhibition, Today's Vision 3: Space and Form of Katsuhiro Yamaguchi, Sato Gallery, 1961
1995
1996
1999
2000 2001 2004 2006
2009 2010 2011 2013
Katsuhiro Yamaguchi: Vitrine Images, Satani Gallery, Tokyo Retrospective of Katsuhiro Yamaguchi, 16th International Video Art Festival, Locarno Methods of Contemporary Art (2): Media and Expression Takumi Shinagawa and Katsuhiro Yamaguchi, Nerima Art Museum, Tokyo Public Art in the Age of Multimedia, Kobe Design University Gallery Denno Kage-e Yugi, Muyu Togen Zu (Computerized Shadow Play: Dream Journey to Peach Grove Utopia), Satani Gallery, Tokyo Darkness 2000 Light, Nizayama Forest Art Museum, Toyama Katsuhiro Yamaguchi: Dragon Stream, INAx Gallery 2, Tokyo Katsuhiro Yamaguchi: 1950’s – Drawings for Vitrine, Shigeru Yokota Gallery, Tokyo Katsuhiro Yamaguchi: Pioneer of Media Art, From Experimental Workshop to Teatrine, Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama Katsuhiro Yamaguchi: Legend Flight of ICARUS in Greece, The Third Gallery Aya, Osaka Katsuhiro Yamaguchi and The Legend of Urashima Taro, Shinanobashi Gallery, Osaka Sanriku Requiem, Tamagawa University, Tokyo Katsuhiro Yamaguchi Imaginarium, Annely Juda Fine Art, London
SELECTED GROUP ExHIBITIONS 1948 1949
Shichiyokai Exhibition, Hokuso Gallery, Tokyo 1st Yomiuri Independent Exhibition, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum
1950 1951 1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
2nd Yomiuri Independent Exhibition, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum 3rd Yomiuri Independent Exhibition, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum 3rd Experimental Workshop Presentation, Takemiya Gallery, Tokyo 4th Yomiuri Independent Exhibition, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum 5th Yomiuri Independent Exhibition, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum Chusho to Genso (Abstraction and Surrealism), National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo 6th Yomiuri Independent Exhibition, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum New Artists from Yomiuri Independent Exhibition, Yoseido Gallery, Tokyo 7th Yomiuri Independent Exhibition, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum Abstract Art from Japan and America, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo Art Club Group Exhibition, Sato Gallery, Tokyo Works of the Experimental Workshop, Muramatsu Gallery, Tokyo New Artists of Today – 1955, Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama 7th Exhibition of Distinguished Works, Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi Department Store, Tokyo Art Club Exhibition, Nabisu Gallery, Tokyo 8th Yomiuri Independent Exhibition, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum
1957
1958
1959
1960
International Arts and Crafts Exhibition, Florence Three Artists of the Experimental Workshop, Fugetsudo Gallery, Tokyo Exhibition of 46 Artists, Matsuzakaya Gallery, Tokyo World Art of Today, Nihonbashi Takashimaya Department Store, Tokyo 15 New Artists, Chuo Koron Gallery, Tokyo 9th Yomiuri Independent Exhibition, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum Summer Exhibition for the Enjoyment of New Vision and Space, Fugetsudo Gallery, Tokyo 10th Yomiuri Independent Exhibition, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum Osaka International Art Festival: New World of Paintings / Art Informel and Gutai, Takashimaya Department Store, Osaka 1st Exhibition of Shudan 30, Tokyo Department Store, Tokyo 11th Yomiuri Independent Exhibition, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum 2nd Exhibition of Shudan 30, Shirokiya Department Store, Tokyo Katsuhiro Yamaguchi and Hiroyuki Uemura: Oil Paintings, Fugetsudo Gallery, Tokyo 12th Yomiuri Independent Exhibition, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum 1st Shudan Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition, Ikebukuro Seibu Department Store, Tokyo
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
13th Yomiuri Independent Exhibition, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum 2nd Shudan Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition, Ikebukuro Seibu Department Store, Tokyo Art Club Exhibition, Shinjuku Daiichi Gallery, Tokyo 3rd Shudan Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition, Ikebukuro Seibu Department Store, Tokyo 15th Yomiuri Independent Exhibition, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum Contact 7 Exhibition, Tsubaki Kindai Gallery, Tokyo Katsuhiro Yamaguchi, Minami Tada and Michio Fukuoka: Three Person Show, Shinjuku Daiichi Gallery, Tokyo Off Museum Exhibition, Tsubaki Kindai Gallery, Tokyo Artists of Today: 1964, Yokohama Civic Art Gallery Art with New Materials, Shinjuku Odakyu Department Store, Tokyo Art Club Sculpture Exhibition, Tokiwa Gallery, Tokyo Four Contemporary Artists, Ikebukuro Seibu Department Store, Tokyo 1st Contemporary Japanese Sculpture Exhibition, Ube City Open-Air Sculpture Museum The New Japanese Painting and Sculpture, Museum of Modern Art, New York Art Club Prints Exhibition, Tokiwa Gallery, Tokyo 7th Contemporary Japanese Art Exhibition, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum
Exhibition, Katsuhiro Yamaguchi, From Vitrine to Video, Kanagawa Prefectural Gallery, 1981
Katsuhiro Yamaguchi standing in front of the Mitsui Group pavilion, ExPO'70, Osaka, 1970
1967
1968
1969
Trends in Contemporary Art, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto Colour and Space, Minami Gallery, Tokyo From Space to Environment, Ginza Matsuya, Tokyo 9th International Art Exhibition of Japan, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum Guggenheim International Exhibition, Guggenheim Museum, New York 4th Nagaoka Contemporary Art Museum Awards Exhibition, Nagaoka Contemporary Art Museum Art in Wonderland, Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo 34th Venice Biennale Exhibition, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo 8th Contemporary Japanese Art Exhibition, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum Contemporary Space – Light and Environment ‘68, Sogo Department Store, Kobe 34th Venice Biennale, Japanese Pavilion, Venice Fluorescent Chrysanthemum, Tokyo Gallery / Minami Gallery, Tokyo Trans-flection in Space, Nippon Sheet Glass Company Head Office Glass Centre, Osaka Fluorescent Chrysanthemum, ICA, London Ars ‘69, Atheneum Art Museum, Helsinki International Sci-tech Art – Electromagica ‘69, Sony Building, Tokyo 9th Contemporary Japanese Art Exhibition, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum
1970
1972
1973
1974
Contemporary Art: Dialogue between East and West, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo 1st International Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition, Hakone Open-Air Museum 3rd Japanese Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition, Ube City Open-Air Sculpture Museum Expo Art Exhibition, Expo Museum, Osaka Contemporary Art Festival, Yokohama Civic Art Gallery 1st Video Communication: DO IT YOURSELF KIT, Sony Building, Tokyo Opened Retina, Grabbed Image: Video Week, American Centre, Tokyo Matrix International Video Conference, Vancouver Art Gallery Contemporary Japanese Art – A 20 Year Vision, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum Development of Postwar Japanese Art: Abstract and Nonfigurative, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo Computer Art ‘73, Sony Building, Tokyo Underground Cinemateque Special Programme <Tokyo-New York VIDEO EXPRESS>, Tenjo Sajiki Kan, Tokyo First 100 Feet Film Festival, Sabo Kaikan Hall, Tokyo / Nanatsudera Kyodo Studio, Nagoya / Italian Cultural Centre Hall, Kyoto / Hokkaido Shimbun Hall, Sapporo 11th International Art Exhibition of Japan, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum
1975
Japan – Tradition und Gegenwart, Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf and other venues in Norway, Sweden and Denmark 4th Kobe Suma Rikyu Park Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition, Suma Rikyu Park, Kobe International Computer Art, Sony Building, Tokyo St Jude Invitational Video Show, de Saisset Museum at Santa Clara University Selected Artists of Today, Yokohama Civic Art Gallery 9th Japan Art Festival, Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montreal / Vancouver Art Gallery Charity Art Fair ‘74: Dolls, Gallery Heart Art, Tokyo Books as Objects, Nishimura Gallery, Tokyo Video Art, Institute of Contemporary Art, Pennsylvania University Vision of Japanese Contemporary Art, Ikebukuro Seibu Department Store, Tokyo 8th Gendai no Zokei – Kidoairaku (Contemporary Forms - Joy, Anger, Pathos and Humour), Daimaru Department Store, Kyoto 13th Sao Paolo Biennale, Sao Paolo 4th International Open Encounter on Video, CAYC, Buenos Aires Illumination / Original Lighting Equipment, Ao Gallery, Tokyo Wonderland / Hand-made Toys, Ao Gallery, Tokyo Charity Fair ‘75, Gallery Heart Art, Tokyo
1976
1977
1978
1979
5th International Open Encounter on Video, ICC, Antwerp Drawings by 15 Sculptors, Ao Gallery, Tokyo Wonderland / Toys and Objects, Ao Gallery, Tokyo Bird’s Eye View of Contemporary Art – Artists in Search of Tomorrow, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto German Month Fukuoka: Video Art of Germany and Japan, Fukuoka Cultural Hall Wonderland / Tiny Weeny Exhibition, Ao Gallery, Tokyo Video Art of Germany and Japan, Fukui Fine Arts Museum International Video Art Tokyo ‘78, Sogetsu Art Centre, Tokyo Beauty of Space – Beauty Lives: In Search of a New Visual Space, Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts, Utsunomiya Video Art of Germany and Japan – Towards a New Awareness ‘78, Miyazaki University Video Art of Germany and Japan, Maki Gallery, Tokyo 1st São Paolo International Video Art Exhibition, Museu da Imagem e do Som, São Paolo Video from Tokyo to Fukui and Kyoto, Museum of Modern Art, New York Art of Performance, Palazzo Grassi, Venice Development of Modern Japan– From Meiji and Taisho to Showa, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum/ Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art Kusuo Shimizu and his Artists, Minami Gallery, Tokyo
1980
1981
1982
1983
Development of Contemporary Sculpture – Postwar Sculptures by 41 Artists, Kanagawa Prefectural Civic Hall Gallery, Yokohama Japanese and American Video Art, Ikebukuro Seibu Department Store Studio 200 / Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Kobe / Fukuoka Art Museum / Osaka Contemporary Art Centre / Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo / Hara Museum, Tokyo / Museum of Modern Art, New York Moving Image Expression ‘80 – Exploring with Video, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art 1st Japanese Culture Design Conference: Performing ‘80, Yokohama Silk Museum and others Video Roma 80, Museo del Folklore Romano, Rome The 1950’s: Darkness and Light, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum Contemporary Japanese Art, Miyagi Museum of Art, Sendai The 1960’s: A Decade of Change in Contemporary Art, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo / National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto Development of Japanese Modern Sculpture, Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama 1st Contemporary Arts Festival: Shuzo Takiguchi and Postwar Art, Museum of Modern Art, Toyama 4th Sydney Biennale, Sydney 2nd Contemporary Arts Festival: Art and Engineering, Museum of Modern Art, Toyama ELECTRA, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville, Paris
1985
1986
1988
1989
6th International Video Art Festival, Locarno Giappone Avanguardia del Futuro, Palazzo Rosso, Genoa Contemporary Self Portraits, Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, Urawa International High Technology and Art, Shibuya Seibu Department Store, Tokyo 40 Years of Contemporary Art, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum Fukui International Video ‘85 Festival, Festival Plaza, Fukui Contemporary Japanese Art, Taipei Fine Arts Museum Image du Futur ‘86, La Cité des Arts et des Nouvelles Technologies de Montreal Japon des Avant Gardes 19101970, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris TSUKASHIN ANNUAL ‘86 – Hanging Art, Tsukashin Hall, Amagasaki International High Technology and Art, Matsuzakaya, Nagoya / Sunshine City, Tokyo Haptic Art, Gallery TOM, Tokyo Image du Futur '88, La Cité des Arts et des Nouvelles Technologies de Montreal High Technology Art of Japan, Taiwan Museum of Art, Taichung World Design Expo: Gaudi and Modernisme Catala, Nagoya Castle 4th Contemporary Arts Festival: Moving Images of Today, Museum of Modern Art, Toyama Europalia ‘89 Japan Festival New Tools New Images, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerp
1990 1991
1992
1993 1994
1995
1996
Light in Art, Kamakura Gallery, Tokyo 11th Homage to Shuzo Takiguchi: Experimental Workshop and Shuzo Takiguchi, Satani Gallery, Tokyo High Tech Art 1991, Ginza Matsuya Department Store, Tokyo Radicalchip: Contemporary Art from Japan, Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff 2nd Nagoya International Biennale ARTEC ‘91, Nagoya City Science Museum International Biennale in Nagoya - ARTEC ‘91, Taiwan Museum of Art, Taichung / National School of Arts, Taipei Japan Cultural Festival in Paris: Nouvelles Images au Japon, UNESCO Cinema Room, Paris When Body Becomes Art, Itabashi Art Museum, Tokyo Metamorphosis of Art in the Postwar Era, Iwaki City Art Museum, Fukushima Japanese Culture: Fifty Postwar Years 1945-1995, Meguro Museum of Art, Tokyo / Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art / Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Kobe / Fukuoka Prefectural Museum 1st Gwangju Biennale: Info-Art, Gwangju Nonstatic Art in the 20th Century, Wakayama Prefectural Museum of Modern Art Shedding Light on Art in Japan 1953, Meguro Museum of Art, Tokyo 1964: A Turning Point in Japanese Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo Video Art 1966-1996, Museo Cantonale d’Arte, Lugano
1997
1998
2000 2002
2007
2009 2012
5th Nagoya International Biennale ARTEC ‘97, Nagoya City Art Museum Japanese Art 1960’s: Japanese Summer 1960-1964, Art Tower Mito Electronically Yours, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography The Library of Babel: Characters/ Books / Media, NTT InterCommunication Centre, Tokyo Sogetsu Art Centre 1945-1970, Ashiya City Museum of Art & History / Chiba City Museum of Art Homage to Taro Okamoto from Seven Artists, Taro Okamoto Museum of Art, Kawasaki The Dream of a Museum, Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Kobe Twelve Japanese Artists from the Venice Biennale 1952-2001, Art Tower Mito Art, Anti-Art, Non-Art: Experimentations in the Public Sphere in Postwar Japan 1950-1970, The Getty Centre, Los Angeles Experimental Workshop and APN, Fuji xerox Art Space, Tokyo Experimental Workshop: Japan 1951-1958, Annely Juda Fine Art, London Tokyo 1955-1970: A New AvantGarde, Museum of Modern Art, New York Door to Modernity: Jikken Kobo, Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama / Iwaki City Art Museum, Fukushima / Museum of Modern Art, Toyama / Kita Kyushu Municipal Museum of Art, Fukuoka / Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo
2013
Collection Recollection VOL.1, 5 Rooms Sculpture / Art Objects / Three-Dimensional Work, Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art, Sakura Public Art
1993 1995
PUBLIC ART
1996
1970
1999
1973
1982
1983
1984
1986
1987 1988
1989
Light Sculpture Light Cube, Expo ‘70, Osaka Sculpture Negative Relief (collaboration with Takayasu Ito), Yomiuri Shimbun Building, Tokyo Video Sculpture Image Bird, Ikebukuro Seibu Department Store, Tokyo Video Installation Sign Video, Holography Media Jizo, Roppongi WAVE, Tokyo Display Design with 144 Monitor Televisions, Holography Sculpture Media Shichifukujin, Yurakucho Seibu Department Store, Tokyo Video Sculpture Baroque, Shinjuku Isetan Department Store, Tokyo Video Sculpture Trio, O Art Museum, Tokyo Video Sculpture Kawasaki, Kawasaki Civic Museum Video Multi-projection Bridge to Bridge, Seto Ohashi Kakyo Kinenkan, Kurashiki Video Multi-projection Videorama Gaudi, World Design Expo, Nagoya Video Sculpture Metamorphosis of Water, TOTO Showroom, Tokyo
1999
Monument Soaring Life, Moriya Town, Ibaraki Installation of Light and Sound (entrance lobby), Installation of Sound (patio), Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo Sound installation Oto no Kehai, Galleria, Tokyo Opera City Multi-media public art Bird Boat, Video Passage, Osaka City Living Information Centre, Osaka Multi-media public art Dragon, Institute of Contemporary Art, Taipei
PUBLICATIONS 1967 1978
1981 1983
1985
1987
1992
Futeikei Bijutsuron (Free Forms and Concepts), Gakugei Shorin Kankyo Genjutsuka Frederick Kiesler (Environment Artist Frederick Kiesler), Bijutsu Shuppansha Works of Katsuhiro Yamaguchi /360°, Rokuyosha Tsumetai Performance (Cold Performance), Asahi Shuppansha (dialogue with Toru Shimizu) Performance Genron (Principles of Performance), Asahi Shuppansha Robot Avant-Garde, PARCO Publishing Eizo Kukan Sozo (Creation of Environmental Images), Bijutsu Shuppansha Tenjin Festival in the Media Age, Bijutsu Shuppansha UBU Yu-Fuyu, Zeppan Shobo
Video works by Katsuhiro Yamaguchi shown in the exhibition: Sanriku Requiem, 2012 Legend Flight of Icarus in Greece, 2009 Image Bird, 1981 Fantasy on Gaudi, 1978 Ooi and Environs, 1977 Girl in Vortex, 1977 Video Kaleidoscope, 1977
ISBN 1-904621-53-8 Photographs of works: Sadamu Saito, Ian Parker Portrait photograph: Shigeru Yokota Essay © Jasia Reichardt Translation of biography: Kyoko Ando Catalogue © Annely Juda Fine Art/Katsuhiro Yamaguchi 2013 Works © Katsuhiro Yamaguchi Printed by Deckers Snoeck, Belgium